Module RUSS3401: GOD & REBELLION: DOSTOEVSKY’S EXISTENTIAL PROSE

Department: Modern Languages and Cultures (Russian)

RUSS3401: GOD & REBELLION: DOSTOEVSKY’S EXISTENTIAL PROSE

Prerequisites

• Russian Language 2A (RUSS2191) OR Russian Language 2B (RUSS2012) OR an equivalent qualification to the satisfaction of the Chairman/Chairwoman of the Board of Studies in MLAC or his/her representative.

Corequisites

• Modern Languages, Combined Honours and all Joint and 'with' programmes: Russian Language 4 (RUSS3031) OR Russian Language 4 following Year Abroad (RUSS3211). Others: see Chairman/Chairwoman of the Board of Studies in MLAC or his/her representative.

Excluded Combination of Modules

Aims

• To provide an introduction to the best-known works of Dostoevsky, as the Russian writer who has most deeply influenced world literature and opened new horizons for spiritual search and artistic imagination.
• To impart a thorough understanding of the novels and thought of F. M. Dostoevsky in their critical, intellectual and historical context, including a systematic investigation of his main characters and leitmotifs.
• To examine aspects of Dostoevsky’s oeuvre and intellectual persona.

Content

• Dostoevsky is contextualised as a founder of modern intellectual trends such as existentialism and anti-utopianism, as a creator of new literary forms, and as an artist and religious thinker.
• Russian and Western interpretations of Dostoevsky’s works, such as Nietzsche, Freud and Camus provide an outline of the topics for discussion, which may typically include:
• Dostoevsky’s existentialism and critique of rationalism; the integration of the “idea” with personal experience; “love for life before its meaning”, the “absurdity of existence” and the “threshold situation” as a pathway to self-knowledge; the problem of personal guilt and responsibility.
• Dostoevsky’s religious spirit, his “creative Christianity” and the idea of a “free church” as a prologue to Russian religious philosophy.
• Atheistic ideas of Dostoevsky’s heroes; the exaltation of self-will and “everything is permitted”; their parallels with the ideas of Superman and Man-God, and “the struggle against God” in Nietzsche and other European thinkers.
• Dostoevsky’s polyphonic novel; the free interaction of characters; the creation of the “dialogic” universe.
• Dostoevsky’s fantastic realism; the mixing of “newspaper chronicles” and Gospels, of everyday facts and mythical/archetypal patterns.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of this module, students will have
• acquired a thorough and sophisticated knowledge of the novels and thought of F. M. Dostoevsky in their literary–critical, intellectual and socio-historical context.
• in particular, explored his role as founder of certain key modern intellectual trends, his impact as a creator of new literary forms, and his stance as both artist and religious thinker

• By the end of this module, students will have acquired
• the ability to analyse and interpret a range of literary texts in the original Russian, and to identify and utilise appropriate primary and secondary sources in support of this.
• the skill to deal with the discursive specificity of different kinds of texts (literary, critical and philosophical), and to assess them in terms of their inter-related social, ideological and aesthetic functions.

• By the end of this module, students will:
• have further developed their ability to work independently within a prescribed framework, with considerable emphasis being placed on the rudiments of the research process.
• be able to present a cogent and structured argument in both oral and written form.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The module is taught intensively in Term 1 or Term 2 on a ‘short–fat’ basis.
• A weekly 2-hour lecture delivers key information and concepts, acting as exegesis for the weekly set readings and allowing for discussion and clarification as necessary. Small class sizes allow for seminar-style discussions to be built into the lectures.
• A weekly seminar is devoted to class discussion and/or presentation of results of independent study by students working individually or in pairs. It provides for development of analytical and interpretative skills.
• Use is made of Duo for students to further consolidate their learning independently.
• The assessment is in the form of two summative essays.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Formative assessment during seminars builds on independent study by students working individually or in pairs. In the seminars students are expected to give short oral presentations, based on set questions and reading materials, and where appropriate accompanied by written handouts and/or PowerPoint presentations. Oral feedback and comments are provided regularly in the course of the seminar discussion.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University