Pushkin

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

This course is an introduction to the life and works of the great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, often called the Father of Russian Literature. Through a reading and discussion of selections from Pushkin's lyric verse, narrative poetry, drama, and prose, students will gain an appreciation for Pushkin's extraordinary literary imagination and innovativeness, as well as his significance for the history of Russian literature as a whole. Attention will be given to Pushkin's evolving understanding of his role as Russia's national poet, including such themes in his work as the beauty of the Russian countryside, the poet's sacred calling, political repression and the dream of civic freedom, Russia's relationship to East and West, the dialectic between chance and fate, St. Petersburg and the specter of Revolution, and the subversive power of art. Prerequisite: Russian 40102 or permission of the instructor.