Reading Post-Socialist Russia

(4 Credits)

What was post-socialism, and what comes next? This course will attempt to answer these and other relevant questions through an examination of Russian literature and film from 1991 to the present. We will pay special attention to themes of aestheticized violence, economic change, social collapse, and shifting expectations in the realms of gender and sexuality. Featured authors and directors will include, among others, Kira Muratova, Boris Akunin, Andrei Zvyagintsev, Vladimir Sorokin, Victor Pelevin, and Linor Goralik