Program in Slavic Languages and Literatures

Russian 3-411/5-411

Dostoevsky in Translation

Spring, 2019

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:00-2:15, 8 Folwell Hall

Instructor: Mr. Jahn (gjahn@umn.edu) Web Page: lol-russ.umn.edu/hpgary

Office: 320H Folwell Hall Hours: 2:30-3:30 and 4:30-5:30, Tuesdays and Thursdays, or by appointment.

Please e-mail or call (612-625-6557)

 

This course provides a survey of the life and literary career of Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881), one of the most celebrated writers of nineteenth-century Russia. Known both as a writer of fiction and as a journalist and essayist, Dostoevsky has long been regarded as one of the twin peaks of Russian literature. Class time is split between lectures on Dostoevsky's life and works and discussions of the required readings. This year we will be reading Dostoevsky's long novels Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov, as well as a shorter work, Notes from Underground. Students in the class will be evaluated on the basis of their contribution to discussions and the quality of their written work (three 5-8 page essays are required, one on each of the three main readings). Students enrolled in Russ 5411 must, in addition, submit a term paper (see below under "Requirements").

 

This course helps you meet the Liberal Education core requirement in Literature through close study of the language and meaning of the works we will read together. "Close study" means the detailed analysis of assigned texts informed by an understanding of the general cultural context and literary expectations of the time and place in which the works appeared, including the explict commentaries of Dostoevsky himself (he was a journalist as well as a novelist). The cultural and intellectual milieu will be presented through a series of lectures given as a preliminary to the close study of the texts themselves. During the subsequent discussions of "Notes from Underground," "Crime and Punishment," and "The Brothers Karamazov" the texts will be considered from the varied points of view existing contemporaneously to them as well as from the perspective of later Russian views and more modern western approaches. Students study the formal dimensions of literature: they study how the authors' choices -- such as the choice of genre, style, character presentation, vocabulary, or the use of symbolism -- have created a work's effect of powerfully evoking the reader's response. Class discussions will examine these formal dimensions of literature closely. Especially important will be questions of artistic organization, intertextual allusion, and the modulation of narrative viewpoint in producing the effects observed in the texts. A crucial element in the consideration of Dostoevsky's work is the attempt to gain an understanding of Dostoevsky's mastery of the modulation of narrative viewpoint in maintaining the balance between artistry and ideology. Students will be asked to provide a 5-7 page essay about each of these works in which they will demonstrate their grasp of issues such as those listed here.

This course also satisfies the Global Perspectives theme requirement. Russ 3411 is firmly grounded in an awareness of the general cultural context and the particular literary expectations which were present in Imperial Russia in the middle third of the 19th century. The cultural context of that period was replete with conflicting opinions on a wide array of topics: moral, behavioral, political, ideological, and religious. Because of the severity of the secular and ecclesiastical censorship of the time, works of art, especially literary works, often provided the clearest, if still covert, expression of this cultural diversity. Students will be asked to reflect on the implications of issues raised by the course readings and our discussions of them (for example, what is the purpose of literature and the nature of the literary artist, what is an appropriate balance between artistry and ideology, how did Dostoevsky's ideas and the perceptions of Dostoevsky change over time) with the goal of comprehending the distinctions between the various Russian attitudes to these issues and these works, and the very different assumptions and attitudes of other, later times and places, including our own.

With its emphasis on the close analysis of texts Russ 3411 contributes especially toward the realization of the Student Learning Outcome which mandates understanding of diverse intellectual and cultural phenomena. Nineteenth-century Russian high culture provides many examples of the tension between artistry and ideology in works of literature. This is emphatically true in the case of Fyodor Dostoevsky whose novels are often said to have been written "in the margins of other books." An omnivorous reader, Dostoevsky was engaged in a more or less continuous polemic with his artistic and intellectual predecessors and contemporaries. At the same time he sought to give his fictions the appearance of maximum open-endedness and unpredictability by hiding his own voice behind those of a series of putative narrators. His novels are an unparalleled ground for the discussion of competing world views in tension with one another. By placing Dostoevsky's work within its historical context, there is also ground for fruitful discussion in understanding the relationship between the general cultural values of a particular time and its literary expectations, especially when those values and expectations are as much in contrast as those of 19th-century Imperial Russia and 21st-century America.

Closely related to the above, in fact a central point of the diversity of opinion through history and across cultural borders, is the significance assigned to innovation as a hallmark of creativity. Russ 3411 also contributes to the realization the Student Learning Outcome which mandates understanding of the role of creativity, innovation, and discovery. The nature of literature and literary excellence was a question with which Dostoevsky grappled explicitly in various essays, notably the monograph "Mr. --bov and the Question of Art," but also illustratively in various of the fictions which he created. He was, apparently, fascinated with the creation of what he called "a new word," but the new words uttered by his various characters have always the same troubled outcome as that of poor Shigalyov in "The Possessed," who began his two-hour harangue "with the presumption of absolute freedom for all, but ended with the ineluctable necessity of slavery for 90 percent." Yet in literary terms Dostoevsky was indeed an innovator, the creator of the polyphonic novel from the structures of newspaper feuilletons and detective stories. The nature of innovation, its importance for artistic excellence, and its presence in Dostoevsky's creative output is presented in lecture and pursued in discussion. This leads naturally to discussion of what we mean when we talk about innovation in literature. Further, why is it that innovation is so highly regarded in literary activity, and has it always been so?

Calendar of Classes

Date

Tuesday

Thursday

Jan. 22/24

Introduction, Background, Bio-chronology of Dostoevsky

Bio-chronology of Dostoevsky

Jan. 29/31

Dostoevsky's Literary Career

Dostoevsky's Literary Career

Feb. 5/7

Dostoevsky's Literary Career

Dostoevsky's Literary Career

Feb. 12/14

Notes from Underground, I [Topics for essay #1 distributed]

Notes from Underground, I

Feb. 19/21

Notes from Underground, II

Notes from Underground, II

Feb. 26/28

Notes from Underground

Crime and Punishment (I) [Topics for essay #2 distributed]

Mar. 5/7

Crime and Punishment (I)     Essay #1 due

Crime and Punishment (II)

Mar. 12/14

Crime and Punishment (III)

Crime and Punishment (IV)

Mar. 19/21

Spring Break, Class excused

Spring Break, Class excused

Mar. 26/28

Crime and Punishment (V-end)

Crime and Punishment

Apr. 2/4

The Brothers Karamazov (I) [Topics for essay #3 distributed]

The Brothers Karamazov (I)

Apr. 9/11

The Brothers Karamazov (II-III) Essay #2 due

The Brothers Karamazov (II-III)

Apr. 16/18

The Brothers Karamazov (IV-V)

The Brothers Karamazov (IV-V)

Apr. 23/25

The Brothers Karamazov (VI-VII)

The Brothers Karamazov (VII-IX)

Apr. 30/May 2

The Brothers Karamazov (X-XII)

The Brothers Karamazov

May 14

Essay #3 due
Russ 5411 Papers Due

 

Course Requirements:

(1) Reading: All readings should be completed by the date indicated for the beginning of discussion about them, as shown in the calendar above; a handy supplement is V. Terras, F. M. Dostoevsky: Life, Work, and Criticism (now, unfortunately, out of print but available in the library) or the same author's Reading Dostoevsky. Students are warmly encouraged to take an active part in class discussions.

(2) Writing:  All students must submit three 5-7 page papers (one on each of the three main readings) in which they respond to topics which will be supplied by the instructor. These papers are due as noted in the class calendar above. In addition, students registered for Russ 5411 must submit (by the last day of class) a 10-15 page research paper or interpretive essay on a subject mutually agreed to by student and instructor. Russ 5411 students are best advised to obtain agreement to their proposed topic by the mid-point of the semester, or very shortly thereafter. I invite you to submit a detailed outline or preliminary draft of your paper for review prior to handing in your final product. This term-paper requirement is intended for graduate students only. However, undergraduate students who register for Russ 5411 should be aware that they too must submit the paper described here to complete the requirements of the course.

Grades

For Russ 3411

1. Contribution to Class Discussion = 25%

2. Paper #1 = 25%

3. Paper #2 = 25%

4. Paper #3 = 25%

 

For Russ 5411

1. Paper #1 = 20%

2. Paper #2 = 20%

3. Paper #3 = 20%

4. Term Paper = 40%

Note: If you are taking this course on the "S/N" grade scale, you need to be aware that "C-" is the last "S" grade.

Invitation: I would be happy to discuss questions or concerns pertaining to this class with you; please don't hesitate to call on me. Good luck this semester!