University of St Andrews

Key information

SCOTCAT credits : 15

ECTS credits : 7

Level : SCQF level 10

Semester: 2

Availability restrictions: Not automatically available to General Degree students

Planned timetable: To be arranged.

This module is designed to familiarise students with one of the most ideologically important bodies of literature published in the post-Stalin period, Soviet 'Village Prose'. Students will read works by a number of the most influential writers to have contributed to the genre, including Vasilii Belov, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Vasilii Shukshin, and Valentin Rasputin, and engage with the para-literary criticism that emerged around the literary movement. In order to locate the texts within their social and cultural contexts the module will begin with two introductory sessions devoted to the question of urban and rural transformation and its literary treatment. Thereafter, the module will be taught through seminars that examine the themes of urban-rural opposition, village byt, nature, childhood and memory, a number of which will be student-led and introduced by student presentations. Many of the primary texts are available only in Russian and so discussion throughout the module will make reference to the Russian originals.

Relationship to other modules

Pre-requisite(s): Before taking this module you must pass RU2002 and pass RU2004 and pass RU2006 and pass RU2106 and pass RU2107 and pass RU2109

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact: 2 seminars and occasional film/video viewing, and 1 surgery hour.

Assessment pattern

As used by St Andrews: Coursework = 100%


Re-assessment: Coursework = 100%

Personnel

Module coordinator: Professor V S Donovan
Module coordinator email vsd2@st-andrews.ac.uk