Russian & Slavonic Studies

Russian and Czech Cultures in the Age of Empire and beyond

This module gives an overview of Russian and Czech cultures with a focus on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It will critically examine the concepts of statehood, empire, nationalism, totalitarianism and democracy by studying the two nations' different experiences through visual sources, literature and language usage. It thus introduces students to topics dealt with in greater depth in optional modules at Levels 2 and 3, and helps them to learn how to analyse cultural artefacts and sources of different kinds.

Russian and Czech Cultures in the Age of Empire and beyond

This module gives an overview of Russian and Czech cultures with a focus on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It will critically examine the concepts of statehood, empire, nationalism, totalitarianism and democracy by studying the two nations' different experiences through visual sources, literature and language usage. It thus introduces students to topics dealt with in greater depth in optional modules at Levels 2 and 3, and helps them to learn how to analyse cultural artefacts and sources of different kinds.

The Soviet Union 1917-1991

An overview of the history of the Soviet Union showing the huge changes the region underwent during the 20th century. The module examines the ideological nature of all historical accounts of the period, especially produced during the Cold War, and encourage a critical engagement with original source materials. The module is taught in English.

Comparative Visual Cultures

This is a school-wide module taught by specialists from across the school who have research interests in visual culture. It introduces students to some of the main movements in European cinema and art, and includes a strong Russian and East European element. The module includes seminars and film viewings.

Politics and Culture in the USSR 1917-38

An examination of the relationship between political and cultural questions in the early years of the USSR. Focus will fall on the USSR as a multinational state and the place of Russia within that state and society rather than focusing exclusively on Soviet Russia. Topics covered will include class, gender and ethnicity; literacy and educational reform; the politics of language in a multinational state; nationalism and internationalism; morality and law; art and society; religion and society; conceptions of 'Cultural Revolution'.

The Russian Novel in the Nineteenth Century

Russian literature is famous for its great novels. But how did they emerge in a literary tradition which had only relatively recently established itself to become one of the most famous facets of Russian culture? We shall begin with works by Pushkin, Gogol and Turgenev to consider, among other things, how irony and satire and the connection between personal failure and the failings of wider society not only relate to ambitions for political and social reform but go beyond them. This development becomes more pronounced in the second half of the nineteenth century. The psychological intensity of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment is among the most striking of the literary reactions to the proto-revolutionary ambitions of the Russian radical intelligentsia. We will compare the responses of both to questions such as individual and social justice, freedom of action and human dignity. We then turn to Anna Karenina to see how Tolstoy's characters make the choices they do when faced with questions of war, sexual passion, illness, religion, family relations and, in the final analysis, good and evil? Throughout the module, we will think about the novel as a genre and the reasons for its enduring appeal far beyond Russia's borders.

Prague at the Crossroads of East and West

The module examines iconic places in Prague as starting points for investigating the history, culture and society of the Czech lands and their relations with other European powers, especially Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Visual arts, architecture, historical documents and literature will be used to understand the sources and influences, both domestic and foreign, that define the Czech identity and how the Czechs negotiate a place for themselves between larger and more powerful neighbours.

Remembering the Soviet Union

Thirty years after its collapse, ordinary citizens’ accounts of life in the Soviet Union are still emerging. This module examines their place in Russian literature of the past hundred years. We’ll think about how different kinds of sources claim to represent the past, with a focus on literature in particular, and will see how accounts of personal experience relate to dominant
narratives.
We start by seeing how the avant-garde’s response to the prospect and reality of revolution broadened the Russian literary language by including spoken and non-standard elements. As this type of writing came under increasing pressure in the Stalin period, distinguished memoirists such as Nadezhda Mandel'shtam wrote ‘for the desk drawer’ about the crimes of the Terror for a future public. After Stalin’s death, gulag writers were divided about this role of witness: for Solzhenitsyn, suffering could be shown as redemptive; Shalamov vehemently denied this.
Questions of the limits of literary expression such as this still interest contemporary writers: Svetlana Alexievich and Maria Stepanova chart the profound sense of loss – of many kinds – felt after 1991 by interviewing those who grew up in the Soviet Union. For both authors, their subjects’ words are literature in the making. The Russian literary language is thus again expanded by the spoken words of those who are only now coming to terms with the past.

Language at Work

This course provides the basis for understanding communication and communicating in multilingual (work) settings. After completing this module, students will - know the basic properties of language and communication and their relation to culture; - be able to characterise the relationship between English and their other languages; - be able to describe the difference between everyday language use and institutional language use; - be able to describe the differences between communication in monolingual and multilingual (intercultural) settings; - be able to differentiate between characteristics of communication involving native speakers of a language and communication involving non-native/foreign language speakers of a language; - use systematic methods to carry out simple investigations of language, communication and culture (and their implications for foreign language learning); - use digital technology to communicate academic work to non-specialist audiences.

Language and Society in Luxembourg and the French Borderlands

With a focus on the French borderlands, this course explores the status and function of the French language in relation to its speakers and to speakers of other languages. We will apply key theoretical insights to issues concerning linguistic minorities in the officially monolingual country of France, in addition to the bordering multilingual countries of Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland. In this way, we will investigate how language becomes the target of struggles and debates that are embedded in broader socio-political issues. More broadly, this module underlines the necessity of questioning the presupposed homogeneity conveyed by the use of labels such as the ‘French language’ and ‘French-speaking countries’, which potentially mask the social and linguistic complexity inherent to the social world.

Contemporary Russian Society

This module provides an overview of the historical changes that have affected Russian society since the introduction of the Gorbachev reform programme in 1985. This includes the dramatic economic, political, demographic, institutional and ideological changes that have occurred in the period. Attention will also be paid to the international context in which these changes have taken place, leading to an analysis of the interaction between domestic and international factors that have shaped and continue to shape Russian society today.

Russian Poetry, Performance and Prose

Russian literature is famous for its big novels – but for many Russians, lyric poetry is at least as important. This module explores the connection between the two through a range of nineteenth- and twentieth-century texts from Pushkin to Tsvetaeva. You’ll be given guidance on reading short poems out loud in Russian – a great way to develop both your proficiency in the language as well as confidence in your voice. You’ll then learn to analyse the poems in detail and set them in their historical and literary context. Having done this, you’ll be able to understand the complexities of prose texts by Tolstoy, Dostoevsky or Chekhov. We finish with the vibrant and innovative poetry of the early twentieth century and examine some of its responses to the political and artistic upheavals of the time. Level-appropriate guidance on approaches to literary study will be given. Regular and varied assessments spread the workload through the year and give you plenty of opportunities to receive feedback (including some from your fellow students) and develop a range of analytical skills.

The Slavonic Languages: Structure, History and Variation

This module investigates the grammars and histories of two Slavonic languages, Russian and Czech, introducing students to the discipline of linguistics through the languages they study. Selected topics in the grammar of Slavonic languages highlight how structures of Russian and Czech have developed differently, how they are changing in the current world, and where they came from. Among the topics are case meaning and case forms; aspect; verb conjugation; animacy; and word order. Students learn how to design and implement their own linguistic research projects using corpora and experimental methods. Knowledge of EITHER Russian OR Czech is needed.

Languages & Cultures Project

Guided by individual supervision and support seminars, you will plan and execute an extended piece of independent research on a topic that complements but does not duplicate work you have done (or will do) in SLC taught modules. Alternatively, you may translate a substantial text into English accompanied by a full commentary to contextualize it. Your project must relate to at least one of the countries or cultures whose languages you are studying. As well as writing an extended piece of work, all students present their work at the end of the year.

Social Approaches to Multilingualism

This module provides students with an overview of key topics in multilingualism, with an emphasis on the ways in which issues of language are linked to broader socio-political practices and debates. It allows students to gain insights into how theories of nationalism and globalisation may be applied to the analysis of texts and images in multilingual settings - with a particular focus on those in which Romance and/or Germanic languages play a central role - and it shows how debates about language are bound up with struggles over social equality and reactions to social transformations.

Comparative Critique of Consumer Culture

Critiques of consumer cultures are as old as capitalism itself. This module takes the long view, starting in the eighteenth century and tracing our conflicted identities as modern consumers into the present day. Especially applying German cultural theory to European cultural history, we shall ask what is meant by economic and social liberalism, and whether even culture owes a debt to consumer society. Consumerism can entail complicity in exploitative modes of production (causing poverty and displacement, and profiting from serfdom and slavery). It has been both celebrated and satirised for enabling hedonism and individual bad taste (or kitsch). And consumption has been nationalist, yet also cosmopolitan; today, it threatens our shared environment. Theory, the visual arts, and literature have all been critical of capitalism - but ironically, they can themselves be packaged as consumer goods. Examining a wide range of primary texts (including film and caricature) and critical reflections, you will translate and write a commentary on a historical source, and submit an essay on a topic of your choice.