Humanities 260/History 200/Slavic 255 Russian Culture in Revolution: From Lenin to Putin

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1 Humanities 260/History 200/Slavic 255 Russian Culture in Revolution: From Lenin to Putin Northwestern University, Fall 2017 Tues. & Thurs. 3:30-4:50PM, Annenberg Hall G21 Updated 11/2/17 Faculty Coordinator: Jordan Gans-Morse (Political Science) Office Hours: Mon. 12:30-2:30PM Location: Scott Hall #203 Teaching Assistants: Jay Carroll (History) Lev Daschko (History) Lecturers: John Bushnell (History) Clare Cavanagh (Slavic) Jordan Gans-Morse (Political Science) Christina Kiaer (Art History) Ilya Kutik (Slavic) Adrienn Kacsor (Art History) Alexandra Novozhenova (Art History) Christopher Pike (Slavic) Dassia Posner (Theatre) Gary Saul Morson (Slavic) Inna Naroditskaya (Music) Alexandra Novozhenova (Art History) COURSE SUMMARY 2017 is the 100 th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. To make sense of the significance of this anniversary, this unique, team-taught lecture course integrates insights from Northwestern specialists in Russian and Soviet literature, visual art, music, theatre, film, graffiti, history, and politics. The course provides an introduction to modern Russia s rich cultural history, from the revolutionary fervor of the 1920s to Stalinist repression, from the vitality of official and unofficial art during the post-stalin thaw to the new artistic revolutions that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union. The course also grapples with fundamental questions such as how historical and political contexts shape the arts, how the arts have been and can be used to imagine new worlds, how foreign ideologies interact with national cultures, and how scholars distinct disciplinary tools and frameworks shape their approaches to the study of Russia s history, politics, and artistic culture. 1

2 COURSE REQUIREMENTS Attendance at all lectures as recorded by the sign-in sheet circulated at the beginning of each class; preparation of readings for and active participation in all weekly discussion sections; satisfactory completion of all assignments, which, with the exception of exams, are due both in hardcopy form and online via Canvas. You must receive a passing grade on all coursework to pass the class (this includes Pass/Not Pass students). All papers should be double-spaced and typed in 12-point font with 1-inch margins on all sides of each page and headings of no more than two lines. Papers not handed in on time will automatically be marked down a half-grade for every day late unless you have been previously granted an extension by your teaching assistant. The date and location of the final exam are fixed by the University; alternative arrangements will be permitted only in extenuating circumstances. Evaluation: Evaluation in the course will be decided as follows: Midterm exam (20%) on Thursday, October 26 in class 4-5 page paper (25%) due before class on Tuesday, November 21 Final take home examination (30%) due on Wednesday, December page précis, see below for details (10%) Participation in discussion section and class attendance (15%) Précis: Course objectives include developing skills of active listening and critical visual analysis. You are therefore required to attend at least one of the local events/exhibitions related to the 100 th anniversary of the Russian Revolution listed below and to write a 1-2 page précis defined by Merriam-Webster as a concise summary of essential points of the event or exhibition you attended. Your aim is to provide a compelling account that gives your reader a clear sense of the speaker(s) main arguments or the exhibition s main claims and the kinds of evidence/objects used to make the case. You may attend more than one of these events and write a second précis for extra credit toward your participation grade. Your précis is due within one week of the date you attend the event or exhibition. Note: Nearly all exhibitions and events are free with your student ID card. For events related to the ASEEES convention, we will reimburse the registration fee for students who attend. Exhibitions Revolution Every Day September 14, 2017-January 14, 2018 The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago Revoliutsiia! Demonstratsiia! Soviet Art Put to the Test October 29, 2017-January 15, 2018 Regenstein Hall, Art Institute of Chicago 2

3 Events Revolution Every Day: Dziga Vertov in the 1930s Film series presented by the Film Studies Center, University of Chicago Friday evenings from October 6, 2017 to November 10, 2017 Logan Center for the Arts Was the Russian Revolution a Failure? Lecture by Sheila Fitzpatrick, Bernadotte E. Schmitt Distinguished Service Professor Emerita of Russian History, University of Chicago 7:00PM on Thursday, October 19, 2017 University Hall 122, Northwestern University Revolution Reconsidered: Memory, Utopia and Deferral Symposium organized by Kate Baldwin, Professor of Communications Studies and Rhetoric, and Dilip Gaonkar, Professor of Rhetoric and Public Culture, Northwestern University October 24-25, 2017 Hagstrum Room, University Hall, Northwestern University Note: This is a multi-day event; please choose at least one talk to attend Building a New World: Amerikanizm in Russian Architecture Fall Warnock Lecture in Art History, Jean-Louis Cohen, Sheldon H. Solow Professor in the History of Architecture, New York University 5:00PM on Wednesday, November 1, 2017 Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University Public conversation at the Revolution Every Day exhibit Christina Kiaer, Associate Professor of Art History, Northwestern University and Maria Gough, Joseph Pulitzer, Jr. Professor of Modern Art, Harvard University 5:00PM on Thursday, November 2, 2017 The David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago Note: If you attend the exhibition and talk, you may write two précis and receive extra credit Title TBA Lecture by Maria Gough, Joseph Pulitzer, Jr. Professor of Modern Art, Harvard University 12:00PM on Friday, November 3, 2017 Fullerton Hall, Art Institute of Chicago Revolutionology Workshop: The Bolshevik Contagion Workshop at the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society November 3-4, 2017 Neubauer Collegium, University of Chicago 3

4 Note: This is a multi-day event; please choose at least one talk to attend Walking Roundtable with Curators of Revoliutssia! Demonstratsiia! Exhibition 5:30PM on Thursday, November 9, 2017 Ryerson and Burnham Libraries, Art Institute of Chicago Note: requires registration for the Assoc. for Slavic, E. European & Eurasian Studies Convention Roundtable with Curators of Revolution Every Day Exhibition 3:45PM on Saturday, November 11, 2017 Marriott Downtown Chicago Note: requires registration for the Assoc. for Slavic, E. European & Eurasian Studies Convention The Suicide A play by Nikolai Erdman adapted and directed by Sergey Zhenovach Stage on Screen Series 2:00PM on Saturday, November 11, 2017 Josephine Louis Theater, Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts, Northwestern University The Russian Revolution as Utopian Leap Lecture by Mark D. Steinberg, Professor of History, University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign 3:00PM on Saturday, November 11, 2017 Fullerton Hall, Art Institute of Chicago IN-CLASS ELECTRONICS POLICY Please turn all phones off before the lecture. Note that this implies no texting as well as no calls. Laptops may be used for note taking only. Use of , Facebook, or other activities unrelated to lecture is strictly prohibited and may result in a grade deduction. ACADEMIC INTEGRITY Instructors are required by university policy to report violations of academic integrity standards to the Dean s Office. A non-exhaustive list of behaviors that violate standards of academic integrity includes: cheating, plagiarism, fabrication, obtaining an unfair advantage, aiding and abetting dishonesty, falsification of records and official documents, and unauthorized access to computerized academic or administrative records or systems. Note that even unintentional plagiarism is still plagiarism. If you are unsure about whether to cite or how to cite a source, then confer with the professor or teaching assistant. Information about Northwestern s academic integrity policies can be found at You are strongly encouraged to take issues of academic integrity seriously. Nearly 20 Northwestern students were suspended last year due to violations of academic integrity standards. Such violations can end up on your academic record and may become a red flag for employers and graduate schools. 4

5 ACCOMMODATIONS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES All necessary accommodations will be made for students with disabilities. Please contact the professor at the beginning of the term so that we can work together with the Office of Services for Students with Disabilities (Accessible NU) to make arrangements. LEARNING OBJECTIVES By the end of the course, the aim is that you will have: Achieved an understanding of the chronology of and principal developments in Soviet and post-soviet Russian history; Developed an understanding of how historical context and politics shape artistic and cultural production, and vice versa; Gained an understanding of how Russian culture interacts with international influences; Furthered your understanding of how scholars disciplinary tools shape their insights; Built a vocabulary to articulate the development of Soviet culture, focusing on artistic movements (e.g., Futurism, Constructivism, Socialist Realism) and aesthetic techniques (e.g., estrangement, biomechanics, montage); Honed the skills of close reading, critical visual analysis, active listening, engaged discussion, and making clear, well-reasoned arguments in writing and speaking. COURSE MATERIALS The following three books are required and can be purchased at Norris Center Bookstore or online: Sheila Fitzpatrick. The Russian Revolution. Oxford University Press, 2008 (3 rd edition). Lydia Chukovsky. Sofia Petrovna. Trans. Aline Werth. Northwestern University Press, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. Trans. H.T. Willetts. Farrar Straus & Giroux, **Make sure to buy these specific editions.** All other readings will be made available through Canvas. 5

6 COURSE SCHEDULE Tuesday, September 19 Lecture 1: Introduction Lecturer: Jordan Gans-Morse (Political Science) PART I: THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION Thursday, September 21 Lecture 2: The Russian Revolution as Pan-European Revolution and Civil War Lecturer: John Bushnell (History) Introduction and Chapters 1-3 in Sheila Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2008) Tuesday, September 26 Lecture 3: Russian Art in Revolution Lecturer: Christina Kiaer (Art History) Primary documents Kazimir Malevich, From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism (1915) in Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, eds., Art in Theory : An Anthology of Changing Ideas (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992), pp Natan Altman, Futurism and Proletarian Art (1918), in John Bowlt, ed., Russian Art of the Avant-Garde: Theory and Criticism (New York: Viking, 1976), pp Komfut Program Declaration (1919), in John Bowlt, ed., Russian Art of the Avant-Garde: Theory and Criticism (New York: Viking, 1976), pp Aleksandr Rodchenko and Varvara Stepanova, Programme of the First Working Group of Constructivists (1921), in Charles Harrison and Paul Wood, eds., Art in Theory : An Anthology of Changing Ideas (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992), pp Osip Brik, Into Production! (1923), in Stephen Bann, ed., The Tradition of Constructivism (New York: Viking, 1974), pp Article Kathleen Tahk, Battleground, in Revoliutsiia! Demonstratsiia! Soviet Art Put to the Test, eds. Matthew S. Witkovsky and Devine Fore (Art Institute of Chicago, 2017) 6

7 Supplemental readings (optional) Maria Gough, Press ; Christina Kaier, Home and Storefront ; and Kristen Romberg, Festival, in Revoliutsiia! Demonstratsiia! Soviet Art Put to the Test, eds. Matthew S. Witkovsky and Devine Fore (Art Institute of Chicago, 2017) Thursday, September 28 Lecture 4: Gender and Revolution through Literature Lecturer: Clare Cavanagh (Slavic Literature) Aleksandra Kollontai, Vasilisa Malygina, trans. Cathy Porter, in Love of Worker Bees (London: Virago, 1977) Anna Akhmatova, The Song of the Last Meeting and Lot s Wife, trans. Judith Hemschemeyer, in The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova, ed. Roberta Reeder (Boston: Zephyr Press, 1992) Vladimir Mayakovsky, Order No. 2 to the Army of the Arts, trans. Max Hayward and George Reavey, in The Bedbug and Selected Poetry, ed. Patricia Blake (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975) Tuesday, October 3 Lecture 5: Revolutionary Theater Lecturer: Dassia Posner (Theatre) Oleg Kashin, Portrait of the Artist in Putin s Russia, The New York Times (Sept. 14, 2017) Pages in Dassia N. Posner, The Stakes of Audience Interpretation in Twentieth- Century Political Theatre, in A Cultural History of Theatre in the Modern Age (Volume 6), ed. Kim Solga (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017) Nikolai Erdman, The Suicide, in The Major Plays of Nikolai Erdman: The Warrant and The Suicide, trans. and ed. John Freedman (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2016) Thursday, October 5 Lecture 6: Shostakovich s Lady Macbeth and Nose Lecturer: Inna Naroditskaya (Music) Readings and Film: Watch Dmitri Shostakovich s Lady Macbeth: Nikolai Leskov, Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, trans. Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, in The Enchanted Wanderer and Other Stories (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2013) 7

8 Elizabeth Wells, The New Women : Lady Macbeth and Sexual Politics in the Stalinist Era, Cambridge Opera Journal 13, 2 (2001): PART II: THE STALIN ERA Tuesday, October 10 Lecture 7: Stalinism Lecturer: John Bushnell (History) Chapters 4-6 in Sheila Fitzpatrick, The Russian Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2008) Thursday, October 12 Lecture 8: Art Under Stalin Lecturer: Christina Kiaer (Art History) Primary documents Central Committee Decree (1932) in John Bowlt, ed., Russian Art of the Avant-Garde: Theory and Criticism (New York: Viking, 1976), pp Extracts from Contributions to the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers (1934), in John Bowlt, ed., Russian Art of the Avant-Garde: Theory and Criticism (New York: Viking, 1976), pp Selections (TBD) from Letters of Gustav Klutsis (sic) and Diaries of Valentina Kulagina in Margarita Tupitsyn, ed., Gustav Klutsis and Valentina Kulagina: Photography and Montage after Constructivism (New York: International Center of Photography and Steidl Publishers, 2004) Article Christina Kiaer, Fairy Tales of the Proletariat, or, Is Socialist Realism Kitsch? in Socialist Realisms: Soviet Painting , eds. Matthew Brown and Matteo Lanfranconi (Milan: Skira, 2012) Tuesday, October 17 Lecture 9: Dostoevsky Foresees Stalinist Terror Lecturer: Gary Saul Morson (Slavic Literature) Sergei Nechaev, The Catechism of a Revolutionary, in Imperial Russia: A Source Book, , ed. Basil Dmytryshyn (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967), pp

9 Two chapters, The Meeting and Ivan the Tsarevitch, from Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Possessed, trans. Constance Garnett (New York: Modern Library, 1963), pp Extract from the article One of Today s Falsehoods (pp ) in Fyodor Dostoevsky, A Writer s Diary, volume 1, , trans. Kenneth Lantz (Northwestern University Press, 1994) Extract from chapter 3, The Interrogation, (pp ) in Alexander I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, : An Experiment in Literary Investigation, I-II, trans. Thomas P. Whitney (New York: Harper and Row, 1974) One chapter, The Ascent (pp ), from Alexander I Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago, : An Experiment in Literary Investigation, III-IV, trans. Thomas P. Whitney (New York: Harper Perennial, 1993[1974]) Thursday, October 19 Lecture 10: Literature and the Great Terror Lecturer: Clare Cavanagh (Slavic Literature) Anna Akhmatova, Requiem, tran. Judith Hemschemeyer, in The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova, ed. Roberta Reeder (Boston: Zephyr Press, 1992) Lydia Chukovsky, Sofia Petrovna (Northwestern University Press, 1994) Tuesday, October 24: Lecture 11: Soviet Film Lecturer: Ilya Kutik (Slavic Literature) Readings and Film: Watch Mikhail Kalatozov s The Cranes Are Flying (1957) Essays on The Cranes are Flying by Donato Totaro at Offscreen.com (Vol. 7, Issue 5, May 2003) and by Chris Fujiwara at The Criterion Collection (April 29, 2002) and short commentary by Haskell Wexler at The Criterion Collection (August 22, 2011) Supplemental readings (optional) Josephine Woll, The Cranes Are Flying: The Film Companion (New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2003) Josephine Woll, Real Images: Soviet Cinema and the Thaw (New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2000) Chapter 2 in Jeremy Hicks, Dziga Vertov: Defining Documentary Film (New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 2007) Thursday, October 26: MIDTERM EXAM 9

10 PART III: THE LATE SOVIET ERA Tuesday, October 31 Lecture 12: Post-Stalin Politics and Life Practices Lecturer: John Bushnell (History) Chapter 5 in Alexei Yurchak, Everything was Forever until it was No More (Princeton University Press, 2005) Thursday, November 2 Lecture 13: Socialist Realism and the Soviet Novel Lecturer: Christopher Pike (Slavic Literature) Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, trans. H.T. Willetts (Farrar Straus & Giroux 2014) Tuesday, November 7 Lecture 14: Music in the Non-Russian Republics Lecturer: Inna Naroditskaya (Music) Inna Naroditskaya, Azerbaijani Mugham Jazz, in Jazz Worlds, World Jazz, eds. Philip V. Bohlman and Goffredo Plastino (University of Chicago Press, 2016) Inna Naroditskaya, Musical Enactment of Conflict and Compromise in Azerbaijan, in Music and Conflict, eds. John Morgan O Connell and Salwa El-Shawan Castelo-Branco (University of Illinois Press, 2010) PART IV: THE SOVIET COLLAPSE, THE POST-SOVIET ERA, AND PUTIN Thursday, November 9 Lecture 15: Disintegration of the Soviet Union & Rise of Post-Soviet Russia Lecturer: Jordan Gans-Morse (Political Science) Excerpt from Chapter 3 (pp ) and Chapters 4-5 in Timothy Colton, What Everyone Needs to Know About Russia (Oxford University Press, 2016) Supplementary reading (optional) 10

11 Pages in Daniel Treisman, The Return: Russia s Journey from Gorbachev to Medvedev (New York: Free Press, 2011) Tuesday, November 14 Lecture 16: The Crisis in Late Soviet Society as Illuminated by Graffiti Lecturer: John Bushnell (History) John Bushnell, The Brief Post-Soviet Life of the Soviet Graffiti Argot, in Russia s Century of Revolutions: Parties, People, Places, eds. Michael Melancon and Donald Raleigh (Bloomington, IN: Slavic Publishers, 2012) Thursday, November 16 Lecture 17: Post-Soviet Art in Transition from Socialism: Lecturer: Alexandra Novozhenova (Art History) Claire Bishop, Zones of Indistinguishability: Collective Actions Group and Participatory Art, e-flux 29 (2011) Gleb Napreenko, From Questions Without Answers to Answers Without Questions: Russian Political Action Art , in Cosmic Shift: Russian Contemporary Art Writing, eds. Elena Zaytseva and Alex Anikina (London: Zed Books, forthcoming) Ilya Budraitskis, Yearning for the State: The Political Strategy of Moscow Actionism in the 1990 s, in MoMA Primary documents: Art in the Former USSR and Eastern Europe (New York: MoM, forthcoming) *These last two essays are not yet published and so should not be circulated outside this class* Tuesday, November 21 Lecture 18: Commemorating the Russian Revolution Lecturer: Jordan Gans-Morse (Political Science) James Richter, Taming the Revolution: The Politics of Memory One Hundred Years After October, Working Paper, Department of Politics, Bates College Tuesday, November 21: PAPER DUE BEFORE CLASS (3:30PM) Wednesday, December 6: TAKE HOME EXAM DUE BY 1:00PM 11

Francine Hirsch Mosse Humanities Building, 455 N. Park Street Madison, WI

Francine Hirsch Mosse Humanities Building, 455 N. Park Street Madison, WI 53706-1483 Education Princeton University 1998 Ph.D. in History, 1993 M.A. in History, 1991 M.A. in Russian Studies Cornell University