Reading and composition course based on works of Russian and other Slavic writers, either written in English or translated into English. As students develop strategies of writing and interpretation, they will become acquainted with a particular theme in Russian and/or Slavic literatures and their major voices. R5A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement, and R5B satisfies the second half.

With the end of the Cold War also came the obsolescence of the so-called three-world model of culture. The socialist Second World and the decolonizing Third World had represented alternatives to the hegemony of the capitalist “West”—possible paths, which, after 1989, seem to give way to a single (and unequal) global system. In postsocialist East Europe and Eurasia this violent transformation took the forms of free market “shock therapy,” massive declines in living standards, strengthening of nationalist and rightwing movements, civil war, and exile. What had once represented, at least in theory, an alternative center to that of the Western capital was violently remade into a periphery. In this course we will study literary depictions of the complex socio-historical shifts that begin with the collapse of “actually existing socialism” and continue to this day.

All novels and short stories come from the former Second World and include such critically acclaimed titles as Dubravka Ugrešić’s The Ministry of Pain (Ministarstvo boli), Viktor Pelevin’s Homo Zapiens (Поколение «П»), and Alisa Ganieva’s The Mountain and the Wall (Праздничная гора). Our readings will help us ask questions such as: what remains of a utopian political imaginary after nearly a generation of postsocialism? In what ways does literary form allow us to critique both the socialist past and the capitalist present? How do authors from the former Second World navigate a global literary marketplace dominated by English-language publishing? What does the view from the periphery tell us about the center?

We will be reading prose in translation from across the countries and languages of the former Second World—with texts translated from Russian, Uzbek, and Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian—with authors hailing from places as distinct as Makhachkala and Zagreb, Tashkent and Moscow including: Akram Aylisli, Hamid Ismailov, Miljenko Jergović, and Olga Breininger. No prior knowledge of East European, Russian, or Eurasian languages, literatures or cultures is required.

This course fulfils the second half of the UC Berkeley Reading & Composition requirement; together with our critical inquiry into modes of reading, we will practice our writing and research skills. We will devote plenty of time to critical thinking and essay-writing skills, paying particular attention to argumentation, analysis, and the fundamentals of writing at the college level.

This course also counts toward Townsend Center for the Humanities “Culture and Globalization” Course Thread. For more information, see: https://coursethreads.berkeley.edu/threads/culture-globalization

Requisites

• Previously passed an R_A course with a letter grade of C- or better. Previously passed an articulated R_A course with a letter grade of C- or better. Score a 4 on the Advanced Placement Exam in English Literature. Score a 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement Exam in English Language and Composition. Score of 5, 6, or 7 on the International Baccalaureate Higher Level Examination in English.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.