Advanced studies in the several fields of Slavic literatures and linguistics. Content varies.

Our seminar will be devoted to the intensive, close (and relatively slow) reading of Platonov's work from the first decade of his career. After beginning with his early writings as a journalist and fledgling poet, we will move on to consider his fiction and essays from the 1920s. Four weeks will be devoted to a careful reading of his novel, Chevengur, including a consideration of its recently published translation. We will also spend time on some of his shorter work from this period, including both well- known works such as “Epifanskie shliuzy,” and lesser studied pieces such as “Ivan Zhokh” and the parodic brochure “Antiseksus.” We will also spend a week on Platonov’s correspondence with his wife. The final week(s) of the class will conclude with a reading of Chevengur. For those who want to continue with Platonov, a sequel covering the 1930s may be offered in the future. Some time will be spent on figures who influenced Platonov (Fyodorov, Bogdanov, Pilnyak, Shklovsky). Class participation will be extremely important. Periodically, participants will be assigned the responsibility for presenting an analysis of a short work – or part of a longer one – in class. Participants will be asked to write two short papers (5 pages) and a longer, final essay that may – but need not – be an expanded version of one of the papers. We will do a few in-class translation exercises as well.

Repeat Rules