OVERVIEW

This 6-credit 36-hour course will be taught in the first semester; it is aimed at Master’s students from the LM38 program and available to others as an elective. It corresponds to the second semester of 117894.

AIMS AND CONTENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The courses in Russian literature and culture examine specific moments and problems in Russian and Russophone literary and cultural in relation to the literary and cultural context of Europe and provide students with the tools necessary for reading in Russian and for analyzing texts of different types, as well as experience in completing individual projects of research (through seminar-style assignments).

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

This course provides an exploration of the history of Russian literature through the analysis of a specific theme, the exile, from historical and cultural perspectives, alongside the study of literary texts and films. Particular attention will be paid to concepts such as memory, nostalgia, hybrid identity, autobiography, and travel, in a trajectory of readings spanning from the nineteenth century to the contemporary world. Lectures will be complemented by collective workshop sessions in which students will apply a range of critical approaches to the texts (distant reading vs. close reading, thing theory, literary cartography, Orientalism and post-Orientalism, etc.).

PREREQUISITES

none

TEACHING METHODS

This course will be conducted in person and in Italian. Students who are unable to attend regularly should contact the instructor as soon as possible.

Students must register for the course on Aulaweb in order to keep informed both via automatic notifications and posts regarding updates, materials, and details on the course syllabus, lectures, and the exam. N.B. If your name does not appear in the list of "participants", you are not yet signed up and will not receive any notifications.

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

Historical and methodological introduction Exile and self-exile; the relationship between the poet and power; waves of migration in Russian history; geographies of the diaspora.

“Genres” of exile literature Memoir, autobiography, travelogue.

The nineteenth century: exile between punishment and the construction of identity Puškin, Lermontov

After 1917: Berlin and Paris Bunin, Chodasevič, Šklovskij, Nabokov, Gazdanov

Exile in the Soviet era Brodskij, Chržanovskij

New forms of exile and memory Boym, Kaminsky, Desnickaja, Stepanova, Barskova

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

"The Gypsies", "To Ovid", A. Puškin;
"Mcyri", M. Lermontov;

"A compatriot", I. Bunin;

"European Night", V. Chodasevič;

"Zoo, or letters not about love", V. Šklovskij;

"The gift", V. Nabokov;

"Night roads", G. Gazdanov 

"The condition we call exile", "Watermark", I. Brodskij

"Poltory komnaty ili Sentimental'noe putešestvie na Rodinu", A. Chržanovskij [film]

"Dancing in Odessa", I. Kaminsky

"A star shines through", A. Desnickaja [fumetto]

"Fokus", M. Stepanova

"Sibilly, ili Kniga o čudesnych preobraščenijach", P. Barskova

"Nomer doma", AA. VV. [antologia di racconti]

Boym Svetlana, The Future of Nostalgia, Basic Books 2001;

Maria Rubins, Russian Montparnasse. Transnational Writing in Interwar Paris, Palgrave 2015;

Aciman, André, Letters of Transit, The New Press 2000;

Boym, Svetlana, “Estrangement as a Lifestyle: Shklovsky and Brodsky”, Poetics Today vol. 17, No. 4, 1996;

Bethea, David e Siggy, Frank, “Exile and Russian Literature”, in The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-Century Russian Literature, Cambridge University Press 2011;

Carpi, Guido, “La Russia fuori dalla Russia”, in Storia della letteratura russa, II, Carocci Editore 2020;
 

TEACHERS AND EXAM BOARD

Exam Board

MARTINA MORABITO (President)

SARA DICKINSON

LESSONS

LESSONS START

The week of September 28, 2026

Class schedule

The timetable for this course is available here: Portale EasyAcademy

EXAMS

EXAM DESCRIPTION

Oral exam

ASSESSMENT METHODS

Students may sign up for the exam on the Unige site. The exam will test general knowledge of the historical context, the students’ reading of the texts on the syllabus, and their ability to offer a critical interpretation of these. Students are advised to read attentively and to formulate their own opinion on the material. The quality of the students’ self-expression in presenting their ideas and their correct use of relevant scholarly terms will figure into the grade.

FURTHER INFORMATION

ATTENDANCE: Strongly recommended