The focus of the seminar is Osip Mandelstam’s oeuvre as an expression of Russian modernism and the Russian (and Soviet) experience; the chief aim is a close reading of his poetry and prose in context (contemporary poetry, cultural trends and schools, modernization and politics, criticism and scholarship – and, of course, twentieth-century experience). We shall explore: Mandelstam’s background in Russian Symbolism (Ivanov, Bely, Blok, Annensky, Kuzmin); Acmeism/Futurism; Mandelstam's reception in contemporary letters, scholarship, and history; the role of poetry in modern Russian culture and civil religion (poet as citizen and martyr); Mandelstam's Acmeism and the cultural paradigm of Soviet civilization; construction of a poet's biography and contemporary cultural theory (sociology, psychoanalysis, Formalism, Bakhtin); Mandelstam and the Russian/Soviet/post-Soviet experience ( 1900s to Sots-Art, Timur Kibirov, Sergei Gandlevsky). 

Editions: With the exception of a few translation of Mandelstam’s prose and criticism, and one short biography in English (at the bookstore), the seminar will rely on the editions placed on reserve at Green and the Slavic Department library. A selected bibliography is to be distributed in class.

Open to graduate students and advanced undergraduates who are  familiar with and have a strong interest in Russian literary history, Russian and/or modernist poetry. 

Language: knowledge of Russian (three ears or equivalent) is highly  desirable but not absolutely necessary.

Requirements: 
 

1. A short essay on a poem (3-5 pp. or 800-1200 words, due Oct. 18)
2. A short essay on a prose piece (approx. 800-1200 words, due Nov. 8)
3. A review of a recent monograph on Mandelstam (800-1200 words, due. Nov. 29).

NB: Please note that session VIII will be rescheduled for Monday or Tuesday, Nov. 15 or 16.