Autobiographical Creations in Russian Literature
(01:860:320 and 01:195:397; index 30361 and 32921)
Professor Emily Van Buskirk
Department of Germanic, Russian,
and East European Languages and Literatures
Office Hours: Wednesday 3-4pm (195 College Ave. Rm 203)
evanbusk@rci.rutgers.edu
732-932-7201 (main office in the dept.)
Fall 2009
MW4 1:10-2:30
Scott Hall 221
In this course we study the ways in which Russian writers imagine and represent the self
in autobiographical works of literature – retracing the dual process whereby a text and a selfimage (or life story) are created.
We examine the methods and strategies Russian writers employ as they tackle the basic
problems of self-writing. How do they depict the relationship between personal experience and
history, between the present and the past, the individual and the collective? What narrative
techniques do they use? In what ways do they blur the boundaries between factual and fictional
writing, between memoir and documentary prose? How do they represent a self that has been
exposed to extreme, horrific circumstances?
We also approach problems of a literary historical nature, inquiring about the role of
autobiography in Russian literature, and the status of Russian literature vis-à-vis the European
autobiographical tradition. To understand the history and the boundaries of the genre, we read a
diverse sampling of important literary works: a medieval monk’s account of his life (Avvakum),
two powerful nineteenth-century models (Tolstoy and Herzen, whose depictions of childhood
and of the historical dimensions of personal experience, respectively, influenced later
autobiographers), and numerous texts that emerged from the explosion of self-writing in the
twentieth century (Osip Mandelstam, Vladimir Nabokov, Evgeniia Ginzburg, Nadezhda
Mandelstam, Lydia Ginzburg, Joseph Brodsky, and others). Themes of special importance
include the construction of childhood, poetic self-creation, experiences of the Gulag and the
Leningrad Blockade, and images of the Russian/Soviet intelligentsia.
All readings and discussions will be in English. There are no prerequisites.
Course Requirements
Participation
(includes lecture attendance, active participation in discussion, small written responses,
and preparation of discussion questions)
20%
Mid-term exam in class on Wednesday, Oct. 28
10%
4-5 page paper due on Wednesday, Oct. 14 at the beginning of class
20%
7-8 page paper due on Monday, Dec. 9 at the beginning of class
25%
Final exam
25%
Prof. Van Buskirk
Autobiographical Creations
Required Texts
The following books have been ordered at the Rutgers University Bookstore, and will be placed
on reserve at Alexander Library. All other readings will be available electronically on sakai, and
you are required to print and bring these to class to be prepared for discussion.
Evgeniia Ginzburg, Journey into the Whirlwind
Alexander Herzen, My Past and Thoughts
Nadezhda Mandelstam, Hope Against Hope
Osip Mandelstam, The Noise of Time
Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory
Victor Shklovsky, Zoo, or Letters Not about Love,
or the Third Heloise
Lev Tolstoy, Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth
(ISBN 9780156027519)
(ISBN 9780520042100)
(ISBN 9780375753169)
(ISBN 9780810119284)
(ISBN 9780679723394)
(ISBN 9781564783110)
(ISBN 9780140441390)
Schedule of Readings and Assignments
Week 1: Introduction
Wed., Sept. 2 (Introduction to Russian Autobiographical Writing)
Week 2: Early Russian Autobiography: out of a Saint’s Life
Tues., Sept. 8: (make-up class for Sept. 7): Life of Avvakum, Written by Himself (75 pages)
Wed., Sept. 9: Rousseau’s Confessions, Book 1 (40 pages)
Week 3: Inventions of Russian Childhood- Part 1
Mon., Sept. 14: Rousseau’s Confessions, Book 2 (40 pages) and Tolstoy, “Childhood” (pp. 1-54)
Wed., Sept. 16: Tolstoy, “Childhood” (pp. 55-103)
Week 4: The Self and History
Mon., Sept. 21: Herzen, My Past and Thoughts (excerpts TBA)
Wed., Sept. 23: Herzen, “<Story of a Family Drama>” (pp. 840-920)
Week 5: The Self and History, Part 2 (Literary Tradition)
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Prof. Van Buskirk
Autobiographical Creations
Mon., Sept. 28: Mandelstam, “Noise of Time” (pp. 69-101)
Wed., Sept. 30: Mandelstam, “Noise of Time” (pp. 101-117)
Week 6: Revealing and Concealing the Self / Play with Form
Mon., Oct. 5: Viktor Shklovsky, Zoo, or Letters not about Love (pp. 11-75)
Wed., Oct. 7: Shklovsky, Zoo, or Letters not about Love (pp. 76-136)
Week 7: Childhood Part 2 (Violence)
Mon., Oct. 12: Isaac Babel, “The Story of My Dovecote,” “First Love,” “The Awakening,” “Di
Grasso,” “My First Fee”
Week 7-8: Personal and Collective Trauma
Wed., Oct. 14: Akhmatova, “Requiem,” and small excerpt from Lidiia Chukovskaia, The
Akhmatova Journals
FIRST (4-5 PAGE) PAPER DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS
Mon., Oct. 19: Evgeniia Ginzburg, Journey into the Whirlwind (pages TBA)
Week 9: Gender, Memoir, and the Intelligentsia
Wed., Oct. 21: Evgeniia Ginzburg, Journey into the Whirlwind, cont., and excerpts from Within
the Whirlwind
Mon., Oct. 26: Nadezhda Mandelstam, Hope Against Hope (excerpts TBA)
Wed. Oct. 28, MID-TERM EXAM
Week 10: Poetic Self-Fashioning
Mon., Nov. 2: Vladimir Mayakovsky, “I, Myself,” “Fop’s Blouse,” and suicide note
Wed., Nov. 4: Marina Tsvetaeva, “My Pushkin” (55 pages)
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Prof. Van Buskirk
Autobiographical Creations
Weeks 11, 12: Documentary Prose, Semi-Fictions
Mon., Nov. 9: Lydia Ginzburg, Blockade Diary Part 1 (pp. 3-77)
Wed., Nov. 11: Ginzburg, Lydia Blockade Diary “Addendum” (pp. 79-112), and other short
Blockade prose TBA
Mon., Nov. 16: Varlam Shalamov, Kolyma Tales (“A Piece of Meat,” “Dry Rations,” “Prosthetic
Appliances”)
Wed., Nov. 18: Shalamov, Kolyma Tales, cont. (“The Snake Charmer,” “Cherry Brandy,”
“Lend-Lease”)
SECOND, 7-8-PAGE PAPER DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS
Week 13: Childhood Revisited
(Please plan ahead: the reading assignment this week is heavier than usual)
Mon., Nov. 23: Nabokov Speak, Memory (pp. 9-152)
Wed., Nov. 25: Nabokov Speak, Memory (pp. 153-310)
Weeks 14: The Self in Translation
Mon., Nov. 30: Brodsky, “Less than One” (30 pages), “In a Room and a Half” (54 pages)
Wed., Dec. 2: Brodsky, “Watermark” (90 pages)
Week 15
Mon., Dec. 7: TBA (Brodsky’s poetry or Ilya Kabakov installation / the Zimmerli)
Wed., Dec. 9: Final reflections
FINAL EXAM Friday, Dec. 18, 12:00-3:00 PM
COURSE POLICIES
Attendance
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Prof. Van Buskirk
Autobiographical Creations
All students must attend regularly and arrive prepared. Those who miss more than two class
sessions without a compelling excuse (a doctor’s or college dean’s note, for instance) should
expect a one-step reduction in the course grade (i.e. an A becomes a B+, a B+ becomes a B).
Three late arrivals count as one absence. Note: It is the responsibility of students who have been
absent (for any reason) to find out what they have missed and obtain materials that may have
been handed out.
Photocopies
Department photocopying fees add up quickly and impressively; we will therefore need to
collect from each student 5 cents per page toward the cost of handouts other than the syllabus,
quizzes and tests.
Online course materials
Please note that our course will have its own website on https://sakai.rutgers.edu/portal. You can
log on using your Net ID and password. If the course does not appear as one of your tabs, please
search and add it or contact me and I will grant you access. Some of the reading will be
available via Sakai and you are required to print and bring those readings to class on the
scheduled days as part of your class participation grade. Please check Sakai frequently for
updates, announcements, and resources. You can also communicate with your classmates via
Sakai in the Chat Room or pose questions in the Forum. Online materials may also be available
through library online reserves. Please go to
http://www.libraries.rutgers.edu/rul/lib_servs/course_reserves.shtml and log in using your Net ID
and password. You can then search by Instructor, Course Number, or Course Name.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is an extremely serious matter, and can lead to a student’s failing the course and being
referred to his or her dean for disciplinary action. When referring to ideas other than your own,
always acknowledge your sources clearly and completely, whether you are quoting or
paraphrasing. Please see the University’s policies on academic integrity at
http://teachx.rutgers.edu/integrity/policy.html, and discuss with your instructor any questions you
may have about this and related issues.
Disability Support Services
Students who may be requesting accommodations due to disabilities are encouraged to
familiarize themselves with procedures and policies regarding disability support services at the
following website: http://disabilityservices.rutgers.edu/. It is recommended that students
seeking accommodations begin filing paperwork as soon as possible as the documentation
review process may take up to 30 business days. Students are encouraged to speak with teachers
about these issues at the beginning of the term. All such conversations will be kept strictly
confidential.
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