RUSS 0090 Spring 2015 Syllabus
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University of Pittsburgh
Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
RUSS 0090: Russian Fairy Tales
Spring 2015
Lectures: Monday, Wednesday
12:00PM - 12:50PM-- 7th Floor Alumni Hall
Office: CL 1417
Instructors:
Chip Crane (chipcrane@hotmail.com)
Sabrina Robinson (sms167@pitt.edu)
Ellina Sattarova (ellinars7@gmail.com)
Office hours: Check Courseweb
Schedule of Classes and Assignments
Abbreviations:
AA—Afanas′ev, A. Russian Fairy Tales.
BB—Bettelheim, Bruno. The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales.
LI—Ivanits, Linda J. Russian Folk Belief.
CW—CourseWeb
* The instructors reserve rights to make changes in course schedule throughout the term.
WEEK 1
Monday, January
5
LECTURE
Wednesday,
January 7
LECTURE
Thursday,
January 8, Friday,
January 9
RECITATION
WEEK 2
Monday, January
12 LECTURE
SYLLABUS. DEFINITIONS AND ISSUES. RUSSIA AND ITS PEOPLE
Assignment due
 None
BABA YAGA AND KOSHCHEI THE DEATHLESS
Assignment due
 AA: “Baba Yaga and the Brave Youth,” pp. 76-79
 AA: “Baba Yaga,” pp. 194-195
 AA: “Koshchey the Deathless,” pp. 485-494
In Class
 Film clip: A. Rou’s Fire, Water, and Copper Pipes
IVAN THE FOOL
Assignment due
 CW: Andrei Sinyavsky, “Ivan the Fool” (PDF)
 Bring Afanas′ev to class
 AA: “Ivanushko, the Little Fool,” pp. 62–66
 AA: “Emelya The Simpelton” pp. 46-48
MAX LÜTHI AND STYLISTIC CHARACTERISTICS OF FOLKTALES
Assignment due
 CW: Max Lüthi’s The European Folk Tale: Form and Nature (PDF)
 AA: “Ivan the Peasant’s Son and the Thumb-Sized Man,” pp. 262–68
RUSS 0090 Spring 2015 Syllabus
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Wednesday,
January 14
LECTURE
THE AUTHORSHIP OF FOLKLORE
Assignment due
 CW: Petr Bogatyrev and Roman Jakobson, “Folklore as a Special Form of
Creativity” (PDF)
 CW: Aleksandr Ostrovskii, “The Snow Maiden” (PDF)
Thursday,
January 15,
Friday, January
16
RECITATION
FOLKLORE AND FOLKTALES
Assignment due
 Bring Afanas′ev to class
 AA: “Vasilisa the Beautiful,” pp. 439-47
 AA: “Prince Ivan, the Firebird, and the Grey Wolf,” pp. 612-25
 AA: “Maria Morevna,” pp. 553–562
WEEK 3
Monday, January
19
NO CLASSES—MARTIN LUTHER KING DAY
Wednesday,
January 21
LECTURE
RUSSIAN ORTHODOXY AND RUSSIAN PAGANISM
Assignment due
 LI: pp. 3–18, 51–63, 169–177
In Class
 Pagan deities and festivals
 Film Clip: A. Tarkovskii’s Andrei Rublev (1966)
Thursday,
January 22,
Friday, January
23
RECITATION
DOMESTIC SPIRITS AND NATURE SPIRITS
Assignment due
 Deadline for notifying instructors and Office of Disability Resources of special
accommodation requests. (See Course Description or consult with one of the
instructors for details.)
 CW: List of terms in CourseWeb in Course Documents folder
 LI: pp. 64–82, 178–189
 Bring Ivanits to Class
WEEK 4
Monday, January
26
LECTURE
Wednesday,
January 28
LECTURE
Thursday,
January29,
Friday, January
30
RECITATION
STRUCTURALIST APPROACH TO FAIRY TALES: PROPP
Assignment due
 CW: selections from Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of the Folktale (PDF)
 AA: “The Magic Swan Geese,” pp. 349–51
STRUCTURALIST APPROACH TO FAIRY TALES: PROPP
Assignment due
 CW: selections from Vladimir Propp’s Morphology of the Folktale (PDF)
 reread AA: “Ivan, the Firebird, and the Gray Wolf” pp. 612-25
STRUCTURALIST APPROACH TO FAIRY TALES: PROPP
Assignment due
 AA: “The Crystal Mountain,” pp. 482-85
 Review for examination #1. Come to class with questions or requests to review
specific material.
RUSS 0090 Spring 2015 Syllabus
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WEEK 5
Monday,
February 2
LECTURE
EXAMINATION #1
Includes all materials (readings, lectures, recitations) to date.
Wednesday,
February 4
LECTURE
PSYCHOANALYTICAL APPROACH TO FAIRY TALES: FREUD AND BETTELHEIM
Assignment due
 BB: pp. 97–111
 AA: “The Three Kingdoms,” pp. 49-54
 AA: “Two Ivans, Soldier’s Sons,” pp. 463–475
BETTELHEIM: YOUNGEST CHILD AND TWO SIBLING TALES
Assignment due
 BB: pp. 78–83, 90–96
 AA: “The Armless Maiden,” pp. 294–299
 AA: “Shemiaka the Judge,” pp. 625–627
 AA: “Misery,” pp. 20–24
Thursday,
February 5,
Friday, February
6
RECITATION
WEEK 6
Monday,
February 9
LECTURE
BETTELHEIM: SLEEPING BEAUTY TALES
Assignment due
 BB: pp. 225–236
 AA: “Prince Ivan and Princess Martha,” pp. 79–86
 AA: “The Enchanted Princess,” pp. 600–611
In Class
 Video clip: Sleeping Beauty (ballet)
Wednesday,
February 11
LECTURE
BETTELHEIM: ANIMAL BRIDE AND GROOM TALES
Assignment due
 BB: pp. 282-291, 303-310
 AA: “The Snotty Goat,” pp. 200–202
 CW: Sergei Aksakov, “The Little Scarlet Flower” (PDF)
In Class
 Film clip: L. Atamanov’s The Little Scarlet Flower
Thursday,
February 12,
Friday, February
13
RECITATION
WEEK 7
Monday,
February 16
LECTURE
BETTELHEIM: SLEEPING BEAUTY AND ANIMAL BRIDE AND GROOM TALES
Assignment due
 AA: “The Frog Princess,” pp. 119–123
 AA: “The Feather of Finist, the Bright Falcon,” pp. 580-588
FAIRY TALES AND VISUAL ART
In Class
Russian Folk Art
Russian High Art
RUSS 0090 Spring 2015 Syllabus
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Wednesday,
February 18
LECTURE
FEMINIST APPROACHES TO FAIRY TALES: LIEBERMAN
Assignment due
 CW: Marcia Lieberman, “Some Day My Prince Will Come” (PDF)
 REVIEW: AA: “The Snotty Goat,” pp. 200–202
 REVIEW: AA: “Prince Ivan, the Firebird, and the Grey Wolf,” pp. 612-25
 REVIEW: AA: “Maria Morevna,” pp. 553–562
In Class
 Film clip: I. Ivanov-Vano’s The Tale of the Dead Princes and Seven Knights (1951)
Thursday,
February 19,
Friday, February
20
RECITATION
FEMINIST APPROACHES TO FAIRY TALES: BAD WIVES, WISE MAIDENS
Assignment due
 AA: “The Bad Wife,” pp. 56–57
 AA: “The Wondrous Wonder, the Marvelous Marvel,” pp. 13–15
 AA: “The Goldfish,” pp. 528–33
 AA: “The Wise Little Girl,” pp. 252–55
 AA: “The Wise Maiden and the Seven Robbers,” pp. 134–40
WEEK 8
Monday,
February 23
LECTURE
WICKED STEPMOTHERS: WARNER
Assignment due
 CW: Warner, “Wicked Stepmothers,” (PDF)
 CW: Aleksandr Afanas′ev, “The Magic Mirror” (PDF)
Wednesday,
February 25
LECTURE
WICKED STEPMOTHERS: GILBERT AND GUBAR
 CW: Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar, “The Queen’s Looking Glass” (PDF)
In Class
 Film clip: Disney, Snow White (1937)
Thursday,
February 26,
Friday, February
27
RECITATION
WICKED STEPMOTHERS
Assignment due
 AA: “Burenushka, the Little Red Cow,” pp. 146–150
 AA: “Jack Frost,” pp. 366-39
 AA: “Baba Yaga,” pp. 194-195
 AA: “The Maiden Tsar,” pp. 229–234
 Review for examination #2. Come to class with questions or requests to review
specific material.
WEEK 9
EXAMINATION # 2
Monday, March 2 Emphasizes all materials (readings, lectures, recitations) since first examination.
LECTURE
Examinations are not cumulative by design, but may require cumulative knowledge. For
example, a question on the last examination about a tale read toward the end of the
semester may require you to analyze the tale through the lens of an analytical method
introduced in a theoretical reading toward the beginning of the semester. Alternatively, a
question about a theoretical or methodological approach to fairy tales introduced toward
the end of the semester may require you to compare this approach to one introduced
earlier.
RUSS 0090 Spring 2015 Syllabus
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Wednesday,
March 4
LECTURE
EPIC AND BYLINY
Assignment due
 CW: “Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber” (bylina) (PDF)
 CW: “Sadko” (bylina) (PDF)
In Class
Film clip: Ptushko, The Sword and the Dragon (1956)
Film clip: Rimsky-Korsakov’s Sadko (Opera)
Thursday,
March 5, Friday,
March 6
RECITATION
BYLINY AND FAIRY TALES
Assignment due
 AA: “Ivan the Simpleton,” pp. 142–145
 AA: “Foma Berennikov,” pp. 284–287
 AA: “Ilya Muromets and the Dragon,” pp. 569–575
WEEK 10
Sunday March 8Sunday, March
15
SPRING BREAK
Spring Break. Do not come to class!
WEEK 11
Monday,
March 16
LECTURE
Wednesday,
March 18
LECTURE
MARXIST APPROACH TO FAIRY TALES
Assignment due
 CW: Selections from Jack Zipes’s Breaking the Magic Spell (PDF)
Thursday,
March 19, Friday,
March 20
RECITATION
MARXIST APPROACH TO FAIRY TALES
Assignment due
 AA: “Salt,” pp. 40–44
 Review lecture notes. Come prepared to analyze tales from Marxist perspective
WEEK 12
Monday, March
23
LECTURE
PUSHKIN AND ROMANTICISM
Assignment due
 CW: Aleksandr Pushkin, “The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of His Son, the Glorious and
Mighty Knight Prince Guidon Saltonovich, and of the Fair Swan-Princess”
(PDF)
Wednesday,
March 25
LECTURE
ROMANTICISM AND ORIENTALISM
Assignment due
 CW: Mikhail Lermontov, “Ashik-Kerib” (PDF)
In Class
 Film clip: Paradjanov’s Ashik Kerib
Thursday,
March 26, Friday,
March 27
RECITATION
ROMANTICISM AND ORIENTALISM
Assignment due
 CW: Aleksandr Pushkin, “The Golden Cockerel” (PDF)
MARXISM AND DISNEY
Assignment due
 CW: Jack Zipes, “Breaking the Disney Spell,” pp. 72–95 (PDF)
RUSS 0090 Spring 2015 Syllabus
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WEEK 13
Monday, March
30
LECTURE
SOVIET POWER AND FAIRY TALES
Assignment due
 CW: Valentin Kataev, “The Flower of Seven Colors” (PDF)
 CW: Arkadii Gaidar, “Tale of the Military Secret” (PDF)
In Class
 Film Clip: M. Tsekhanovsky’s The Flower of Seven Colors (1948)
Wednesday,
April 1
LECTURE
SOCIALIST REALISM
Assignment due
 CW: Katerina Clark, The Soviet Novel (PDF)
In Class
Film Clip: M. Chiaureli’s The Fall of Berlin (1948)
SOVIET FAIRY TALES
 CW: Lazar Lagin’s The Old Genie Khottabych: A Story of Make-Believe (PDF)
Thursday,
April 2, Friday,
April 3
RECITATION
WEEK 14
Monday, April 6
LECTURE
ALTERNATIVES: KHARMS AND ABSURDISM
Assignment due
 CW: Daniil Kharms, “A Ffairy Tale,” “A Fable, ” “The Copper Look,” and
“The Four-Legged Crow” (PDF)
Wednesday, April
ALTERNATIVES: SHVARTZ AND DISSIDENCE
8
Assignment due
LECTURE
 CW: Evgeny Schvarts, The Dragon (PDF) Act One
Thursday, April
9, Friday April 10
RECITATION
WEEK 15
Monday, April 13
LECTURE
Wednesday,
April 15
LECTURE
Thursday,
April 16, Friday,
April 17
RECITATION
MondaySaturday, April
20-25
ALTERNATIVES
Assignment due
 CW: Evgeny Schvarts, The Dragon (PDF) Act Three
REVIEW FOR EXAMINATION #3
Assignment due
 Look over material covered since Examination #2
 Bring any questions you have to class.
EXAMINATION #3
Emphasizes all materials (readings, lectures, recitations) since Examination #2.
There is no separate final examination (although the makeup examination is held during
the regular examination time, the time and place of which will be announced later in the
semester).
Post Soviet Tales and Wrap-Up



Final Thoughts
Evaluation of Recitation Instructors
CW: Liudmila Petrushevskaia, “The Cabbage Patch Mother" (PDF)
MAKE-UP EXAMINATION
FINAL EXAMINATION WEEK