Life, Self and God in Fedor Dostoevsky’s fiction, Part III: Demons


This course will be devoted to in-depth exploration of one of Fedor Dostoevsky’s five great novels, his world-famous masterpiece “Demons.” As we will analyze this works’ major themes, including those of selfhood, faith, love, family, society, and ethics, we will relate them to Dostoevsky’s spiritual and artistic concerns. We will also put this novel in the context of Russian and world literature and culture. We will read Dostoevsky’s Demons in Richard Peaver and Larisa Volokhonsky’s translation. The first reading assignment is Part 1, Chapters 1-5, pp. 7-206. Further reading assignments and discussion questions will be posted on the course site http://www.slavdom.com/index.php?id=157

 

READINGS

Dostoevsky, Fedor. Demons (novel) (trans./annotated by Richard Pevear and Larisa Volokhonsky),

 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS


SCHEDULE (revised October 3)

Class 1

Demons, discussion: Part 1, Chapters 1-5, pp. 7-206

Class 2

Demons, discussion: Part 2, Chapters 1-5 pp. 209-342

Class 3

Demons, discussion: Part 2, Chapters 6-8, pp. 343-423

Class 4

Demons, discussion: At Tikhon’s pp. 681-714 (the banned chapter found in the Appendix) and  Part 2, Chapters 9-10

Class 5

Demons, discussion: Part 3, Chapters 1-8, pp. 461-678


 
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