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