Fall 2015--Spring 2016
Instructor: Svitlana Kobets, PhD
This course is an introduction to Tolstoy’s short prose rendered into English by two of the most
celebrated Russian literature translators of our time, Larissa Volokhonsky and
Richard Peaver. In the Fall our readings will include the Prisoner of the Caucuses, Hadji
Murat, Three Deaths, The Memoirs of the Madman, Master and Man, The Death of
Ivan Ilyich and After the Ball. In the Spring we will read Family Happiness, the Kreutzer Sonata, the Devil, Father Sergius, the Forged Coupon, What Men Live by? Alyosha the Pot and The Three Hermits. These shorter works, albeit
masterpieces in their own right, have long been overshadowed by Tolstoy’s prose
giants. Yet they should not be. Tolstoy was a
superb master of short prose where he addressed his perennial questions and
concerns with the same earnestness, passion and skill as in his larger pieces. As we will read and discuss these works we will ponder Tolstoy’s
ethical queries and artistic vision, his search for selfhood and for the
meaning of life.
Course
web page: http://www.slavdom.com/index.php?id=183
Schedule
Tolstoy I: LIT1-F, October 6 – November 3, 1-3 pm
October 6
The Prisoner of the Caucasus, 1872
October 13
Hadji Murat, 1896-1904
October 20
Hadji Murat
October 27
Master and Man
The Death of Ivan Ilyich
November 3
Three Deaths (handout)
After the Ball
Tolstoy II: LIT13-S, May 17 – June 14, 1-3 pm
May 17
The Diary of a Madman 1884-1903
The Forged Coupon 1880, 1902-1904
May 24
Family Happiness 1859
May 31
The Kreutzer Sonata 1889
June 7
The Kreutzer Sonata cont.
The Devil 1889
Father Sergius 1890-1898
June 14
What Men Live By 1885
What Men Live By (audiobook)
Alyosha the Pot 1905
The Three Hermits 1886
The Three Hermits (audiobook)