RSb043 Old Literature of East Slavs and 18th-Century Russian Literature

Faculty of Arts
Spring 2025

The course is not taught in Spring 2025

Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
In-person direct teaching
Teacher(s)
prof. PhDr. Josef Dohnal, CSc. (lecturer)
prof. PhDr. Ivo Pospíšil, DrSc. (lecturer)
prof. PhDr. Josef Dohnal, CSc. (seminar tutor)
prof. PhDr. Ivo Pospíšil, DrSc. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Ivo Pospíšil, DrSc.
Department of Slavonic Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: doc. PhDr. Jiří Gazda, CSc.
Supplier department: Department of Slavonic Studies – Faculty of Arts
Prerequisites (in Czech)
RSb012 An Overview of Russian Lit. II
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The aim of the course is to acquaint the student with the basic features of the Russian literature development of the medieval period, i.e. 11th–17th century, in a wider East Slavonic unity and of the transitive period from the Russian Middle Ages to contemporary Russian literature (18th century) and with the elementary characteristics of the work based on the own reading experience, especially in the Czech or modern Russian translation, partly in the Old Church Slavonic original, later in Russian language that was forming during the 18th century. The course should help the student to orient in the genre structure of this literature, in its religious and social function, in its aesthetic value, and to use its knowledge to a deeper understanding of the character of contemporary Russian literature. The student will be acquainted with the development of 18th century Russian literature, primarily with regard to the interaction of the autochthonous development of Russian culture. The student will be acquainted with the basic stages of the Russian literary history, with the most famous writers of the period and with their works, as well as with the development of the art of translation that had a substantial influence on constituting both the Russian standard language and literature theory.
Learning outcomes
At the end the student will be able to understand the development of Kievan Rus’ literature as the common cradle of East Slavic literatures, the differential period literature (11th–15th century), to distinguish genres of Kievan Rus’, the translated texts, will understand the signs of the secularization, the differentiation to the tripartition, the specific features of Ukrainian and Byelorusian literature and their historical backgrounds, the development of Muscovy Rus’ and the literature of the centralized Russian Empire, the Third Rome conception, the influence of the ideological movements, including various heresies, the split of the Russian Orthodox Church in the 17th century and its consequences, Protopop Avvvakum, the formation of the Russian proto-novel, the secular tales of the 17th century, Russian theatre, the transitive zone of the 17th and the 18th centuries.
The student will be able to read texts as an overview of the whole period from 11th to 17th century. At the end of the course the student will have the knowledge about Old Russian literature and its place in the context of the world medieval literature and its role in the formation contemporary Russian literature.

18th century Russian literature
At the end of the course the students will be able:
- to understand the transition of genres at the end of 17th century and at the beginning of the 18th century, to know the meaning of the reforms of Peter I for the social life in Russia
- to take the period of classicism as a milestone of the development of Russian literature, to know the role of translations for forming up of the Russian literature and of the literary language
- to know the main genres of Russian literature of that period
- to understand the period of democratisation of literature in the last third of the 18th century and the rise of sentimentalism
- to know the main authors of the 18th century Russian literature, their key works and the importance for the formation of Russian literary tradition
- to perceive the significance of the changes of Russian literature during 18th century as the condition for the development of these traditions in the 19th century Russian literature.
Syllabus
  • Presuppositions of the rise of literature in the territory of Eastern Slavs.
  • Christianization and the rise of literature in Kiev Rus, functional division, genre spectrum and genre syncretism Christian texts (Bible, apocrypha, hagiography) Traditions of East-Slavonic chronicles (letopisanije). Sermons and didactic literature.
  • Translated stories in Kievan Rus and their sources.
  • Igor Tale.
  • Literature of the period of feudal differentiation.
  • 14th–15th-century prose.
  • Religious currents in the 14th–17th centuries and their reflection in literature.
  • 16th-century literature.
  • Stories about the smuta (smutnoe vremja, smuta).
  • Political and cultural specific features of the territory of contemporary Ukraine and Byelorusia/Belorussia.
  • The 17th-century secular story (bytovaja povest').
  • Satiric literature.
  • Translations and paraphrases of West-European literatures.
  • Life of Avvakum.
  • Syllabic poetry(virši).
  • Beginnings of the Russian theatre and drama in the 17th century.
  • 17th and 18th-century literature as a transitive zone of East-Slavonic Middle Ages and modern times.
  • 18th century Russian literature:
  • S. Polotsky and his place in Russian literature, Peter I and his reforms, their meaning for the cultural and literary development in Russia.
  • The rise of Russian neoclassicism, translations and translated literature.
  • Theory of literature, satire, fable, drama and ode in neoclassicism, the main neoclassicist writers, their life and work.
  • The decline of neoclassicism, the rise of popular literature targeted on lower strata of the society.
  • The rise of journalism and the satirical journals (Novikov, …).
  • So-called democratic prose, comedy and satire in the last third of the 18th century, the Russian sentimentalism, its rise, development, genres and authors.
Literature
    required literature
  • DOHNAL, Josef. Russkaja literatura XVIII veka. Izbrannyje teksty I. Chrestomatija (Russian Literature of the XVIIIth Century. Selected Texts I. Reading Book). 1. vyd. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2013, 266 pp. ISBN 978-80-210-6495-9. Digitální knihovna FF MU info
    recommended literature
  • ЛЕБЕДЕВА, О.Б История русской литературы XVIII века. Москва 2003, 416 с.
  • ORLOV, Oleg Vladimirovič and Valentin Ivanovič FEDOROV. Russkaja literatura 18 veka. Moskva: Prosveščenije, 1973, 302 s. info
    not specified
  • Kovačičová, O.: Kontexty ruskej literatúry. Aspekty tradície v ruskej literatúre 11.-20. storočia. Bratislava 1999.
  • Ljackij, E.: Historický přehled ruské literatury. Část II. Ruské písemnictví osmnáctého století. Praha 1941.
  • Kopaničák, J.: Istorija drevnej russkoj literatury. Bratislava 1993.
  • Jelínková, J.: Staroruská literatura. In: Pospíšil, I. (ed.): Panoráma ruské literatury, Brno 1993, s. 9-20.
  • Ljackij, E.: Historický přehled ruské literatury. Část I. Staré ruské písemnictví (XI.-XVII. stol.). Nákladem Slovanského ústavu, Praha 1937, přel. Žofie Pohorecká.
  • Suchanek, L.: Literatura i kultura staroruska. Wrocław 1980.
  • Stepanov, V. P.: Istorija russkoj literatury 18 veka. Leningrad 1968.
  • Древнерусская духовная литература. Сказания православные. Под ред. О. Славина. Москва 2004.
  • Pereverzev, V.: Literatura Drevnej Rusi. Moskva 1971).
  • Lichačov, D. S.: Velikoje nasledije. Klassičeskije proizvedenija literatury Drevnej Rusi. Moskva 1975.
  • Čiževskij, D.: History of Russian Literature, from the Eleventh Century to the End of the Baroque. The Hague 1960.
  • POSPÍŠIL, Ivo. Stará literatura východních Slovanů a ruská literatura 18. století (Přehled a exkurzy z literatury 11.-17. století) (Old Literature of Eastern Slavs and 18th-Century Russian Literature (Outline and Probes from the 11-17th-Century Literature)). 1. vyd. Brno: Masarykova univerzita, 2014, 196 pp. ISBN 978-80-210-7281-7. Digitální knihovna FF MU info
  • POSPÍŠIL, Ivo. Existence, struktura, rozpětí a transcendence staroruské literatury (Existence, Structure, Range and Transcendence of Old Russian Literature). Slavica Litteraria. Brno: Masarykova univerzita FF, 1998, vol. 1, X 1, p. 27-37. ISSN 1212-1509. info
  • Písemnictví ruského středověku : od křtu Vladimíra Velikého po Dmitrije Donského : výběr textů 11.-14. století. Edited by Emilie Bláhová - Zoe Hauptová - Václav Konzal. Praha: Vyšehrad, 1989, 364 stran. ISBN 8070210168. info
  • Písemnictví ruského středověku : od křtu Vladimíra Velikého po Dmitrije Donského : výběr textů 11.-14. století. Edited by Emilie Bláhová - Zoe Hauptová - Václav Konzal. Praha: Vyšehrad, 1989, 364 stran. ISBN 8070210168. info
  • Staroruská čítanka : komentované texty ke studiu dějin starší ruské literatury a vývoje ruského jazyka. Edited by Eva Fojtíková - Světla Mathauserová - Oľga Kovačičová. Praha: Státní pedagogické nakladatelství, 1989, 607 stran. ISBN 8004217095. URL info
  • MATHAUSEROVÁ, Světla. Cestami staletí : systémové vztahy v dějinách ruské literatury. Vyd. 1. Praha: Univerzita Karlova, 1988, 147 s. info
  • JELÍNKOVÁ, Jana and Zdeňka DOSTÁLOVÁ. Čítanka z ruské literatury : XI.-XVIII. století. 1. vyd. Praha: Státní pedagogické nakladatelství, 1984, 290 s. info
  • Istorija russkoj literatury : v četyrech tomach. Edited by Je. N. Kuprejanova. Leningrad: Nauka, 1981, 653 s. info
  • Istorija russkoj literatury : v četyrech tomach. Edited by Dmitrij Sergejevič Lichačev - Georgij Pantelejmonovič Makogonenko. Leningrad: Nauka, 1980, 812 s. info
  • LICHAČEV, Dmitrij Sergejevič. "Slovo o polku Igoreve" i kul'tura jego vremeni. Leningrad: Chudožestvennaja literatura, 1978. info
  • Liry i truby : russkaja poezija XVIII veka. Edited by Dmitrij Dmitrijevič Blagoj. Kijev: Veselka, 1976. info
  • LICHAČEV, Dmitrij Sergejevič. Poetika staroruské literatury. Translated by Ladislav Zadražil. Vyd. 1. Praha: Odeon, 1975, 351 s. URL info
  • LICHAČEV, Dmitrij Sergejevič. Poetika drevnerusskoj literatury. Leningrad: Nauka, 1967, 372 s. info
  • Russkaja literatura 18 veka : epocha klassicizma. Moskva: Nauka, 1964. info
  • GUDZIJ, Nikolaj Kallinikovič. Istorija drevnej russkoj literatury. Moskva: Gosudarstvennoje učebno-pedagogičeskoje izdatel'stvo Ministerstva prosveščenija RSFSR, 1956, 510 stran. info
  • BLAGOJ, Dmitrij Dmitrijevič. Istorija russkoj literatury XVIII veka. Izdanije 3, pererabotannoje. Moskva: Gosudarstvennoje učebno-pedagogičeskoje izdatel'stvo Ministerstva prosveščenija RSFSR, 1955, 567 stran. info
  • Chrestomatija po drevnej russkoj literature XI-XVII vekov : dlja vysšich učebnych zavedenij. Edited by Nikolaj Kallinikovič Gudzij. Izd. 5-oje, ispravlennoje i. Moskva: Gosudarstvennoje učebno-pedagogičeskoje izdatel'stvo Ministerstva prosveščenija RSFSR, 1952, 550 s. info
Teaching methods
- lecture
- seminar activities
- presentation of results of the individual analysis of literary text
- discussion
Assessment methods
- oral exam
- elaboration of a brief analysis of one Old-Russian text (based on new Russian or Czech translation) ranging from 9000 characters with spaces
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
The course can also be completed outside the examination period.
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
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