RSn097 Russian Political and Social Thinking and Literature

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2020
Extent and Intensity
1/1/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Josef Šaur, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Mgr. Josef Šaur, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Josef Šaur, Ph.D.
Department of Slavonic Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Mgr. Josef Šaur, Ph.D.
Supplier department: Department of Slavonic Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Wed 14:00–15:40 B2.32
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 content of the course is ranged between history of thinking and history of literature. The course will introduce students to the specific role of Russian literature that, under the historical circumstances, had to act as platform for social and political discussions. The main part of the course will focus on the period of “long” 19th century. In seminar part students will apply gained knowledge from the lectures when interpret the selected works of Russian literature in individual papers. The necessary condition for successful finishing the course is independent reading.
Learning outcomes
At the end of the course the student will be able:
- to explain the specific role of Russian literature in Russian society and its overlap to political and social thinking;
- to characterize and delimit the main streams in Russian political and social thinking of 18th–19th centuries;
- to determine their mindset and to appoint their main leaders;
- to interpret social and political ideas presented in a literary work.
Syllabus
  • 1) Literature and its specific position in the Russian environment
  • 2) Creators and consumers of literature—nobility, intelligentsia, raznochintsy
  • 3) Russian political and social thinking and 18th-century literature (Pososhkov, Golitsyn, Tatishchev, Novikov, Fonvizin, Vorontsov, Desnitsky, Shcherbatov, Radishchev)
  • 4) The Westernisers—Slavophile debate and Russian thought and culture in the 19th century (Arzamas, the colloquy of Lovers of the Russian Word, Westernisers and Slavophiles, Pan-Slavism, Danilevsky, Lamansky)
  • 5) Conservative and traditionalist streams in the 19th-century Russian thinking
  • 6) Radical and revolutionary streams of the 19th-century Russian thinking (Decembrist revolt, revolutionary democrats, Petrashevsky Circle, nihilism, populist movement, Russian socialism)
  • 7) Russian liberalism and its literary dimension (Annenkov, Botkin, Turgenev, constitutionalism, Zemstvo, Vekhi)
  • 8) Pochvennichestvo, Tolstoyan movement, “bogoiskatelstvo”, God-Building, Eurasianism
Literature
  • Walicki, Andrzej. Zarys myśli rosyjskiej. Od oświecenia do renesansu religijno-filozoficznego. Kraków, 2002.
  • Očerki russkoj kultury XIX veka. T. 4. Obščestvennaja mysl. Moskva, 2003.
  • Offord, Derek - Leatherbarrow, William (ed.). A History of Russian Thought. Cambridge, 2010.
  • Utechin, S. V. Russian Political Thought. A Concise History. New York - London, 1963.
  • VYDRA, Zbyněk. Život za cara? : krajní pravice v předrevolučním Rusku. Červený Kostelec: Pavel Mervart, 2010, 552 s. ISBN 9788087378083. info
  • GKANTZIOS DRÁPELOVÁ, Pavla. Kulturní, duchovní etnické kořeny Ruska : portréty. Červený Kostelec: Pavel Mervart, 2009, 276 s. ISBN 9788086818436. info
  • VORÁČEK, Emil. Eurasijství v ruském politickém myšlení : osudy jednoho z porevolučních ideových směrů ruské meziválečné emigrace. Praha: SET OUT, 2004, 350 s. ISBN 8086277348. info
  • PIPES, Richard and Stanislav PAVLÍČEK. Rusko za starého režimu. Vyd. 1. Praha: Argo, 2004, 404 s. ISBN 8072035592. info
  • VLČEK, Radomír. Ruský panslavismus - realita a fikce. Praha, 2002. ISBN 80-7286-040-2. info
  • ŠVANKMAJER, Milan. Dějiny Ruska. 3. dopl. a přeprac. vyd. Praha: Lidové noviny, 1995, 558 s. ISBN 80-7106-183-2. info
  • WALICKI, Andrzej. A history of Russian thought : from the enlightenment to marxism. Translated by Hilda Andrews-Rusiecka. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1979, xvii, 456. ISBN 0804710260. info
Teaching methods
Lectures, independent reading, class discussion.
Assessment methods
Paper assignment, oral exam, checking the independent reading.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2021.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2020, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2020/RSn097