COM5015/COM6015/RUS5015/RUS6015 - Modern Russian Literature II: Beyond the Monolith - 2021/22

This module examines developments in Russian fiction of the period 1953 to the present. We will analyse the works of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, the Strugatsky brothers, Sasha Sokolov, Liudmilla Petrushavskaia and Victor Pelevin in relation to the historical events and social phenomena they narrate, their technique and their place in debates about Russian literature and cultural policy. You will explore the relation of cultural politics to the developments in Russian society and develop an understanding of the role of literature in the political and historical process. Ranging from dissidents and marginal genre writers to popular post-Soviet authors, these six literary figures and their works aim to create a picture of Russian literature beyond Soviet dogmatism.