Proseminar (411-0-1)

Instructors

Nina Gourianova
847/491-2937
1880 Campus Dr. #3365
Office Hours: Wednesdays 1:00-2:00pm and by appointment

Meeting Info

Kresge 3364 Slavic Seminar Rm: Thurs 3:00PM - 5:50PM

Overview of class

This seminar will be focused on the ways Word and Image co-exist within Russian culture, from medieval icons and folk art, through early Avant-Garde, to contemporary graphic novels. We will look at the material in the context of major issues visual and literary Modernism and Avant-garde carries within: 'life-building' (zhiznetvorchestvo), and mythologization; search for new cultural, national, and personal identity; gender politics; new aesthetic ideology. Poetry and visual works by Bely, Khlebnikov, Kruchenykh, Malevich, Elena Guro et al. Critical and theoretical readings from Lessing's Laocoon to Michel's Foucault "This is Not a Pipe." I plan a visit to Art Institute and having one of the sessions in our Rare Books library reading room which to explore the original Futurist and Constructivist books and journals

Learning Objectives

Acquired in-depth knowledge and understanding of Russian modernist and avant-garde literary and visual cultures in the global context, ability to argument and formulate your thesis, mastering comparative methodology and theoretical framework related to the material