The New Russia: Reflections of Post-Soviet Reality in Literature and Film

Examination of fiction and film in the post-Soviet period. Topics include: crime and social breakdown in the 1990s and 2000s; transformations of classic character types (anti-hero, virgin-whore, swindler-rogue); religious and ethical quests; taboo-breaking themes. Works by authors Sorokin, Grishkovets, Pelevin, Petrushevskaya, Sadur, Shishkin, Minaev, Tolstaya, Akunin, Ulitskaya and filmmakers Bodrov, Rogozhkin, Bekmambetov, Khlebnikov/Popogrebsky, Balabanov, and Sokurov. Readings and class discussions in English.