Unit information: Russian Philosophy of the Silver Age in 2008/09

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Unit name Russian Philosophy of the Silver Age
Unit code RUSSM0012
Credit points 20
Level of study M/7
Teaching block(s) Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24)
Unit director
Open unit status Not open
Pre-requisites

None

Co-requisites

None

School/department Department of Russian
Faculty Faculty of Arts

Description including Unit Aims

This unit will explore a number of key themes in the thought of the Silver-Age period in Russia, from 1890 to 1921, namely: the "Russian Idea"; utopia and apocalypse; reason and faith; the feminine principle; sex, family and nation. It will seek to facilitate an understanding of the ways in which these concerns are peculiar to Russia (both in the period described and beyond), whilst also locating them more broadly within European modernism. Authors to be considered are: Vladimir Soloviev, Vasilii Rozanov, Lev Shestov, Nikolai Berdiaev, Pavel Florensky, and Mikhail Bakhtin. Teaching is in weekly seminars, and the unit will be assessed by one essay of 5,000 words or two essays of 2,500 words each. Knowledge of Russian is desirable but not essential for this unit.