| Unit name | Dostoevsky's Major Fiction |
|---|---|
| Unit code | MODLM2038 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | M/7 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Dr. Coates |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | School of Modern Languages |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Dostoevsky is one of the foremost European novelists of the nineteenth century, and one of the greatest Russian novelists of all time. This unit examines a majority of his major novels. Works are examined both intrinsically in relation to theme and form, and more broadly in relation to the great ideological debates of 19th-century Russia and Europe in which Dostoevsky's work intensely participates. Works will be studied in translation. Seminars will be run in parallel to the existing undergraduate unit on Dostoevsky (RUSS20035); there will be supplementary tutorials on the novels not covered on the undergraduate unit.
Aims:
To develop students understanding of the major novels of Dostoevsky and the historical, social, and intellectual context in which he was writing, and thus of Dostoevskys place in Russian literary and intellectual history. To equip students to analyse Dostoevskys poetics and make connections between the formal and thematic aspects of his work.
Students will gain a detailed knowledge of Dostoevskys major novels and an appreciation of the broader social, psychological, and spiritual crisis that his work represents and responds to. They will be able to identify and discuss the salient thematic concerns of Dostoevskys work. They will be aware of the outstanding formal features of his prose and be able to analyse these from the point of view of Bakhtinian theory.
The unit will also serve as a possible preparation for further postgraduate study, leading to a research degree.
Topics are by agreement with the unit director.
