Russian VI: Ideology and Aesthetics during the Stalin Era

On completion of the course, students shall be able to:

• analyse cultural phenomena and texts with respect to the Soviet historical and political context
• explain Soviet cultural politic, and discuss how it is reflected in social realism
• discuss and interpret characteristic stylistic elements and themes in socialist-realist literature, art and film
• analyse a selection of relevant scientific texts.

The course focuses on the Soviet experiment to create a new cultural formation called “the Soviet socialist culture.“ The course highlights literary and cultural processes in the USSR between the years of 1928 and 1953. The phenomena studied are Soviet modernist utopia and the concept of “the new Soviet human being“ and how these ideological ideals were expressed in literary and visual culture under Stalin. During the course, students work on their ability to critically and systematically integrate contemporary theoretical knowledge of the historical period in question and socialist realism, as well their ability to work with complex phenomena and issues.

Continuous examination by way of assessment of active participation in seminars and a written essay.

Russian and/or Swedish are used as the languages of instruction. Instruction is in the form of obligatory seminars.

The Swedish grades U–VG.

To achieve the grade of VG for the whole course, students must achieve VG in module 1.

Reporting of grades:
Module 1: Seminars - 7.5 cr
Module 2: Written Essay - 2.5 cr