Instructor: C. Popkin
The course explores the conceptualization of space born of the human experience of being in the world, bringing to bear the theoretical perspectives of a number of disciplines and fields (literary and cultural theory, philosophy, religion, anthropology, sociology, geography, cartography, history, architecture, film, cognitive psychology, physics, gender studies, and postcolonial studies, among them), with particular attention to the role of spatial modeling in the production of meaning in literary narrative. It considers as well the meaning(s) accrued by a range of significant places and spaces (forest, steppe, field, village, monastery, fortress, prison cell, home, foreign land, country estate, city streets, public square, human body, and many others) in the context of Russian culture. The literary texts that serve as the material basis for our investigation have been chosen for their suggestiveness and because of their status as major works of Russian prose that have somehow fallen between the curricular cracks.
Primary readings available in both Russian and English; knowledge of Russian not required.
