COML 197 - Madness and Madmen in Russian Culture

Institution:

University of Pennsylvania

Subject:

Description:

Humanities & Social Science Sector. Class of 2010 & beyond. Vinitsky. This course will explore the theme of madness in Russian literature and arts from the medieval period through the October Revolution of 1917. The discussion will include formative masterpieces by Russian writers (Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Bulgakov), painters (Repin, Vrubel, Filonov), composers (Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, and Stravinsky), and film-directors (Protazanov, Eisenstein), as well as non-fictional documents such as Russian medical, judicial, political, and philosophical treatises and essays on madness. The problem of madness has preoccupied Russian minds since the very beginning of Russia's troubled history. This subject has been dealt with repeatedly in medieval vitae and modern stories, plays, paintings, films, and operas, as well as medical, political and philosophical essays. This issue has been treated by a number of brilliant Russian authors and artists not only as a medical or psychological matter, but also as a metaphysical one, touching the deepest levels of human consciousness, encompassing problems of suffering, imagination, history, sex, social and world order, evil, retribution, death, and the after-life. Therefore it is illuminating for a deeper understanding of Russian culture to examine how major Russian authors have depicted madness and madmen in their works, how these works reflected the authors' psychological, aesthetic and ideological views, as well as historical and cultural processes in Russia.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.upenn.edu

Phone Number:

(215) 898-5000

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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