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(The) Artist and State Power in Russian Culture | Zoom + Recorded

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Course Description:

The relationship between the artist and the authorities has always been an acute issue in Russian culture. Both under the monarchy and under socialism, cultural figures suffered from infringement on freedom of creativity. In this series, we'll first explore "the poet and the tsar" concept as it relates to Russian culture under Nicholas I (Pushkin, Gogol) as well as under Stalin (Gorky, Tolstoy, Prokofiev, Meyerhold, Mandelstam). We will then proceed to Soviet culture after Stalin through Perestroika and finally will focus on what is going on in Russian culture today under Putin. An important part of the course is devoted to images of power in literature, music, fine art, and cinema—tsars, governors, party leaders, security service—presented as heroic, monstrous, pathetic, diabolical. Special attention is given to the tradition of satire in Russian culture.

 

Tuition: $60.00

Additional Fees: $0.00


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Day/Time

Tuesdays/Thursdays, Oct. 17, 24, 29, 31; Nov. 5 *10:00 a.m. - noon* (5 sessions)

Location

This session will be streamed live on Zoom and recorded for later viewing. The recording will be accessible 2-3 days afterward.

Facilitator:

Elena Sheygal-Placzek, Ph.D., is a retired professor of the Volograd University, Russia. Author of the "English-Russian Dictionary of U.S. Life and Culture," she has been a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley as well as an OLLI lecturer there and at CSUMB.