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

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.