Russian Orientalism

In this course, graduate students will become acquainted with the concept of orientalism in Russian literature. The purpose of the course is to study and analyze answers given by prominent Russian writers of the Imperial period to questions that remain relevant to this day: “What is the Russian Empire? What has it brought to the Russian people and other peoples within it? What can be expected from the Empire in the future? Will it end, and if it does, for what reasons?” We will examine various answers given to these questions by Russian writers including A. Pushkin, L. Tolstoy, V. Makanin, and D. Rubina.