The Russian Short Story Outline

The Russian Short Story (Papers VIII, X, XI, XII), HT 2016, Thursdays 12 p.m.
Series outline, list of texts to be discussed, and bibliography.
Most, if not all, primary texts can be found online.
Week 1: The short story as a genre. Its evolution and varieties in Russia.
Week 2: War stories, rites of passage and male sexuality. Narrative technique
Lev Tolstoy / Набег (1852), Севастопольские рассказы (1855), Кавказский
пленник (1872)
Isaak Babel’ / Конармия (1926: esp. Переход через Збруч, Мой первый гусь,
Смерть Долгушова)
Vladimir Makanin / Кавказский пленный (1995)
Weeks 3 and 4 – Infidelities: the Chekhovian tradition
Anton Chekhov / Дама с собачкой (1899)
Ivan Bunin / Солнечный удар (1925)
Teffi / Слепая (1948)
Lyudmila Petrushevskaya / Дама с собаками (1990)
Nina Sadur / Безответная любовь (1994)
Yury Buida / Живем всего два раза (1998)
Week 5 – Childhood revisited; narrative perspective
Fyodor Dostoevsky / Мужик марей (1876)
Ivan Bunin / Антоновские яблоки (1901)
Fyodor Sologub / В плену (1905)
Lidiya Zinov’eva-Annibal / Чудовище (1907)
Teffi / Любовь (1924)
Viktor Pelevin / Онтология детства (1991)
Dr Ready (New College), HT 2016
Week 6: Reports from the other side
The dying: Ivan Turgenev / Живые мощи (from Записки охотника, 1852); Lev
Tolstoy / Хозяин и работник (1895); Chekhov / Архиерей (1902); Sigizmund
Krzhizhanovsky / Автобиография трупа (1925)
The dead: Pushkin / Гробовщик (1831); Dostoevsky / Бобок (1873); Nabokov /
Возвращение Чорба (1925); Daniil Kharms / Старуха (1939); Yury Mamleev /
Утопи мою голову (1960s-70s).
Week 7: Oddballs, loners and folk ‘fools’; aspects of characterization
Turgenev / Касьян с Красивой мечи (Записки охотника, 1852)
Gleb Uspensky / Парамон юродивый (1877)
Nikolai Leskov / Левша (1881)
Chekhov / Человек в футляре (1898)
Vasily Shukshin / Чудик (1967)
Tatyana Tolstaya / Соня (1984)
Buida / Прусская невеста (1998)
Week 8: The humour of missing parts: the anekdot, skaz, ostranenie
Gogol’ / Нос (1836) and Шинель (1843)
Leskov / Штопальщик (1882)
Zoshchenko / Галоша and other stories (1920s-30s)
Teffi / Шляпа (1918)
Krzhizhanovsky / Сбежавшие пальцы (1922)
Terts / Пхенц (1957)
Dr Ready (New College), HT 2016
A short bibliography of critical studies and anthologies
General studies of the short story (with frequent reference to Russian authors)
Eikhenbaum, B.M., ‘O. Genri i teoriya novelly’ (1925). Available in various collections, online here:
http://www.opojaz.ru/ohenry/ohenry01.html
May, Charles (ed.), The New Short Story Theories (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1994)
O’Connor, Frank, The Lonely Voice (London: Macmillan, 1963)
Shklovsky, Viktor, ‘Stroenie rasskaza i romana’, from O teorii prozy (1925, online here:
http://www.opojaz.ru/shklovsky/strojenie_rasskaza.html)
See also: Boyd, William, ‘Brief Encounters’, The Guardian, 2 October 2004
(http://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/oct/02/featuresreviews.guardianreview38)
Studies exclusively devoted to the Russian short story
Moser, Charles (ed.), The Russian Short Story: A Critical History (Boston: Twayne, 1986) – the closest
to a one-volume survey of the period, though obviously not up to date
O’Toole, L.M., Structure, Style and Interpretation in the Russian Short Story (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1982) – takes a theoretical, structuralist approach
Parts, Lyudmila (ed.), The Russian Twentieth Short Story: A Critical Companion (Boston: Academic
Studies Press, 2010) – essays on individual stories from Chekhov to Pelevin
Anthologies of Russian short stories
Chandler, Robert (ed.), Russian Short Stories from Pushkin to Buida (Penguin, 2005)
Erofeev, Viktor (ed.), Russkie tsvety zla (Moscow: Podkova, 1997) – an interesting anthology of
‘alternative’ (unsanctioned, ‘underground’) short fiction from Shalamov onwards, also translated
into English (Penguin)
Lipovetsky, Mark et al (ed.), 50 Writers: An Anthology of 20th Century Russian Short Stories
(Academic Studies Press, 2011) – also available electronically through Solo
Struve, Gleb (ed.), Russian Stories/Russkie rasskazy: A Dual-language book (New York: Dover, 1990)
– a well-chosen selection of classic stories with short author introductions.
Dr Ready (New College), HT 2016