Module manager: Sarah Hudspith
Email: s.f.hudspith@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
| SLAV2113 | The Spaces of Russophone Literature |
SLAV3411
This module is not approved as a discovery module
This module examines how Russophone writers imagine and conceptualise space and place. Across the expanses of the Tsarist Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation, and the contemporary post-Soviet region, what spaces do authors write about and why? How do they represent them and how does this affect our understanding of Russophone culture and society in different polities and periods of history? The diversity of representations of space in literature of the region will allow students to become familiar with a number of cultural concepts and theoretical approaches, such as the imagined city, centre and periphery, empire and postcolonialism, national and hybrid identities, the gendering of space. Students will read a number of texts drawn from the 19th century to the 21st century, taken from different countries or regions, written originally in Russian. Texts will be studied in English translation. No knowledge of Russian language is necessary. Please note this is an optional module and runs subject to enrolments. If a low number of students choose this module, then the module may not run and you may be asked to choose another module.
The objective of the module is to acquaint students with a broad selection of Russophone literature from the 19th up to the 21st century, to gain awareness of the diversity and complexity of the Russophone space. Simultaneously, the module will introduce them to several theoretical concepts and approaches in literary and cultural studies that are associated with the notion of spatiality. This will enhance students’ understanding of Russophone culture and furnish them with analytical skills that may be applied elsewhere in their current or future studies.
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
1. Critically evaluate the diversity and complexity of the Russophone space as portrayed in literary texts and relevant scholarship
2. Engage critically with the contextual factors that affect cultural production
3. Apply theories of spatiality to the analysis of texts
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
4. Design a research question
5. Sustain an independent analytical argument in written work in response to a self-designed research question
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| Seminar | 15 | 1 | 15 |
| Private study hours | 180 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 20 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
Students will submit a formative oral presentation offering a plan and rationale for their chosen essay topic, on which they will receive feedback before commencing work on their essay. Students’ progress will also be monitored through their participation in seminar discussions.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Essay | 100 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 07/05/2025
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