RUSS 446 - Senior Seminar: The Myth of Lenin in 20th-21st-Century Russian Culture

FC ARHU CD WADV

4 credits
“Lenin lived, Lenin lives, Lenin will live forever!” So proclaimed one of the most famous of all Soviet slogans, codifying the mythological status of the Communist leader. Conducted in Russian, this course explores the origins and afterlife of a myth that was so powerful that it survived the collapse of the state and ideology that Lenin created. We will uncover the mechanisms of political mythmaking and trace the development of the cult of Lenin through a variety of texts and media, from classical poems by Mayakovsky to children’s stories, folklore, conceptualist art, and Soviet and post-Soviet film.
Prerequisites & Notes: Russian 411 or consent of the instructor. Note: May be repeated for credit.