We will start studying both units in September - Works in Translation and Genre. They will both run in parallel through the year until the Works in Translation coursework deadline, which I think will be in February - I'll confirm this in September. We'll begin with the poetry of Akhmatova - focusing on the initial list posted elsewhere on this blog. And we'll start with A Streetcar Named Desire as the genre text. It's absolutely essential that these texts are read - or selectively but widely read in the case Akhmatova - before the course begins.
In terms of A Streetcar Named Desire the focus of our discussion will be on stage craft. That means I want you to be able to discuss such things as: setting, props, dialogue, monologue, sound effects, lighting, costume and register. We'll also explore other features such as structure and conflict. Consider how these different features of the play contribute to the plot. Lessons will focus on these issues rather than plot lead lessons. I will expect you to have read and studied the play and be able to refer to a variety of episodes from the play. You'll need to read the play several times.
For Texts in Translation I instruct you to fall in love with Anna Akhmatova as I am doing. Here are some ways to help you fall in love. Read selectively and widely from the recommended edition of the selected poems - the translation will help enormously here. But also do a little research on her life - her upbringing, her marriages, her son, her friendship / artistic groups. Consider the political forces that formed the back drop and at times dominated her life. These include such things as: pre-revolutionary, revolutionary and post-revolutionary Russia, Bolshevism, World War One, Stalinist Russia, World War Two, the Cold War, European and Asian influences. Consider also the place of her poetry and the response to it from the literary, cultural, international and political establishment. Examine her work in relation to the poetry of the nineteenth century including Pushkin and the work of the Symbolists.
Feel free to read relevant pages in Wikipedia - click here for a link - but I'll expect Wikipedia to be a starting point only. This unit of the course will require each student to take part in an interactive discussion on Akhmatova - this will include mini-presentations from each of you. You will also produce a piece of timed supervised writing.
I expect that we'll spend the first half term studying her poetry and you will be doing short presentations on the poems.
I intend to begin Levi's If This Is A Man before Christmas and preparation work for this will need to be well under way before September - the autobiography should be read and annotated during the summer.
