480148 KO Colloquium on Literature and Cultural Studies (2022W)

The course is dedicated to the phenomena of multicultural and multilingual cultural landscape of the post-revolutionary Kyiv.

Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Kyiv became a centre of the struggle for Ukrainian statehood and thus appeared in the middle of several conflicts: the World War I, the Civil War on the territory of the former Russian empire, and the Polish–Soviet War. From the end of 1918 to August 1920 the city changed hands sixteen times. Despite non-stop violence, this turbulent period is also characterized by flourishing of literature and art. The co-existence of different artistic groups and representatives of different cultures (Ukrainian, Russian, Jewish, Polish) who found themselves in the post-revolutionary Kyiv made this city a place where a galore of rich multicultural life had been happening for several years. The aim of the course is to discuss both the historical and ideological context of the formation of post-revolutionary national/international culture in Ukraine by analysing separate artistic and literary works of different representatives of this phenomenon.

The course will discuss the following topics:
1. Ukrainian literature and art of the 1918–1921 (“White studio” literary group, “Flamingo” artistic group, “Boichuk Artistic School”, etc.)
2. Jewish literature and art (“Kultur-Lige” organisation)
3. Russian writers and artists in Kyiv (“Ch.L.A.M.” artistic group)

The course consists of the Introduction which is supposed to provide the students with historical and cultural context of the post-revolutionary Kyiv, and a series of colloquiums where cultural cases (texts, art objects, films) will be discussed. In the end of the course a wrap-up discussion is supposed to sum up some of the conclusions.

Types of the lessons:
Lectures
Seminars/workshops/discussions

The lecturer will use (and provide the students) a wide range of various learning materials: texts, images, and videos.