| Course Title: Topics in Twentieth-Century Russian Literature: 'Diabolic Carnival: Bulgakov's Master and Margarita and Its Contexts' |
| Start Date: 09/03/2025 End Date: 12/16/2025 |
| Term: Fall Semester 2025 |
| Description: Mephistopheles in Moscow? The Gospel retold? At turns both wildly comic and metaphysically profound, Bulgakov's novel has been a cult classic since its unexpected discovery in 1967. This course will consider Bulgakov's masterpiece together with some of its literary, historical, and social contexts. Additional readings from Goethe, Gogol, E.T.A.Hoffman, Akhmatova, and others. |
| Distribution(s): I - Humanities , TP - Topics Course |
| Academic Level Of Course: Undergraduate | Credits:4.00 |
| Faculty | Phone | Email address |
| Daniel Brooks | dbrooks@mtholyoke.edu |
| Meeting Dates | Method | Meeting days | Meeting times | Building name | Room | Frequency |
| 09/03/2025 - 12/16/2025 | Seminar | Monday and Wednesday | 01:45PM - 03:00PM | TBA | TBA | Weekly |
| Requisite Courses | ||
| None |
| Comments |
| Additional Comments |
| Taught in English. |
| Course Tags |
| Cross-listed Sections |
| None |
| Course Availability | ||||
| Section status: Open | Capacity: 18 | Enrollment: 16 | Available: 2 | Waitlist: 0 |
BOOK INFORMATION
| Book List | Required | Publisher Full Price |
| Title: The Master and Margarita Author: M. Bulgakov, D. Burgin Copyright: 1996 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780679760801 Publisher: Vintage |
Required | 16.00 |
| Additional Book Comments |
| This is the complete book list for this class. |
| Instructor's comments about the book list: The only required text for this course will be Bulgakov's 'The Master and Margarita' (Vintage edition, trans. Burgin). The ISBN should lead you to a 1996 or 2021 printing, depending on whether you're buying it new or used, on Amazon or bookshop.org, etc.; the former has a dark red color scheme, and the latter has a black, red, and yellow one. Both editions are functionally identical, so don't worry. New versions can be found for $16 or less online (Amazon, bookshop.org, etc.), but it's not difficult to find this edition in many used bookstores for less money. Other editions are permitted, but discouraged -- we all want to be on the same page, literally and metaphorically! If you've already read / purchased a different translation (e.g. the Pevear-Volkhonsky edition from Penguin Classics), that'll be fine The other, supplementary readings will be made available to you as PDFs, copies, or via the library reserve shelf, etc. Please don't hesitate to contact me at dbrooks@mtholyoke.edu if you have any questions! |