Audrey Hager Мне показалось очень интересным, что люди в Советском Союзе должны были использовать сложные социальные отношения, чтобы получить вещи. Даже если бы у людей были деньги, они все равно нуждались в социальных отношениях, потому что многие вещи нельзя было купить за деньги. Совсем иначе, чем в США, на мой взгляд, потому что, […]
Answers to Discussion Questions on “Que Faire,” by Teffi. The story “Ke fer?” (a French question “Que Faire?” or “What to do?”) was published in the Russian émigré newspaper Poslednie Novosti (Latest News) on April 1927. AKESH SHAH 1. Teffi was utterly clear-eyed and her writings trustworthy as testimony. For example, she writes about […]
One of our first reading assignments is Nabokov’s “The Guide to Berlin,” an ostensibly unconventional guide to the German capital of the 1920s. I found the story to be well suited to represent cultural, linguistic, psychological, material and political challenges that Russian exiles of the 1920s were facing in their adoptive environments and the role […]
Discussion Prompts for Cold Autumn by Ivan Bunin. While preparing for a discussion and writing a diary piece, please focus on using the vocab and phrases from the story which makes it easier for you to put down a vocab portion for the week. Я хочу поделиться с вами комментариями о том, почему и как […]
READING RESPONSE PROMPTS Marina Tsvetaeva’s poems are savvy, sharp, and striking for its wit and linguistic inventiveness. Her poetry is supremely entertaining, full of puns, forms, original and outlandish rhymes, brilliant metaphors, and similes. She has a remarkably modern voice that one recognizes immediately. What do you think makes her poetry so surprisingly modern? Pick […]
WRITE A ONE-PAGE RESPONSE PAPER ON THE STORY 1. Teffi was utterly clear-eyed and her writings trustworthy as testimony. For example, she writes about the Russian expatriates – lesrusses –“Every lesrusse hates all the others …” Should the reader believe her? 2. Teffi maintained that “An anecdote is funny when it’s being told, but when […]
There are many things in the Soviet culture that became myths. While many people (not only in the West) are crazy about “матрешки”, “самовары” and CCCP T-shirts, this text was written to tell some exciting Soviet legends to enrich an often standard picture of what one can call now the Soviet past. Insights into the […]
Write a response to Sergei Dovlatov’s story. In your response, give answers to the following three questions. 1. The title seems to pose some problems. When translated into English literally, it expresses only some of the meaning, and taken out of context it fails to allude to the story’s theme. What is the story’s theme […]
Create a guide of your own city/route using the example of Nabokov’s unconventional guide to Berlin. The students’ guide is meant to be written for the modern day refugees with the idea of facilitating for them a discovery of the hidden and inconspicuous aspects of their foreign habitats so as to help them cope better […]