Literature & Arts C-28
Fall 2006
Icon — Ritual — Text
Reading the Culture of Medieval Rus’
Harvard University
M. S. Flier
COURSE SYLLABUS
An introduction to the culture of the medieval
East Slavs, precursors of today’s Russians,
Ukrainians, and Belarusians. The class will
analyze icons and frescoes, architecture, ritual,
music, folklore, and literature in historical and
social context for clues to the evolution of an
apocalyptic worldview, extending from the
Christianization of Rus’ in the tenth century to
the advent of Peter I at the end of the seventeenth
century. All readings in English.
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES
Week 1: Sep. 18 (M), 20 (W). Introduction. Signs and Cosmos.
READING:
Riasanovsky 3–19 [geographical note, Russia before the Russians]
Ouspensky 17–50 [symbolism of church, origins of the Christian image]
Book of Genesis 1–3
Ware 73–77 [Cyril and Methodius], 195–207 [holy tradition]
SECTION:
No section this week
Week 2: Sep. 25 (M), 27 (W). Byzantine Inheritance. Mythic Beginnings.
READING:
Terras 15–25 [translated literature]
Franklin 3–29 [Ilarion]
Ivanits 19–37 [Christian personages]
Book of Genesis, ch. 4–11, 15–18, 21–22
Gospel of Luke, ch. 1–3
Ware 264–279, 288–297 [Orthodox worship I,II (except Eucharist)]
SECTION:
First section meeting.
Week 3: Oct. 2 (M), Oct. 4 (W). The Mythos of Kiev.
READING:
Riasanovsky 21–57 [Kievan Rus’]
Terras 32–36 [homiletics], 36–40 [chronicles]
Hamilton 15–35, 65–73 [Kievan Rus’, architecture and mosaics of Kiev]
Ware 78–82 [baptism of Rus’]
Heppell 9–13 [Kiev Patericon]
Kaiser & Marker 50–54 [Statute of Iaroslav]
Zenkovsky 43–77 [chronicles]
SECTION:
Paper #1 due
Literature & Arts C-28
Course Syllabus
page 2
Week 4: Oct. 9 (M: Columbus Day Holiday), Oct. 11 (W). Rivals in the North: Novgorod.
READING:
Riasanovsky 72–81 [Novgorod, Southwest, Northeast]
Hamilton 36–47 [Novgorod, Suzdal’]
Kaiser & Marker 26–29 [Rusian Justice], 71–72 [Novgorod birchbark documents],
73–78 [Literacy in Kievan Rus’]
Zenkovsky 78–84 [chronicles]
SECTION:
Special assignment due
Week 5: Oct. 16 (M). Oct. 18 (W). Rivals in the North: Suzdalia. The Kievan Image
READING:
Riasanovsky 82–87 [Southwest, Northeast]
Hamilton 51–64 [Suzdalian archit.], 74–79 [stone carving], 80–87 [frescoes in
Novgorod, Vladimir], 107–129 [icons]
SECTION:
Paper #2 due
Week 6: Oct. 23 (M), 25 (W). Signs of Orthodoxy.
READING:
Terras 25–32, 47–55 [hagiography] 44–45 [Monomakh]
Dmytryshyn 72–76 [assassination of Andrei Bogoliubskii]
Hollingsworth 2–32, 97–116 [Boris and Gleb]
Zenkovsky 92–100 [Monomakh], 101–105 [Boris and Gleb], 116–134 [Feodosii], 224–
236 [Nevskii], 259–262 [Stephen of Perm’]
SECTION:
Special assignment due
Week 7: Oct. 30 (M), Nov. 1 (W), Nov. 3 (F). Time and the Other. MIDTERM EXAMINATION.
READING:
Riasanovsky 105–129 [Appanage Rus’, Lithuania]
Terras 40–44 [Igor’ Tale and military tales]
Ware 82–86 [Russian church under the Mongols], 279–288 [Eucharist], 298–306
[Orthodox worship III]
Kaiser & Marker 99–107 [Mongols], 137–140 [Sakharov: Mongols and cultural
change]
Zenkovsky 167–190 [Igor’ Tale], 193–207 [military tales], 243–248 [Serapion of
Vladimir]
SECTION:
Paper #3 due
REVIEW:
Review session TBA
SPECIAL:
Midterm examination, Friday, November 3 [midterm will cover weeks 1–6]
Week 8: Nov. 6 (M), 8 (W). Orthodox Revival and the Emergence of Moscow.
READING:
Riasanovsky 88–95 [rise of Moscow]
Terras 56–66 [Dmitrii Donskoi, Orthodoxy]
Hamilton 130–140 [Muscovite icons]
Ware 43–72 [Byzantium]
Dmytryshyn 214–220 [Nestor-Iskander]
Kaiser & Marker 140–145 [Alpatov: Andrei Rublëv]
Zenkovsky 211–223 [Zadonshchina], 262–290 [St. Sergii], 315–322 [Dmitrii Donskoi]
SECTION:
Special assignment due
Week 9: Nov. 13 (M), 15 (W). Signs of the Antiworld.
READING:
Terras 1–13 [folklore]
Ivanits 3–18, 51–102 [paganism, folk belief, sorcery]
Literature & Arts C-28
Course Syllabus
page 3
Kaiser & Marker 131–137 [minstrels]
Zenkovsky 153–160 [Descent of the Virgin into Hell], 249–55 [Daniel the Prisoner]
SECTION:
Paper #4 due
Week 10: Nov. 20 (M), 22 (W). Moscow—Third Rome and the End of History.
READING:
Riasanovsky 95–104 [Ivan III, Vasilii III, religion and culture]
Terras 66–75 [Moscow—Third Rome]
Hamilton 141–162 [Novgorod icons, Muscovite icons], 184–196, 226–232 [Moscow
architecture]
Ware 102–108 [Moscow—Third Rome]
Contarini 158–166 [on Muscovy]
Filofei [Moscow—Third Rome]
Herberstein [selections]
Zenkovsky 310–314 [Archbishop Ioann of Novgorod], 323–332 [White Cowl]
SECTION:
Special assignment due
Week 11: Nov. 27 (M), 29 (W). Moscow—New Jerusalem.
READING:
Riasanovsky 131–143 [Ivan IV, Feodor], 196–204 [religion and culture, literature and
art]
Terras 75–84 [fiction, literary synthesis]
Hamilton 196–208 [Moscow religious architecture], 241–243 [Moscow icons]
Dmytryshyn 305–308 [Ivan IV and Novgorod]
Hakluyt 336–337 [Epiphany], 341–342 [Palm Sunday]
Kaiser & Marker 151–154 [Staden], 154–158 [Kollmann: Autocracy], 158–163
[Crummey: Ivan IV]
Pouncy 65–69, 92–100, 124–139 [Domostroi]
Zenkovsky 290–300 [Peter and Fevronia], 366–376 [Kurbskii-Ivan IV]
SECTION:
Paper #5 due
Week 12: Dec. 4 (M), 6 (W). Demise of the Dynasty, Troubled Times, Dynasty Restored.
READING:
Riasanovsky 144–160 [Time of Troubles], 175–195 [seventeenth-century Rus’]
Hamilton 209–225 [Moscow religious architecture], 232–240 [Moscow secular
architecture]
Lotman & Uspenskij 259–202 [Uspenskij: Tsar and Pretender]
Massa 136–149 [Time of Troubles]
Zenkovsky 379–387 [Palitsyn], 388–390 [Katyrev-Rostovskii], 501–505 [poems from
James collection]
SECTION:
Special assignment due
Week 13: Dec. 11 (M), Dec. 13 (W). The Romanovs and the Idea of Reform.
READING:
Terras 85–100 [seventeenth century, Nikonian reforms]
Hamilton 243–257 [Moscow icons, Ushakov, provincial frescoes]
Kaiser & Marker 176–179 [Kotoshikhin], 180–183 [Hellie: Enserfment], 183–187
[Crummey: Muscovite boyars], 205–212 [Marker: Literacy]
Ware 109–114 [Old Believers]
Olearius 67–73, 99–101, [holidays], 173–80 [tsar], 227–32 [justice], 233–43, 249–84
[religion]
Zenkovsky 399–448 [Avvakum]
Literature & Arts C-28
SECTION:
Course Syllabus
page 4
Paper #6 due
Week 14: Dec. 18 (M). Institutions and the Individual at the Dawn of the Modern Age.
READING:
Terras 100–114 [drama, poetry, prose fiction]
Dmytryshyn 497–503 [Karp Sutulov]
Heppell 162–169 [Moisei the Hungarian]
Olearius 126–54 [the Russian people], 155–172 [households, social life]
Kaiser & Marker 54–59 [Pushkareva and Levin: Women in medieval Novgorod],
187–192 [Kollmann: Elite Muscovite women], 218–222 [Levin: Sexuality]
Pushkareva 29–43 [Women in the Medieval Russian Family]
Worobec 17–28 [Accommodation and Resistance]
Zenkovsky 391–399 [Iuliana Lazarevsky], 449–452 [Shemiaka’s Judgment], 452–474
[Savva Grudtsyn], 474–486 [Frol Skobeev], 489–501 [Misery-Luckless Plight]
SECTION:
Special assignment due
Review and Final Examination
REVIEW:
Review session for final examination TBA
SPECIAL:
Final examination, TBA
REQUIRED BOOKS
Hamilton, George Heard. 1983. The Art and Architecture of Russia. 3rd ed. New York: Penguin.
Ivanits, Linda J. 1989. Russian Folk Belief. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, Inc.
Kaiser, Daniel H. and Gary Marker. Eds. 1994. Reinterpreting Russian History: Readings, 860–1860s. New
York-Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Riasanovsky, Nicholas V. and Mark D. Steinberg. 2005. A History of Russia. 7th ed. 2 vols. v. 1: To 1855.
New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Terras, Victor. 1991. A History of Russian Literature. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Ware, Timothy. 1993. The Orthodox Church. Rev. ed. London: Penguin.
Zenkovsky, Serge A. 1974. Medieval Russia’s Epics, Chronicles, and Tales. Rev. and exp. ed. New York: E.
P. Dutton & Co.
Holy Bible (Old and New Testaments) with Apocrypha [King James version on sale at Harvard Coop
Textbook Department].
Additional readings in sourcebook excerpted from the following books:
Chew, Allen F. 1970. An Atlas of Russian History: Eleven Centuries of Changing Borders. Rev. ed. New
Haven and London: Yale University Press.
Literature & Arts C-28
Course Syllabus
page 5
Clements, Barbara Evans et. al. Eds. 1991. Russia’s Women: Accommodation, Resistance, Transformation.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Dmytryshyn, Basil. Ed. 2000. Medieval Russia: A Source Book, 850–1700. Rev. ed. Gulf Breeze, Fla.:
Academic International Press.
Franklin, Simon. Ed. 1991. Sermons and Rhetoric of Kievan Rus’. Harvard Library of Early Ukrainian
Literature, English Translations, no. 5. Cambridge: Ukrainian Research Institute of Harvard
University.
Heppell, Muriel. Ed. 1989. The Paterik of the Kievan Caves Monastery. Harvard Library of Early Ukrainian
Literature, English Translations, no. 1. Cambridge: Ukrainian Research Institute of Harvard
University.
Hollingsworth, Paul. Ed. 1992. The Hagiography of Kievan Rus’. Harvard Library of Early Ukrainian
Literature, English Translations, no. 2. Cambridge: Ukrainian Research Institute of Harvard
University.
Lotman, Ju. M. and B. A. Uspenskij. 1984. The Semiotics of Russian Culture. Ed. Ann Shukman. Michigan
Slavic Contributions, no. 11. Ann Arbor: Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Univ. of
Michigan.
Ouspensky, Leonid. 1992. Theology of the Icon. Trans. Anthony Gythiel. Vol. 1. Crestwood, N.Y.: St.
Vladimir’s Seminary Press.
RECOMMENDED
Pierce, James Pierce. From Abacus to Zeus: A Handbook of Art History. 1977. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.:
Prentice-Hall, Inc.
COURSE LOGISTICS
1. Course schedule. The class will meet in one of three formats: general meeting (one-hour lecture
presented by Professor Flier), section (one-hour discussion led by teaching fellow), and review (one- to
two-hour review session prior to the midterm and final examinations). Unless otherwise noted general
meetings take place on Mondays, Wednesdays, and selected Fridays; sections, on Thursdays or Fridays.
Review sessions will be arranged.
2. Examinations, papers, assignments. There will one midterm examination (one hour) and one final
examination (three hours). A paper (one to two pages, double-spaced) will be due approximately every
other week at the section meeting. These papers are based exclusively on the reading for the week, topics
to be selected from a list given out the preceding week. On alternate weeks, a special written or oral
assignment will be given, likewise based on the reading for the week. A final essay (not research paper)
of 6-10 pages, based on one of the topics listed for weekly discussion, is due on Monday, January 8, 2007,
five days before the end of Reading Period. It must be placed in your section leader’s mailbox no later
than 3:00 p.m. The mailboxes are inside the Slavic Department on the third floor of Barker Center. Late
papers will receive a lowered grade.
Your final grade will be determined according to the following distribution: midterm examination 20%,
section papers, assignments, and section performance 30%, final essay paper 20%, final examination 30%.
Literature & Arts C-28
Course Syllabus
page 6
3. Discussion sections. Attendance is mandatory. The section grade will be based on evidence of
preparation for class discussion (reading for the week completed), class participation, section papers, and
other assignments. Sections will start meeting in the second week. Primary texts of each week’s reading
will be the focus for the section discussion. The sections are meant to complement the lectures, bringing
out additional points that time does not permit in lecture. It is vital that you attend, complete all the
reading ahead of time, and participate actively in the discussion.
A list of study questions will be distributed a week before each section meets. The lists are meant to alert
you to certain questions you might keep in mind as you read. They are by no means restrictive.
4. Reserve books and sourcebook. All the required books and others relevant to the course material
have been put on reserve at Lamont Library. Required textbooks are on sale at the Harvard Coop. The
sourcebook is on sale at the Science Center.
5. Instructor information.
Professor Michael S. Flier
•
•
•
Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures (Barker Center, Room 368)
Office hours:
Tuesday & Thursday 2:00–3:00p
E-mail address:
[email protected]
Teaching Fellow Matthew Herrington
•
•
•
Dept. of Slavic Languages and Literatures (Barker Center, Room 339)
Office hours:
TBA
E-mail address:
[email protected]
6. Classroom information.
•
•
Lectures, examinations:
Section:
Harvard Hall 103
Barker Center, Room 373 (Seminar Room)
7. Internet information.
•
Website for Lit & Arts C-28:
http://www.courses.fas.harvard.edu/~lac28
Make sure to enter all letters in the above internet addresses as lower-case characters. Do not introduce
spaces. Observe the distinction between lower-case l (l) and the numeral 1 (1).
The data-base contains material under copyright protection and is to be accessible only to students
enrolled in the course. The password for entry into the data-base will be given out in class and should
be kept confidential. Students working with data-base materials on public-access computers should take
care to remove data-base images from the desktop before leaving their computer stations. Failure to
adhere to these restrictions may result in the course losing the data-base privilege.
© Michael S. Flier 2006. All rights reserved.