Laughing Through Tears: A History of the

While Russians have been doomed to gloom in the Western imagination, this course challenges that idea with a brief history of the comic in Russia and the USSR. Our cultural history of the comic will challenge you to analyze the social dimension of comedy and think about its effect and purpose in a society, especially in one undergoing social and political upheaval. We will consider the structures of power that inform the effect of the comic—what, or whom, are we laughing at?—and the complex interrelationships between its producers and its audiences: the Russian literary elite, the reading public and movie-going audiences, the regime (whether imperial or Soviet, both rather fond of censorship), and those on the fringes of society, political outcasts and dissidents. Our course will focus on the cultural specificity of comedic works by non-Russians in the Russian or Soviet spheres, such as Ukrainian and Jewish writers, and their celebration of difference or, conversely, their attempts at assimilation via their comedy. Our primary texts will be paired with short theoretical and analytical texts on laughter and the comic.

Counts as an elective ("additional course") for the relevant majors and concentrations in Slavic/Russian.

There are no prerequisites for this course. No knowledge of Russian is required.