3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

The remit of this course is simple, at least on the surface: we will spend a full term reading Leo Tolstoy's classic (and very long) 1867 novel _War and Peace_. Along the way, we will augment our discussions of the primary text with readings of critical materials drawn from History, Philosophy, and Narrative Theory, covering topics ranging from Napoleon's rise, to philosophies of non-violence, to the stultifying effects of aristocratic marriage. We will pay special attention to the status of _War and Peace_ as world literature, exploring both the non-Russian influences on the text, and its influence, in turn, on global writers in later periods including the postcolonial. Students with native or advanced Russian literacy are welcome to read in Russian; everyone else will read from an English translation.