Tuesday U: Russia and the Caucasus in Literature and Film, May 3 - 24

Explore the complex relationship between Russia and the Caucasus region through literature and film in our Spring Tuesday University class led by Willamette University's Sarah Clovis Bishop. Tuesday evenings; co-sponsored by Oregon Humanities and the World Affairs Council.

Media coverage of the recent Chechen wars exposed the troubled relationship between Russia and the Caucasus, a conflict that spans hundreds of years. Over the past two centuries, Russian writers and filmmakers have addressed this tension in central works of poetry, prose, and film. Willamette University's Sarah Clovis Bishop gives us an absorbing cultural perspective into the ongoing Russian/Caucasus conflict in four distinct sessions:

Tuesdays
May 3: Russia's romantic image of the Caucasus in the first half of the nineteenth century (Pushkin’s Prisoner of the Caucasus, Lermontov’s Hero of Our Time)

May 10: A debunking of this romantic image in the late nineteenth century (Tolstoy’s Hadji Murat, Prisoner of the Caucasus)

May 17: The portrayal of Caucasians in classic Soviet comedies (Gaidai’s Kidnapping, Caucasian Style) juxtaposed to previously banned films by Caucasian directors (Otar Iosseliani and Sergei Parajanov -- The above photo is a screen shot from Parajanov's The Color of Pomegranates).

May 24: Post-Soviet treatments of the recent Chechen wars (Bodrov’s Prisoner of the Mountains, Sokurov’s Aleksandra)

Please Note: Russia and the Caucasus is sold as a 4-part course; single classes are not available. The syllabus for this course includes readings and films that need to be read/viewed prior to class. Films are available through Netflix, area video rental stores, or screened at the Action Center at to-be-announced scheduled times prior to each class.

Sarah Clovis Bishop teaches Russian language, literature and film at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. Her courses include a survey of Russian and Soviet film, an introduction to Russian short stories, and an examination of love and family in twentieth-century Russian literature. Her research has focused on twentieth and twenty-first century poetry and film, and she is currently studying adaptations of Chekhov’s stories for the stage. Bishop received her undergraduate degree from Williams College, and her M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University.

What: Tuesday U Spring Seminar - Russia and the Caucasus: Exploring the Conflict through Literature and Film.

When: Four Tuesdays, 7 - 9:30 pm, May 3 - 24, 2011.

Where: Mercy Corps Action Center, 28 SW 1st Avenue, Portland, Oregon, 97204.

Registration: $100 for 4 classes. Register online at Brown Paper Tickets. Registration is also available by phone (503-896-5747), or in person, during regular operating hours.

Student/Senior Discount: Students are $60 (with college ID) and Seniors are $85. Both discounts are only available in person at the Action Center during regularly scheduled hours.