RUSS 3304 - Stories of Displaced Lives: Russia and Eastern Europe in Exile

This course explores dimensions of displacement in the lives of refugees and exiles from 20th century Russia and Eastern Europe. The act of telling one's story offers a form for expressing loss, exile, and the preservation of personal and/or cultural identities. The course investigates this idea in films, documentaries, oral testimonials, memoirs, prose fiction, poetry, and art produced by or about individuals who have lived through some of the most significant upheavals in 20th century Europe: the Russian Revolution and Civil War, the Soviet famine, World War II, Soviet Communism, and its collapse. Works to be studied include those by Russian, Soviet, Czech, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Jewish, Romany, Croatian, Bosnian, Polish, and American writers and film makers. Attention will also be given to current refugee crises in other parts of the world. 3 credits.