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Dr Olga Sobolev PEL 6.01a and Dr Angus Wrenn PEL 6.01a

This course is available on the BA in History, BSc in History and Politics, BSc in International Relations and History and BSc in Politics and History. This course is available as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit and to General Course students.

Although an A-level pass or equivalent in Literature is useful, it is not an absolute requirement (especially for General Course Students).

Comparative literature of the twentieth century leading up to and including the Cold War. (a) Study of major authors (prose, poetry and drama, in English translation where relevant) on both sides of the Iron Curtain with a focus on the recurrent cultural themes: social Utopia/Dystopia; art with a social/political function; the East-West dichotomy in the Cold War; ideological scepticism; individual and the state; the value of political protest (b) Use of video-recording related to the texts (c) Several related trips to galleries, film festivals and theatre productions during the year; (d) Students encouraged to draw upon background in their main discipline, and to read widely.

10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the AT. 10 hours of lectures and 10 hours of classes in the WT. 1 hour of lectures and 1 hour of classes in the ST.

Structured activities during the reading week in the AT and WT. Revision tutorials in the ST.

This course has reading weeks in week 6 of the Autumn and Winter terms.

Students will be expected to produce 2 essays in the AT and WT.

A. Huxley Brave New World; G.B. Shaw Annajanska the Bolshevik Empress; E. Zamyatin We; G. Orwell Animal Farm & 1984; M. Bulgakov The Heart of a Dog; W. H. Auden poems; V. Mayakovsky poems; A. Solzhenitsyn A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich; Ian Fleming From Russia with Love; John le Carré Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Peter Scheider The Wall Jumer, Ian McEwan The Innocent, A. Makine A Life's Music; M. Kundera The Unbearable Lightness of Being;  T. Stoppard Professional Foul; S. Dovlatov The Suitcase; B. Chatwin Utz.

Exam (70%, duration: 3 hours) in the spring exam period.
Project (30%, 2500 words) in the WT.

a presentation (in the form of a topic-specific discussion) constitutes an essential part of the project-work