Web Resources - Print Resources - Media Resources |
| 19th Century Russian Literature |
| Recommended because this is a brief but well-written essay which introduces the reader to the context of Russian literature in the history of the Western world. Produced by Professor Paul Brians of Washington State University. Be aware of the fact that this is just one lecture from the course entitled, Humanities 303: Reason, Romanticism, and Revolution. |
| 19th Century Russian Literature |
| Recommended because this Brandeis University website has numerous links to information on Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy. Topics and materials include biographical information, online texts, and literary criticism. Start by clicking on the picture of the Russian author of your choice to get more information about him. Be aware of the fact that some of the links are no longer active. |
| Recommended because it is a well thought out lesson plan from Outreach World about Medieval Czechoslovakia, built around a number of short texts. Start by downloading the PDF file at the link above. Be aware of the fact that the plan involves guidelines for evaluation and assignments. |
| After the Ball by Leo Tolstoy |
| Recommended because this is a lesson plan focusing on the role of chance in our lives, using the short story by Tolstoy as its point of departure. Be aware of the fact that the lesson plan does not contain the text of the short story, but it can be found in the Penguin Classics edition of "Kreutzer Sonata and Other Stories," David McDuff, translator (1986), among other places. |
| Alexander Solzhenitsyn Teacher Resource Guide |
| Recommended because this website contains Solzhenitsyn's autobiography, his bibliography, as well as two separate teacher guides and lesson plans for the Russian author and Nobel Prize winner's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. The latter work shows well, in language accessible to secondary school students, the harsh reality of life in the USSR during the late Stalin period. |
| Anton Chekhov (1860--1904): An Index to Online Great Books in English Translation |
| Recommended because this website is a source for complete online texts of several of Chekhov's works: "Black Monk," "Sleepy-Eye," "The Party," "The Grasshopper," and "Mire." Start by finding Chekhov on the list of C-writers. Be aware of the fact that this is part of the Great Books Index, which also features the works of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. | |||
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| Baba Yaga |
| Recommended because This lesson plan dealing with the Russian folktale Baba Yaga is recommended for students grade 2-4. Be aware of the fact that the text of Baba Yaga is not included here, but the site does give the list of several books and anthologies where that folktale can be found. Part of the larger "Educator's Reference Desk" website. |
| Bulgakov's "Master and Margarita" |
| Recommended because This is a guide site for Bulgakov's contraversial novel "Master and Margarita" which gained its popularity only after the breakup of the USSR as it wasn't understood and accepted before. This site helps an English reader understand the novel and provides theme interpretations. Start by going to the Introduction section and reading about How to Use the site. Be aware of you can learn about Bulgakov as an author and his biography by going to the LINKS section of the website. It will direct you to more materials on the subject. |
| Christiaan Stange's Dostoevsky Research Station |
| Recommended because this is perhaps the largest and most comprehensive Dostoevsky website. Start by clicking on the portrait of Dostoevsky to get past the introductory page. Be aware of the fact that topics and materials include several of Dostoevsky's novels online, a chronology of the author's life, list of Dostoevsky literary criticism, internet links, and more. |
| Contemporary Radio |
| Recommended because To completely absorb the culture you can listen to contemporary russian music and speech. This radio station list includes everything from russian Rock to Hip-hop, it is also specialized by the city. Be aware of this website using Real Player. |
| Crime and Punishment: Summary and Study Guide |
| Recommended because this website contains a very thorough chapter by chapter summary of the novel, followed by "Study Topics" and "Some Facts that the Reader Should Know." Very well done. Be aware of the fact that this site was produced by Middlebury College in Vermont which has one of the strongest Russian language and literature departments in the US. | |||
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| Electronic Library |
| Recommended because this library contains online versions of numerous works by many classical Russian writers from Pushkin to Bulgakov. Start by learning Russian if you don't already know that strange and beautiful language. If you already know it start by selecting an author. Be aware of the fact that this site is entirely in Russian. You can also get to current russian literature and poetry, as well as to literature of 30s and 90s by clicking on the corresponding tabs. |
| From the Ends to the Beginning: A Bilingual Anthology of Russian Poetry |
| Recommended because Recommended as perhaps the best internet source for Russian poetry. Materials and topics include the poetry of dozens of Russians ranging from before Pushkin to those still alive today. The poems are displayed with side-by-side texts in both Russian and English. Most of the poets included here are provided with chronological biographies accompanied by photographs. Additional Internet links are included. Produced by the Slavic Languages Department at Northwestern University. |
| Introduction to Tolstoy's Writings |
| Recommended because Written by Ernest J. Simmons, a noted authority on Leo Tolstoy, this website is recommended because it consists of twelve chapters outlining the significance of Tolstoy's work. Be aware, however, that it does not contain texts of the author's novels or short stories. |
| Mayakovsky and His Circle |
| Recommended because Recommended as an interesting and aesthetically pleasing website that takes a very personal look at the Russian poet's life in the “Mayakovsky’s Room” section. Materials include, in addition to many of his poems (in both Russian and English), lots of information on Mayakovsky's private life, including his letters and the reminiscences of others. Links to other Mayakovsky websites are also given. The other two sections are Avant-Garde Art and Velimir Khlebnikov. |
| Mikhail Lermontov |
| Recommended because Recommended for its thorough biography of the Russian writer as well as its link to the online version in English of "A Hero in Our Time," Lermontov's best known work. The biographical information is from the Encyclopedia Britannica. | |||
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| Protest Art in Pre-Revolutionary Russia |
| Recommended because Recommended because with this lesson plan for grades 6-12, students read and analyze short stories by Anton Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy that illustrate the class conflicts of pre-revolutionary Russia. They will then create their own art, which will contain veiled criticisms of the same era in Russian history or a specific political/social issue evident in the United States today. |
| Pushkin Geneology |
| Recommended because This article, from the PBS "Frontline" documentary series, is recommended because it explores Aleksandr Pushkin's African heritage. It provides a wealth on information about Pushkin's great-grandfather, who was an Ethiopian who was a personal servant to Russian Emperor Peter the Great. |
| Russian Art and Architecture |
| Recommended because This is a great site to learn the history and look at the pictures of Russian architecture, it includes descriptions of Moscow, St. Petersburg and the Trans-Siberian Railway. Be aware of architecure being an essential part of Russian culture: looking at it and learning about it will help you to understand the Russian soul. |
| Russian Art Gallery |
| Recommended because Here you can look at centuries worth of Russian art: from icons to photographs of Russia today. This site includes famous art works of russian symbolist painters and russian landscapers. Be aware of this site being a good visual for learning about Russian culture. |
| Russian Fairy Tales |
| Recommended because This is a great site to get acquainted with wise Russian Folk. It has the added advantage of showing scenes of Russian fairy tales painted on lacquer boxes, so this gives the website extra cultural value. Be aware of this being a a commercial site for selling Russian lacquer boxes, which are considered to be marvelous representatives of Russian folk art and Russians take a great deal of national pride in them. | |||
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| Recommended because Recommended as a series of lectures by Professor Gary Jahn of the University of Minnesota. There are separate lectures on Pushkin, Lermontov, and Gogol, as well as three lectures devoted to Dostoevsky. A timeline and bibliography are also included. To access this series of lectures, click on "Supplementary Materials on Russian Literature' at the bottom left of the screen. |
| Soviet Literature Webpage |
| Recommended because this is a large and useful, yet not overly academic site for information on Soviet writers, summaries of their works, and links to related websites. Start by start by simply scrolling down the page and enjoying the visual feast. Be aware of the fact that the text is enlivened with hyperlinks and photographs. |
| Split Character Studies in Crime and Punishment |
| Recommended because because this lesson uses one of the great novels of all time, Fyodor Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" as its text. Specifically, it looks at the author's use of split personalities or split characters in several of the main figures of the novel. In the process, students discover that a careful study of the characters in a literary classic will yield important clues to a clearer understanding of the novel as a whole. Be aware of the fact that this lesson was designed for grades 11-12. Produced by the Discovery Channel. |
| Study Guide for Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya |
| Recommended because this website serves as a guide to "Uncle Vanya." Topics and materials include the whole text of the work, along with the following additional features: context; plot overview; character list; analysis of major characters; themes; motifs and symbols; key facts; study questions and essay topics; quiz; and suggestions for further reading. Be aware of the only negative feature of this website is the annoying pop-up advertisements. Produced by Sparknotes. |
| Study Guide for Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich |
| Recommended because this twenty-two page study guide is a good supplement to the reading of the Nobel Prize winning novel. Start by reading the introductory remarks on the homepage, then move to the study guide. Be aware of the fact that the guide, which can be downloaded via Acrobat Reader, introduces the book and asks the student to analyze what he or she has read after completing each chapter. Very impressive. Produced by the Glencoe Literature Library. | |||
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| Study Guide to Boris Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago |
| Recommended because although Pasternak was primarily a poet, his novel Dr. Zhivago won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1958. This website serves as a study guide for the novel. Start by reading the summary of the novel, then read about its context. Be aware of the other sections of this website: the full text of the novel subdivided by chapter, as well the following topics: Characters; Analysis; Study Questions; and Further Reading. Produced by Sparknotes. |
| The Pushkin Page |
| Recommended because of its detailed biography of Aleksandr Pushkin, Russia's greatest and most beloved poet--and that is saying a great deal when you realize that Russians (unlike most Americans) are passionately devoted to poetry. Be aware of the fact that also to be found here are the texts of several Pushkin poems, some in Russian, some in English. |
| A History of Russian Literature (1994) Author: Victor Terras, Yale University Press |
| Recommended because Recommended as a standard reference work written by a leading scholar. The book is a survey of Russian literature from its beginnings in the eleventh century to modern times. The author places the development of Russian literature in the context of Russian social and political developments and religious and philosophic thought. The literature covered includes early folklore, the medieval literatures, the dissident and emigre writing after the revolution, and the realist fiction of Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy, to the dissident literary movement that followed Stalin`s death. Availability; apparently out of print. |
| An Anthology of Russian Literature from Earliest Writings to Modern Fiction : Introduction to a Culture (1997) Author: Nicholas Rzhevsky (Editor), M.E. Sharpe |
| Recommended because Recommended as a one-volume collection of Russian literature. Arrangement of the selections is chronological and each section places the literary works in their historical context and notes later cultural resonances. Following each text is an introductory guide to primary and secondary sources, including available aesthetic transformations of the work, its subjects, and its motifs in film, video, musical recordings, and art collections. These listings helpfully emphasize Russian rather than non- Russian responses in the arts (e.g. Sergei Bondarchuk's film adaptation of War and Peace rather than the American version). Professor Rzhevsky is in the Russian department at SUNY, Stony Brook. Available from Amazon.com for $40. |
| Between Heaven and Hell: The Story of a Thousand Years of Artistic Life in Russia Author: W. Bruce Lincoln, Viking Penguin (1998) |
| Recommended because Recommended as a highly readable account of the entire sweep of Russian literature and the fine arts which is accessible to the non-specialist. Available from Amazon.com as a used book, both in hardback and paperback editions at different prices. | |||
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| Koshka's Tales: Stories from Russia (1993) Author: James Mayhew, Kingfisher Books, 80 pages. |
| Recommended because Recommended because the author has retold five of the most famous Russian fairy tales in contemporary English. The tales are woven together by the cat Koshka, a wise old story-telling cat, who is narrating to a banished Tsaritsa and are accompanied by full-color, full-page illustrations, also done by Mayhew. Suitable for elementary school age students. Available from Indiana University Russian and East European Studies Institute. |
| The Cambridge Companion to the Classic Russian Novel (1998) Author: Malcolm V. Jones (Editor), Robin Feuer Miller (Editor), Victor Terras (Contributor), Lesley Milne (Contributor), Cambridge University Press |
| Recommended because Recommended because it features recent essays by prominent scholars, in which works by Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Bulgakov, Nabokov, Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn, and many others are described and discussed. There is a chronology and guide to further reading. All quotations are in English. A valuable guide for students, scholars, and anyone interested in the Russian novel. Available in both used and new condition from Amazon.com for prices starting about $7. |
| Akhmatova, Anna (1971) |
| Recommended because this documentary video provides various perspectives on Anna Akhmatova (1888-1966), Russian poet adored by her countrymen and called by them "the soul of our time." Her life and work bridged the country's Tsarist and Revolutionary periods. Refusing to lend her prestige to Stalin's rule, she was expelled from the Soviet Writers' Union and for years suffered desperately. This program presents an overview of her life and work by Irene Moore, a founder of the American Stanislavsky Theater, who recites Akhmatova's poetry in Russian; and two academics who have written extensively on Akhmatova: Samuel Driver, professor at Brown University, and Irene Kirk, professor at the University of Connecticut. Also featured are many photographs of Akhmatova and her world. Kirk, one of the last Westerners to see the poet alive, tells of their meeting and of Akhmatova's secret book in her Moscow library where she kept notes of things she wanted to remember (28 minutes). In English. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $90. |
| Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: In Love with Mother Russia |
| Recommended because this is a video biography of the Russian writer. "I could not have invented my life better than it invented itself .... All I had to do was take possession of it to write about it." So says Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, a Nobel Laureate who has lived the terrible hardships of his landmark novels. In this gripping program, key figures such as Andrei Vassilievsky, the editor of Novy Mir; Nikita Struve, the first publisher of The Gulag Archipelago; and Solzhenitsyn himself, in a rare interview, discuss the events that have both stimulated and shaped a perilous lifetime of writing. Extracts from Archipelago and The Oak and the Calf drive home the harsh realities of life in the U.S.S.R. during the Stalin and Brezhnev regimes (49 minutes). In English. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Films for the Humanities for $150. |
| An Introduction to Russian Literature (1975, 56 minutes) |
| Recommended because this video examines Russian history from the early nineteenth century to the present through the eyes of some of its major writers, including Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pasternak, Blok, Akhmatova, and Solzhenitsyn. Availibility: May be borrowed free of charge from Indiana University's Russian and East European Studies Institute. | |||
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| Brodsky, Joseph: A Maddening Space (Mystic Fire Video, 1995, 60 minutes) |
| Recommended because this is a portrait of Nobel prize-winning poet, essayist and controversial former dissident Joseph Brodsky which includes an overview of his troubled life in the Soviet Union, his emigration to the U.S. and his devotion to American literature, and is full of examples of both his poetry and his critical essays. Avalibility: May be borrowed free of charge from the Harvard University National Resource Center for Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies. |
| Crime and Punishment (Prestuplenie i nakazanie) (1970) |
| Recommended because this is a faithful rendition of the Dostoevsky novel, produced in Russia. In Russian with English subtitles, but the latter are white and at times are difficult to read (black & white, 220 min). Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $30. |
| Dostoevsky, Fyodor: Crime and Punishment |
| Recommended because considered the first modern novel, Crime and Punishment is both a compelling psychodrama and an unrelenting examination of modern humankind. This video is recommended because it skillfully interweaves riveting dramatizations of Fyodor DostoevskyÂ’s masterpiece with Notes from the Underground and the autobiographical Memoirs from the House of the Dead. Penetrating observations are provided by Professor John Jones, of Oxford University, who scrutinizes the merciless introspection inherent in these works (59 minutes). In English. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Films for the Humanities for $150. |
| Eugene Onegin (Evgenii Onegin) (1958) |
| Recommended because this is the film version (on video) of the Peter Tchaikovsky opera based on the work by Alexander Pushkin. Directed by Roman Tikhomirov, with Bolshoi Theatre and Opera staff, cast includes Ariadna Shengelaya as Tatiana (sung by Galina Vshnevskaya) and Vadim Medvedev as Onegin (sung by Yevgeni Kibkalo). Filmed in Leningrad and the surrounding countryside (108 minutes). In Russian with English subtitles. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20. |
| Great Russian Writers: Alexander Blok |
| Recommended because this is a biographical account of Aleksandr Blok, poet and dramatist, and greatest of the Russian symbolists. He lived from 1880 to 1821. His most famous works include The Twelve, Scythians, Verses about the Lady Beautiful, and Homeland (25 minutes). In English. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20. | |||
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| Great Russian Writers: Alexander Pushkin |
| Recommended because this is a biographical account of Alexander Pushkin, Russia's most venerated writer. He lived from 1799 to 1837. His most famous works include Eugene Onegin, Ruslan and Ludmila, Boris Godunov, and The Queen of Spades (25 minutes). In English. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20. |
| Great Russian Writers: Anton Chekhov |
| Recommended because this is a biographical account of Anton Chekhov, Russian short-story writer and dramatist who lived from 1860 to 1904. His most famous works include The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, The Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard (25 minutes). In English. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20. |
| Great Russian Writers: Boris Pasternak |
| Recommended because this is a biographical account of the Soviet poet and Nobel Prize winning author who lived from 1890 to 1960. His Doctor Zhivago was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1958 (25 minutes). In English. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20. |
| Great Russian Writers: Fyodor Dostoevsky |
| Recommended because this is a biographical account of Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of the world's greatest novelists. He lived from 1821 to 1881. His most famous works include The Brothers Karamazov, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Possessed (25 min). In English. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20. |
| Great Russian Writers: Leo Tolstoy |
| Recommended because this is a biography of the Russian novelist (b. 1828, d. 1910) which focuses on his personal life rather than this literary works. Superficial at times, this video does however take the viewer to the places in Russia where Tolstoy lived and worked and could serve as a good introduction to the writer's troubled life (25 minutes). In English. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20. | |||
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| Great Russian Writers: Maxim Gorky |
| Recommended because this is a biographical account of the novelist and playwright and founder of Socialist Realism. Gorky was born in 1868 and died in 1936. His most famous works include Mother, The Lower Depths, In the World, and The Gorky Trilogy (25 minutes). In English. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20. |
| Great Russian Writers: Vladimir Mayakovsky |
| Recommended because this is a biographical account of the foremost Bolshevik poet in the early Soviet era. Born in 1893, Mayakovsky committed suicide in 1930. His most famous works include A Cloud in Trousers, The Backbone Flute, Ode to Revolution, and Left March (25 minutes). In English. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20. |
| Lady with a Dog (Dama s sobachkoi) (1960) |
| Recommended because this is a classic short story by Chekhov that has been made into an excellent film. This is the story of a man and a woman, both already married, who fall in love while vacationing in turn of the century Yalta. Directed by Josef Heifitz, stars Iya Savvina and Alexei Batalov (black & white, 89 minutes). In Russian with English subtitles. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $30. |
| Nabokov, Vladimir (1996) |
| Recommended because this is a biography of the emigre Russian writer. Relatives, friends, and professional associates examine the life and works of the Russian-born novelist and critic. Nabokov, who began his literary career as a poet, is perhaps best known for his controversial work on Nikolai Gogol. Writing extensively both in Russian and English, his intricate, stylish literary effects and unorthodox structure are apparent in works including Pale Fire and The Gift. Excerpts from these and other novels reinforce the core thesis of his entire body of fiction: the problem of art itself, presented in various figurative disguises. BBC production (53 min). In English. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Films for the Humanities for $90. |
| Princess Frog (Tsarevna-liagushka) (1954) |
| Recommended because this is the cartoon version of the Russian fable by the same name. A handsome and kind prince must overcome numerous obstacles to reverse the spell that has transformed a princess into a frog. Directed by M. Tsekhanovskii. Also included on this tape is "V nekotorom tsarstve." Collection number 37 in the Soyuzmul'tfil'm series. In Russian. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail); not clear if it is still available commercially. | |||
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| Ruslan and Ludmila (1971-1972) |
| Recommended because this is a good Mosfilm version of Pushkin fairytale. Presents authentic 12th century Russian costumes and weaponry. Story of medieval prince's attempt to rescue his love who has been kidnapped by an evil sorcerer (two parts) (140 min). In Russian with English subtitles. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), but no longer available commercially. |
| The Face of Russia: Part 2:The Facade of Power (Gogol) (1998) |
| Recommended because this is part of the three-part documentary on Russian art and culture, written and hosted by James Billington, Librarian of Congress, and author of The Icon and the Axe, a classic text on Russian culture. In Part 2, Russian architecture is examined, with a focus on St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo. More importantly for our purposes, the part two is recommended because it also looks at the writings of Gogol, who revealed the human suffering behind Russia's "Facade of Power." His Dead Souls first inspired 19th-century political radicals, then Soviet dissidents, and still influences Russian artists today (60 minutes). In English. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $30. |
| The Firebird (1991) |
| Recommended because this animated film is part of the "Rabbit Ears" series of children's stories and is a video version of one of the most popular Russian fairy tales. In particular, Firebird is a Russian legend about an archer named Ivan and his inseperable companion, the Horse of Power. When Ivan brings a golden feather from the Firebird to the Tsar, he is ordered to present the entire bird, or lose his life. Then he is commanded to retrieve the princess Vassilisa from the end of the earth so that the Tsar might marry her. When the archer Ivan falls in love with the princess, he and the Horse of Power must find a way to thwart the Tsar. Narrated by Susan Sarandon, original music by Mark Isham, animation done in Russia (30 minutes). In English. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $20. |
| The Shooting Party (Moi laskovyi i nezhnyi zver') (1977) |
| Recommended because this is a drama in film version based on a story ("Drama na okhote") by Chekhov. The story of a magistrate who, unable to admit his love for a woodsman's daughter, watches as she marries an estate manager and falls into a loveless affair with the estate's owner, a decadent count. Directed by Emil Loteanu, stars Galya Belyaeva, Oleg Yankovsky, Kirill Lavrov, and Leonid Markov (105 min). In Russian with English subtitles. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), but no longer available commercially. |
| Tolstoy, Leo (1983) |
| Recommended because this is a biography of the late 19th century writer. Directed by Sergei Gerasimov, stars Nikolai Eremenko and Marina Ustimenko (103 minutes). In Russian with English subtitles. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $60. | |||
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| Tsvetayeva, Marina |
| Recommended because Marina Tsvetayeva was one of the great poets of the 20th century and a contemporary of Akhmatova, Pasternak, Mandelstam, and Mayakovsky. She lived through World War I, the Revolution, the Civil War, and the Moscow Famine, and then in exile in Germany, Czechoslovakia, France, and internal exile back in the Soviet Union. Determined to remain apolitical, she became a victim of her convictions. Her husband became an NKVD agent in Paris and her daughter a staunch Communist. She was shunned by the Russian émigré community. Despite her famous affairs, she was devoted to her husband and followed him back to Russia where she was sent into internal exile and committed suicide at the age of 49. This docudrama includes archival footage of the times and places that provided the backdrop of her life; readings in Russian and English of her poems, diaries, and letters; dramatized scenes; and interviews with key writers, biographers, and translators of her work (56 minutes). In English. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Films for the Humanities for $150. |
| War and Peace (Voina i mir) (1967) |
| Recommended because this is an excellent film version of the Tolstoy novel. Five years in the making, this grand adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's epic won the 1968 Oscar for Best Foreign Film. With its cast of thousands and virtually unlimited budget, it vividly portrays Russia during the Napoloeonic era from 1805 to 1812, including the spectacular Battle of Borodino. Directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, stars Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Ludmilla Savelyeva, Sergei Bondarchuk (as Pierre), and Anastasia Vertinskaya (403 minutes). In Russian with English subtitles. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), or may be purchased from Facets Multimedia for $100. |
| Yevtushenko, Yevgeny: Appearance at Ohio State University (1998) |
| Recommended because this video provides a taste of the Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko reading his poems (including Babi Yar, The City of Yes and No) in Russian with English translations (read by OSU graduate students Kristin Peterson and Jeff Holdeman). Introduction by Professor Irene Masing-Delic. Performance at Ohio State University on February 12, 1998 (90 minutes). In Russian and English. Available for loan from Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European Studies (call 614-292-8770 or order it by e-mail), but not available commercially. |
Update: 10 February 2007