Class discussion website

Hand in Essays

Grades

Winter Quarter 2010

Lecture Schedule

Asterisks * refer to reading assignments you can read on the class discussion website

Underlined titles are links to websites

Week 1 (Jan 4-6) Roots of Baltic Cultures

Mon: Landscapes, nations and history

1.         Online video clips: History of Estonia; History of Latvia; "Flight over Lithuania,"

2.         *Maironis, "Trakai Castle"; (see also song & film on YouTube)

3.         *Auseklis, "Castle of Light" [Link to YouTube]

Wednesday: From folklore to national culture
Reading due today:

4.         *Selected Estonian and Latvian Folktales

5.         Legend about Kalevipoeg’s sword [Link to Estonian tourist website]

6.         *Excerpt from Friedrich Kreutzwald, Kalevipoeg

Week 2 (Jan 11-13):  Emergence of Modern National Cultures

Mon: Founding Mothers of Baltic culture

7.         *Žemaite, “The Daughter-in-Law”

8.         *Begin Aspazija, “Lost Rights”

Wed: Politics and drama

9.         *Aspazija, “Lost Rights,” continued

10.      [Book] Begin Tammsaare, Misadventures of the New Satan, pages 7-13

Week 3 (Jan 20): Country People in the Modern World

Mon: Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday

Wed: From folklore to modern literature

11.      [Book] Anton Hannsen Tammsaare, Misadventures, 14-139

Week 4 (Jan 25-27): Approaching Destruction

Mon: The big picture of good & evil: An Estonian view

12.      [Book] Tammsaare, Misadventures, 140-255.

Wed: War and Trauma

13.      Romualdas Granauskas, “Red Forest [Link to Lituanus]

14.      [Book] Agate Nesaule, Woman in Amber, vii-viii; 3-11.

Week 5 (Feb 1-3): Traumatized Cultures

Mon: Trauma of war

15.      [Book] Nesaule, Woman in Amber, pages 3-140

Wed: Healing the trauma of war

16.      [Book] Nesaule, Woman in Amber, pages 141-280

17.      *Veljo Tormis, "Curse upon Iron" [sound recording] 

Week 6 (Feb 8-10): Soviet Story

Mon: Artist's choices: Collaboration and Resistance

18.      *Jānis Sudrabkalns, "Stalin, We are following you"

19.      Vizma Belševica, “Notes” [Link to Lituanus 16,1 (1970)]

20.      Veljo Tormis, "Song of the aborigine" [Link to Video]

Wed: The New Soviet Man

21.      Priit Pärn, Breakfast on the Grass (film, in class)
             (also available online: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4)

22.      [Book] Ričardas Gavelis, Vilnius Poker  pages 1-162. 

Week 7 (Feb 17): Soviet Trauma

Mon: Presidents Day Holiday

Wed: Confronting “Them”

23.      [Book] Gavelis, pages 163-449

Week 8 (Feb 22-24) Destruction, reconstruction

Mon: Dealing with the trauma of war and Sovietization

24.      [Book] Ričardas Gavelis, Vilnius Poker, pages 451-485

25.      *Gavelis, “Report on Ghosts”

Wed: Fighting destruction, building islands of freedom

26.      *Betti Alver, “Corals”

27.      *Imants Ziedonis, "My Motorcycle"

Week 9 (March 1-3) Border States

Mon Freedom, at last!

28.      [Book] Tonu Onnepalu, Border State, 1-85

Wed: Baltic Cultures in a globalized world

29.      [Book] Onnepalu, Border State, 86-100

30.      Kaplinski, “From Harem to Brothel” [Link to Eurozine]

Week 10 (March 8-10) Baltic Cultures Today

Monday:  Film in Class, "Little Bird's Diary"; Review/Roundup

Wednesday: Review / roundup discussion.  

Friday: Book Review Essays due.  Upload at the "Collect It" website

Final Examination Monday, March 15, 2010, 2:30-4:20 pm

Last Updated:
03/09/2010