Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

SLA199H. Invisible Kingdom, Imaginary Space. Imaginary Galicia. Fall 2024

Class meets on Tuesdays from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM.

The Final Paper is to be emailed to the instructor directly after the last class and no later than Monday, Dec 9,2024 at midnight. Sample topics are listed below, but you are free to suggest your own topic to the instructor. Don't write on your own topics without FIRST getting the instructor's approval. Papers should be 5–6 pages long, formatted with 1 inch margins, double spacing, and 12 point type.

Papers do not require any additional reading or research, beyond what was assigned in the course. You MAY choose to pursue further reading, but it is not necessary. Remember, whenever you quote any material, including what we have read in the course, you need at least one full citation. These papers are still in the category of "short essays." That means you must organize your ideas compactly in an orderly way. Avoid unnecessary long introductions. Avoid repetition. Say exactly what you mean and say it clearly. DO NOT hand in work that you have not proofread. The spell checker in your word processor is helpful, of course, but it will not catch everything. Make sure you read over your own work. Polish, Ukrainian and Russian names and terms should be spelled the way you find them in the books you are writing about and should be consistent in your paper. The only exception is the name of the country, Ukraine. Old spelling rules used "the" Ukraine. This is no longer correct. Use "Ukraine" without the article "the."

Here are some sample ideas for paper topics:

1. Your own topic. This is always the best idea, since it came from your own interest and understanding. Formulate an idea and email it to the instructor for approval.
2. Compare the depiction of workers and peasants in Ivan Franko's Boa Constrictor with those in Andrzej Stasiuk's Tales of Galicia.
3. Compare the depiction of Count Frranz Xaver Morstin, the protagonist of Joseph Roth's “The Bust of a Emperor,” with Stepan Kalynovych in Ivan Franko's “The Involuntary Hero.”
4. Explore the depiction of social differences in one or two works.
5. Explore the depiction of women and their roles in Sacher Masoch and one other work.
6. Explore the depiction of inter-ethnic conflict in or two of the works.
7. Examine another work by one of the authors in our syllabus that is set in Galicia (Joseph Roth, Ivan Franko, Yuri Vynnychuk).
8. Explore the role of memory in re-creating a particular image of Galicia in autobiographical works.
9. Explore the use of actual historical events in one or two of the works we have read.