Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

SLA200H1. Spring 2018

Culture and Politics in Europe

Class meets onThursdays from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM in Carr Hall 403

Assignment 3 is due at the beginning of class in week 11, Mar 22, 2018. You must submit a paper copy in class.

You must write a brief essay of 2 pages, no less than 600 words. Essays should be formatted with 1 inch margins, double spacing, and 12 point type. Put your name on top of page 1. Please do not use a separate sheet for a title page.
Write clearly. Choose the right words, shape your ideas into meaningful sentences, and structure your argument into cohesive paragraphs. Make sure you say EXACTLY what you mean, not something almost similar to what you thought you might want to say. Be brief and get to your point directly, without lengthy introductions or digressions. Express your insights. Demonstrate that you have given some consideration to the ideas you are expressing and that you understand how these ideas relate to other ways of looking at the topic.

You must choose one of these three topics, based on classes 8 through 10.

1. Give a brief analysis of the role of the character of the monk in Stanislaw Lem's story, "The Mask."

2. You are a political advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin. He has asked you to give him a brief political justification for restoring the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky that stood in front of the KGB Headquarters in Moscow until it was torn down in 1991 as part of the collapse of the Soviet Union. He has asked in particular for comparisons with the removal of Civil War monuments in the USA and the statue of General Cornwallis in Halifax. Bear in mind that Putin worked for the KGB and doesn't like to hear people call it an organization of murderous thugs. Nor does he want to be called one himself. Your job is to produce a civilized justification for the restoration of the statue, not to praise its removal. Putin knows very well who Dzerzhinsky was, so don't waste his time with biography.

3. Examine the prosecution's closing argument in the Beilis trial. "0. Vipper's closing argument for the prosecution, 23/10/1913" (You have pages 159–161, 166–167). Analyze the argument Oskar Vipper is making. What is he trying to accomplish? Of course, he is trying to get Beilis convicted! What strategy is he using? What does he want the jurors to think? How does he try to influence their thinking?