Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

SLA328, The Culture of Contemporary Ukraine, 2016

Final Papers

This assignment is due April 6, 2016 at the beginning of class.

The assignment is this: Write an essay of 7 to 8 pages (double spaced) that examines a particular work of art (or works of art) from the perspective of cultural identity. Use all the tools of analysis that we have developed throughout the semester, including language, history, religion, region, East vs. West, education, age vs. youth, high vs low culture, modern vs traditional, etc, etc. Use your judgment and interpretive skills to glean these topics and ideas from the work(s) you examine. How is identity developed in the work? What are the markers of identity? What identities are represented? How do they interact? Are they in conflict? Does the work offer an interpretation of reflection of questions of identity as they exist in Ukraine today. Remember that works of art are the best vehicles for expression of a cultural identity, but they usually offer this expression in a complex and sometimes confusing jumble of unrealized, mixed, or partial identities. The tools of analysis (often built on crude and self-evident analyses) may need to be applied with great sensitivity to unravel these complex webs of interlocking identities. As the basic object of your analysis you must choose a work or works of art, whether literary, visual, plastic or otherwise. You are free to propose your own selection of works. Otherwise, choose one of these:
Yuri Andrukhovych. Recreations. (novel) or purchase
Yuri Andrukhovych. Perverzion. (novel) or purchase
Yuri Andrukhovych. The Moscoviad. (novel) or purchase
Oksana Zabuzhko. "I, Milena" and “Girls” (short stories, you must write about both)
Taras Prokhasko. The UnSimple. Part One and Part Two (novel)
Serhii Zhadan. Depeche Mode. (novel) or purchase
Yuri Izdryk. Wozzeck. (novel) or purchase
Herstories: An Anthology Of New Ukrainian Women Prose Writers, Compiled by Michael M. Naydan. (short stories, you must write about at least two) purchase
Oles Sanin (director). Mamay. (film)
You might also choose a combination of two or more works from the anthologies Two Lands, New Visions or From Three Worlds.
If you read Ukrainian, you can suggest a literary work that is not available in translation.
If you have access to museum, artist, or exhibit catalogs that document the work of contemporary artists in Ukraine, you may write about visual art.
If you are knowledgable about music and have access to recordings of contemporary compositions from Ukraine (classical or popular music), you may write about these, but bear in mind that identity is a difficult concept in music.

Late assignments will be penalized. Students will write an exam in class on this day, so they must come to class prepared to write a test that will examine in summary what has been studied throughout the semester. Absence from this final exam without a written note from a doctor will result in a grade of zero on the test.