Unit+4+World+Literature+Russia

Overview:

 * Through use of classical Russian text, students will address the author's use of rhetorical devices and developed themes in Eastern literature. Instructors should make strives to devote time to non fiction or historical text as well as other genres. Students will gain a well- rounded understanding of the connectivity between the social, cultural and historical evolution of Russian literature.

Focus Standards:

 * **RL.9-10.3:** Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
 * **RL.9-10.5:** Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks) create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise.
 * **RI.9-10.3:** Analyze how the author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas or events, including the order in which the points are made, how they are introduced and developed, and the connections that are drawn between them.
 * **RI.9-10.6:** Determine an author’s point of viewor purpose in a text and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose.
 * **RI.9-10.7:** Analyze various accounts of a subject told in different mediums (e.g., a person’s life story in both print and multimedia), determining which details are emphasized in each account.
 * **W.9-10.1:** Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
 * **W.9-10.2:** Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
 * **SL.9-10.3:** Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, identifying any fallacious reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence.
 * **L.9-10.3:** Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening.

Suggested Student Objectives:

 * Read works of Russian literature both for their intrinsic qualities and for their relation to the historical context.
 * Analyze the motives, qualities, and contradictions of a character in Russian literature (including the narrator).
 * Describe the effect of the narrative structure, pacing, and tone in a work of Russian literature.
 * Analyze the role of utopian ideology in select works of Russian literature.
 * Consider the impact of the Bolshevik Revolution and Communist rule on twentieth-century Russian writers and literature.
 * Offer insightful inferences regarding the themes of the text.
 * Create a clear, original, specific thesis statement.
 * Organize concrete evidence and/or supporting textual details to support a thesis statement.
 * Use precise language, avoiding casual language and clichés.
 * Write appropriate transitions to organize paragraphs.
 * Apply new terminology to the texts.
 * Analyze how historical events influence literature.
 * Analyze how literary devices help convey theme.

Suggested Texts:
Drama: Novels: Short Fiction: Poetry: Non-Fiction:
 * The Cherry Orchard (Anton Chekhov) - Russia
 * Notes from the Underground (Fyodor Dostoyevsky) - Russia
 * The Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka) - Czech Republic
 * //One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich// (Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn) - Russia
 * //We the Living// (Ayn Rand) - Russia
 * Anthem (Ayn Rand) - Russia
 * "The Overcoat" (Nickolai Gogol) - Ukraine
 * "The Bet" (Anton Chekhov) - Russia
 * "How Much Land Does A Man Need" (Leo Tolstoy) - Russia
 * "To Urania" (Joseph Brodsky) - Russia
 * “Dostoyevsky’s Metaphor of the ‘Underground'” (Monroe C. Beardsley) - US
 * //Nikolai Gogol -// Chapter One (Vladimir Nabokov) - Russia
 * //My Pushkin// (Marina Tsvetaeva) - Russia