SOAR (Spring, 2005)

A BRIEF COURSE DESCRIPTION: This is an introductory course focusing on the character, culture and history of this powerfully magical "gem" of Russian cities. We will trace the growth of St. Petersburg in its history; find its soul in Russian literature, art, and music; and mark its physical image in paintings, photographs and films. This site provides a supplement to the SOAR course "St. Petersburg, Russia," being held at SUNY Potsdam in the Spring, 2005, as part of SUNY's continuing education program. Class meets 5 Tuesdays: March 8, 15, 22, 29 and April 5 in Maxcy 220, SUNY Potsdam, 9:00am-10:30am. Supplementary course web site can be found here: http://it.stlawu.edu/~rkreuzer/soarpeter.htm

Start getting acquainted with St. Petersburg by reading this short introduction to the mythos of St. Petersburg (these excerpts are taken from the preface to Solomon Volkov's book St. Petersburg: A Cultural History).

WEB LINKS

WEEKLY TOPICS:
[Week 1] Peter the Great and the Rise of St. Petersburg
[Week 2] The 18th Century: The Women Rulers and Their Heirs
[Week 3] The 19th Century: The Rulers. Petersburg Writers, Artists, and Composers. Russian Ballet.
[Week 4] The 20th Century: The Last Tsar and the Russian Revolution
[Week 5] The 20th Century: From Stalin and WWII to the Petersburg of Today

GENERAL LINKS:

• General St. Petersburg Links (Includes sections on Multi-media sites, Museums, Palaces, also some photo album links, as well as links to general topics)
  
• The Mythos of St. Petersburg (Excerpts taken from the preface to Solomon Volkov's book St. Petersburg: A Cultural History).
  
• Maps of St. Petersburg (and of Russia) (Including some historic maps)
  
• History of Russia and St. Petersburg (General sites, including links to a series of online lectures)
  
• Arts in St. Petersburg (Links to Art and Architecture, Music and Ballet, Literature)
  
• Environs of St. Petersburg (Links to some of the palaces located outside Petersburg)
  
• Student Web Projects on St. Petersburg (From a Petersburg course taught at SLU)
  
• St. Petersburg: Miracle, Mystery, Authority (More links to sites on St. Petersburg--supplement to a course taught at St. Lawrence University; these links have NOT been updated recently )

There are lots of great web sites on St. Petersburg and the surrounding area. Here is a place to start "surfing":
http://www.Saint-Petersburg.com which claims to be "the most authoritative site on the culture, entertainment and history of our beautiful Northern capital." At this site you will find quick facts on the city, along with interesting sections on the history and the attractions found in St. Petersburg and in the environs. For images, follow the links to the photo gallery, the video section, and some really nice 360° degrees panoramas.

SUGGESTED READING LIST

LITERARY WORKS:

A. S. Pushkin (the "Father of Russian Literature")

• "The Bronze Horseman" (excerpts from a poem/tale about Peter-the-Great, the city he created, and the ordinary people who have to fight the destructive forces unleashed by Nature and Peter's willfulness) from the Portable Nineteenth-Century Russian Reader, (NY: Penguin, 1993, pp. 8-10, 19-21) trans. Walter Arndt are posted on Mosaic: Perspectives on Western Civilization. Sources. [Click "play" to hear the underlined sections read aloud in Russian.] (The opening stanza is also available online from the "St. Petersburg Through Centuries" project.)
  
• "The Queen of Spades" (a fantastic story, later made into an opera by Tchaikovsky).

N. V. Gogol (writer of fantastic and fanciful humorous tales)

• "The Nose". Posted by "Bibliomania." [Read the first chapter and the beginning of the second.]
  
• "The Overcoat". Posted by "Bibliomania." [Read a few pages into this short story.]
  
• "Diary of a Madman."

F. M. Dostoevsky (writer of psychological tales)

• "White Nights: A Sentimental Love Story (from the Memoirs of a Dreamer". Choose: "Excerpt" to read the first 6 pages of this sample of an early Dostoevsky tale. Posted on Amazon.com. (Buy the book and read all the stories!)
  
• "Notes from Underground". The entire story (1918 translation by Constance Garnett) is posted from the Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library. [Read the first few pages to acquaint yourself with this Dostoevskian anti-hero.]
  
• Crime and Punishment. Translation by Constance Garnett. The entire novel is posted at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library at Calvin College. [Read as much of the first chapter as you can.]

A. Biely.

• St. Petersburg (Symbolist novel set in the revolutionary period of 1905)

poetry by A. Akhmatova, J. Brodsky

essays by J. Brodsky

HISTORICAL WORKS:

Arthur L. George (with Elena George). St. Petersburg: Russia's Window to the Future; The First Three Centuries. Lanham, New York, Oxford: Taylor Trade Publishing, 2003.

S. Volkov. St. Petersburg: A Cultural History. Simon & Schuster, 1997 (paperback). (A book, written by a native of Leningrad / St. Petersburg, which explores the St. Petersburg Mythos in detail.)

R. Massie. Peter the Great. New York: Ballantine Books, 1986 (paperback). ("Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Biography. Peter the Great is a richly textured book which unfurls the tapestry of medieval Russia--that of Peter's birth, and the very different Russia he shaped with his energy, genius and vision. Impetuous and stubborn, generous and cruel, tender and unforgiving, a man of enormous energy and complexity, Peter the Great is brought fully to life. Includes a sixteen-page insert and map." Source: book's advertising.)

R. Massie. Nicholas and Alexandra. New York: Dell, 1985 (paperback). (Biographical account of the last tsar and his family, along with a view of the Russian Revolution of 1917.)(Massie offers a moving, tragic, and unforgettable account of the extraordinary Imperial dynasty of Tsar Nicholas II, his doomed empire, and a revolution that would inexorably change the world forever. 'A larger than life drama.'--Saturday Review. Source: book's advertising.)

Vera Inber. Leningrad Diary (Diary of a writer who lived through the 900 day blockade in Leningrad during WWII.)

OTHER:

Knopf Guides. St. Petersburg. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1995 (paperback). (A fantastically rich and colorful tour guide of the Russian city, including sections on Nature, History and Language, Arts and Traditions, Architecture, and St. Petersburg in the works of painters and writers.)

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Last update: 3/14/05