Literary Images of Ukraine, Russia and Russia's War against Ukraine since 1991

 Against the background of Russia’s genocidal war in Ukraine, literature has become an important language for conveying wartime experiences, expressing grievances, and documenting war crimes. Presently, all Ukrainian intellectuals are consolidating their efforts to resist the attempts of the Russian authorities to ”erase” Ukrainian culture, history, and Ukrainian identity in general. On the other hand, the Russian authorities have weaponised the Russian literature and culture to bolster imperialism and Russification in the occupied territories. Some Russian dissident writers, by contrast, endeavor to comprehend these tragic developments and recognise responsibility of the Russian society for the criminal war in Ukraine. This course offers a study of Ukrainian and Russian literary works, that describe the Russian-Ukrainian war and broader historical developments in both countries since 1991. In addition to reading original literary texts or excerpts (in German or English translation), it will introduce some basic methodological elements of literary studies, intellectual history, history of emotions, analysis of collective representations and perceptions of the ”other.”...