Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Theses and Dissertations

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Browsing Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies Theses and Dissertations by Author "Hokanson, Katya"

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    Akram Aylisli, Village Prose, World Literature
    (University of Oregon, 2019-09-18) Orte, Peter; Hokanson, Katya
    This thesis takes Akram Aylisli’s Farewell, Aylis as an occasion to dwell on World Literature. Tracing Aylisli’s development as a Soviet writer of Azerbaijani “village prose,” I follow the displacements of the village enacted in his recent works. These displacements reflect Aylisli’s response to the violent events associated with the end of the Soviet Union in the South Caucasus. While carrying on the traditions of “village prose” in a way, Aylisli stands against the chauvinistic forces that conscripted many of its leading figures in Russia. Aylisli’s response rather involves 1) addressing taboo histories of communal violence denied by nationalist mythologies and 2) claiming kinship with authors beyond the established national literature of Azerbaijan. In this sense, he practices a version of the idea—old, yet revolutionary—that “poetry is the universal possession of humankind.” This thesis contains previously published material.
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    Beyond the Feminine in Pushkin's Tatiana
    (University of Oregon, 2015-08-18) Spreat, Eric; Hokanson, Katya
    Pushkin's Tatiana tends to be pigeonholed by criticism that acknowledges her dynamism and openness to creative possibilities but restricts her intertextual significance to the heroines of the European novelists she herself reads. I argue that only by viewing her as the construction of a narrator who relies heavily on the stylistics of Karamzin and Zhukovsky can Tatiana be pulled out of such narrow confines. By tracing the thread of these Russian texts in the novel in verse, I will show that they often beg comparison not with their predecessors' heroines but with their male counterparts. Tatiana’s ambiguous characterization when read in conjunction with "Domik v Kolomne" (1830) shows the explicit gender parodies that Onegin only hints at. Using this text, I will ultimately consider Tatiana as an example of the ambivalence of Pushkin's heroine-muse in relation to his own participation in the ‘ballad question’ of the early 19th century.
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    From Prophecy to Parody: Shamakha in the Russian Romantic Imagination
    (University of Oregon, 2019-09-18) Jalilov, Murad; Hokanson, Katya
    This thesis seeks to explore the role of the Azerbaijani city of Shamakha and the image of its ruler, the Shamakhan Queen in Pavel Katenin’s "Kniazna Milusha" and Alexander Pushkin’s "Skazka o Zolotom Petushke". In order to interpret these works, it is important to look at the prophetic topos as outlined in Harsha Ram’s book in the Imperial Sublime and see how it was applied to Pushkin’s previous work "Kavkazkii Plennik", which I argue, is being parodied in Katenin’s "Kniazhna Milusha" and takes place in Shamakha, changing the prophetic topos as a result. Pushkin, on the other hand, considers "Kniazhna Milusha" as a literary challenge and writes "Skazka o Zolotom Petushke" as a response, where the character of the Shamakhan Queen reappears and is much more sinister than in "Kniazhna Milusha". Pushkin is successful in inverting the prophetic topos and making it somewhat "demonic" as a result.
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    The Petersburg Text in Russian Literature of the 1990s
    (University of Oregon, 2012) Smirnova, Daria; Smirnova, Daria; Hokanson, Katya
    The image of Saint Petersburg has influenced the imagination of Russian writers since the establishment of this city in 1703. Today, it is common to speak about the Petersburg Text in Russian literature that has its own mythology, imagery, and stylistics. However, the research in this sphere is predominately concentrated on works written before the second half of the 20th century. This thesis addresses the revival of the Petersburg mythology in the 1990s in works by such authors as Mikhail Veller, Andrei Konstantinov, and Marusia Klimova. It illustrates how the reinvention of traditional Petersburg themes contributed to the representation of the "wild 1990s" reality. It also examines the influence of mass media and popular culture on the development of Petersburg narration in terms of genre, style, and the creation of an author's public persona. The cultural significance of the cityscape in these works is of particular interest.
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    Poetics of Lev Tolstoy's Kholstomer
    (University of Oregon, 2014-09-29) Forehand, Paul; Hokanson, Katya
    This thesis contains an analysis of the ways in which form and content are combined to create significance within a text, as well as an exploration of the ways in which the mechanics of didactic fiction convey this significance to the reader.
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    The Representation of the Soviet Past by Contemporary Russian Writers
    (University of Oregon, 2013-10-10) Nekrasova, Alena; Hokanson, Katya
    The Soviet Union had existed for 70 years and was labeled as the "evil empire". Its technological achievements and geographical discoveries are amazing. However, its dark aspects such as censorship, "purges", and freedom restrictions are shocking as well. The effects of its collapse in 1991 were felt throughout the world in many aspects of peoples' day-to-day lives. Nowadays, many average Russians feel tenderness and nostalgia for what they had back then. This thesis addresses the perception of the Soviet past by two contemporary Russian writers, Elena Chizhova and Elena Katishonok. Despite the common tendency to idealize the Soviet epoch, the authors represent it as a period that is not worthy of nostalgia. The thesis explores the world picture created in both novels by means of the analysis of such themes as the space structure, death, and memory that recur and function on different levels of the target texts.
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    The Eye in Lermontov’s "A Hero of Our Time": Perception, Visuality, and Gender Relations
    (University of Oregon, 2016-10-27) Zagoruyko, Iryna; Hokanson, Katya
    This thesis views Lermontov’s novel "A Hero of Our Time" as centered on images, glances and vision. In his text Lermontov conveys a persistent fascination with visual perception. The attentive reader can read this language of the eye—the eye can be seen as a mirror of the soul, a fetish, a means of control, and a metaphor for knowledge. The texts that form the novel are linked together by a shared preoccupation with the eye. At the same time, these texts explore the theme of visual perception from different angles, and even present us with different attitudes towards vision. Some are guided by literature, some—by science and physiognomy, and some—by spiritualism and imagination. Since imagination—the lack of it and more often an excess of it—is a persistent motif of the novel, this thesis also explores metaphorical blindness in "A Hero of Our Time."
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    The Physiology of Literature: A.A. Ukhtomskii and the Principle of the Dominant
    (University of Oregon, 2018-09-06) Osadchuk, Svetlana; Hokanson, Katya
    THESIS ABSTRACT Svetlana R. Osadchuk Master of Arts Russian, and East European, and Eurasian Studies Program June 2018 Title: The Physiology of Literature: A.A. Ukhtomskii and The Principle of The Dominant Russian physiologist Aleksei Alekseevich Ukhtomskii played exceptional role in the development of Russian humanities in general and Russian literary studies in particular; of special interest is his significant influence on the early works of Mikhail Bakhtin. He discovered and introduced into the scientific circulation the dominant principle that has become a point of departure in developing different important concepts such as dominant, chronotope, dialogue and others. This thesis, in a way, is a genealogical recounting of early 20th century Russian literary theory in light of its associations with the work of Ukhtomskii and a demonstration how his ideas can be used in further literary studies.
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    "To Rasshcheplennoe Iadro": From Lucretian Swerve to Sundered Core in Shalamov’s Atomnaia poema
    (University of Oregon, 2015-08-18) Larson, Kirstin; Hokanson, Katya
    Varlam Shalamov's Atomnaia poema addresses a primordial "wish to split" at the core of nature and within the human heart. This wish to split is informed by Shalamov's Gulag experience as well as his reflections on Auschwitz and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Whereas Lucretius interprets an atomic tendency to swerve as an indication of free will, Atomnaia poema posits an atomic proclivity to split, that is, to self-destruct and destroy others. Atomnaia poema weighs the role of science, "its verses and its faith," in this destruction. Neither a treatise nor didactic counsel, Atomnaia poema is a conversation between physics and poetry, human and world, held in a "third language" whose rhyme and rhythm carry an emotional impact rather than a cognitive load. Splitting its own elements as it grieves the splitting atom, Shalamov pursues "Ovid's epiphany," releasing what is "housed in a single verse."