From Gutenberg to Zuckerberg: Censorship and Literature in Russia

Censorship has been a nearly omnipresent force within Russia for centuries, from the birth of Russian literature to contemporary coverage of the war in Ukraine. This course will analyze the myriad ways in which books and television have been impacted by censorial policy, exploring the history of censorship and searching for its imprint within primary sources. Our core questions include how artists are overwhelmed by censorship; how artists work under censorship; how artists evade censorship; and how artists are influenced by censorship. We will examine movies, literature, podcasts, and academic texts.