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Core 101 | Fall 2008
Fall 2008
Thematic Option, CORE 101: Signs and Symbols
Professor Thomas Seifrid
teaching assistant: Eric Christensen
On Language
Wassily Kandinsky, Yellow, Red, Blue (1925)
What is language? Where did it come from? What does the fact of its existence mean for us in our lives? We use words like “tree,” “mind,” “goodness,” but does that mean that these entities exist in nature? Does it matter whether they do or do not? Beyond individual words, we generally accept the idea that some utterances are true while others are false. But are there also certain utterances that are not just true but sacred, whereas others are merely profane? Much philosophical and humanistic thought in the West in recent decades has been dominated by skeptical views of language and its relation to any knowable reality outside of itself.
In this course we will examine the divergent tradition of Russian thought about language, which begins precisely where western thought does—in the ancient Greeks—but for much of its history, including the modern era, has been dominated by veneration for, rather than skepticism toward, language. For a variety of reasons (which we will explore) most Russian thinkers have operated with a sense that language can at times be something sacred, and that there might exist certain utterances that introduce meaning into our lives and thereby also have authority over them. “Can” and “might,” because it is also possible that Russian thought is characterized more by a longing for sacred language and a sense of despair at its absence from the world than by certitude that it exists. In our exploration of these questions we will read both treatises on the nature of language (both western and Russian) and a set of Russian novels and stories in which the question of language is particularly important.
Schedule of Readings and Topics for Discussion
Please note: occasionally it may be necessary to make changes in this schedule
August 26Introduction to the course
August 28On the fitness of names
Plato, Cratylus (ca. 360 BC)
September 2Plato, Cratylus, cont’d.
Vladimir Nabokov, “Signs and
Symbols” (1946)
September 16Johann Gottfried Herder, “Essay on the Origin of Language” (1772)
September 18The prophetic (Russian) word
Nikolai Gogol, Dead Souls (1842), Part One, chs. I-III
September 23Gogol, Dead Souls, Part One, chs.IV-V
*first essay due
September 25Gogol, Dead Souls, Part One, chs.VI-VII
September 30Gogol, Dead Souls, Part One,chs.VIII-IX
October 2Gogol, Dead Souls, Part One, chs.X-XI
October 7Language as dialog
Mikhail Bakhtin, “Discourse in the Novel” (1934-35) in The Dialogic Imagination, pp.259-331
October 9Bakhtin, “Discourse in the Novel,” 331-422
October 14The perilous vs. the authentic word
Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment (1865-6), Part I
October 16Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, Part II
October 21Midterm examination
October 23Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, Parts III & IV
October 28Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, Part V
October 30Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment, Part VI
November 4The word’s exuberant possibilities
Nabokov, The Gift (1935-37), Foreword & ch.One
November 6Nabokov, The Gift, ch. Two
November 11Nabokov, The Gift, ch.Three
November 13Nabokov, The Gift, ch.Four
November 18Nabokov, The Gift, ch.Five
November 20The word’s absurd powers
Yury Tynianov, Lieutenant Kijé (1927)
November 25Language taken to the end
Andrei Platonov, The Foundation Pit (ca. 1930)
{Thanksgiving break}
December 2Platonov, The Foundation Pit
December 4Conclusions
*second essay due
Requirements for the course
Attendance at all meetings of this course is mandatory.
For each class I expect you to have read the assigned material
and to be prepared to discuss it.
Readings: all works listed above on this syllabus are required and have been ordered for sale in the University Bookstore. I strongly prefer that you use the Norton Critical Editions when indicated (for Gogol, Dead Souls and Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment) because they contain valuable supplemental readings.
Written work: two essays, due on September 23 and December 4. Specific assignments for these will be given in class. NB! Late papers will be marked down one letter grade for every day they are late—counting weekends—and may be returned without extensive comments.
Examinations: one midterm, on Tuesday, October 21l; and one final exam, on Tuesday, December 16, 8-10 a.m.
Grade distribution: participation in class discussions, preparedness: 10%; paper no.1, 15%; paper no.2, 30%; midterm, 20 %; final exam, 25%.
Do not even think of plagiarizing other sources in your papers. Works that you are obligated to cite if you consult and use them, even if you do not quote from them directly, include material obtained from the internet and “study guides” like CliffNotes. If you are at all uncertain as to what constitutes plagiarism, consult the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers or talk to me. Penalties for academic integrity violations—which are serious—are outlined in SCampus (
See also the very useful website on avoiding plagiarism provided by USC’s Writing Program:
Please also note: Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure that the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776.
Contact information: Professor Seifrid’s office is in Taper Hall 255. He can be reached by phone at 213-740-2735 or by email at . His office hours for Fall 2008 are: TTh 10-11 and by appointment.
Eric Christensen can also be reach in the Slavic department in Taper Hall 255, and at 213-740-2735. He will announce his office hours in discussion sections.