what texts or film should I assign to address queer identities in Russia?

[Richard Robin]

<<For a class next year on Russian identity and alterity as explored in
literature and film over time, I'd like to include a week of discussion of
queer identity.  I'd like to assign something under 200 pages of reading
available in English translation, perhaps some stories, poems, a novella,
from any period (or a mix from various periods - Imperial, Soviet,
post-Soviet) >>

Sympathetic gay characters have begun to enter mainstream TV plots. So you
might want to look at Физика и химия, a Russian localization of the Spanish
telenovela of the same title. The gay character Fedya gets lots of airtime.
His story culminates in a scene where he comes out to his parents episode
10, if I am not mistaken. Of course, ФиХ is a fairly faithful localization
of the Spanish series, which is more explicit in its depiction of Fer's
(=Fedya) love life.

Valeria Gai Germanika's new series Краткий курс счастливой жизни also has a
gay character but he doesn't get as much airtime. Still, the series has a
quirky coming out scene that ends up as an embarrassment to everyone.

-Rich Robin

-- 
Richard M. Robin, Ph.D.
Director Russian Language Program
The George Washington University
Washington, DC 20052
202-994-7081
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Russkiy tekst v UTF-8

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