Russian Literature and Literary Studies: a Comparative Approach

Head of the Program: Dr. Kroó Katalin

The Doctoral Programme “Russian literature and literary scholarship – comparatistic studies” has a primary research focus on 19th-century prose poetics revealing itself in the oeuvre of the great “classics” from the Golden Age – Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Goncharov, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov. Interpretative readings of individual works or a corpus of texts are studied in theoretical and comparatistic contexts. This includes the involvement of the broader cultural historical background of the analyzed works and the outlining of the critical tradition of their literary criticism, the extensive examination of theoretical conceptualizations and concrete comparatistic studies, clarifying poetic-typological, generic, thematic, intertextual relationships in the semantic interactions of literary texts, cultural paradigms and epochs in the light of Russian literature and from the perspective of world literary achievement. The history of the development of the genre of the novel from the 19th century to contemporary Russian novel poetics is also a focus and forms of discourse in 20th-century poetry and drama are given particular attention. The programme coordinates with the Semiotics MA programme and works alongside research projects oriented towards issues of cultural reception in various text forms, translation theory, literary theory and transmediality. The candidates for the programme are expected to discuss their dissertation topics with the programme director and a potential advisor from the programme before the entrance exam. The doctoral programme has a vivid intellectual atmosphere and friendly climate, motivating doctoral students to take part in conferences, creating publications and intensive common discussions.