US (Hi)Story in Film and Literature/Latham: Home

David Benioff explains that Harrison Salisbury’s The 900 Days, “was my constant companion while writing City of Thieves.” Salisbury’s 583-page masterpiece is jam packed with citations, statistics, documents, and excerpts from letters and journals of the period. It is an impressive historical work on Piter and its inhabitants during the Great Patriotic War. Clearly, Benioff wanted to craft his novel with historical accuracy; he wanted to “get the details right.” In your next paper for the class you will do a hyper- close reading of any one moment, character, or theme in City of Thieves; you will compliment your close reading with a bit of research into the facts, the records, the “real” (hi)story (if there is such a thing).

We have identified the following major themes and motifs in the novel:

• Fairy tale elements (giants and witches, impossible quests, superhuman treks, intelligence and wit, lessons to be learned...connection to real Russian fairy tales?)
• Russian literature: Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Mandelstam, Goncharov, Pushkin (is there a connection? What do the main characters in these novels have in common with Kolya and Lev?)
• Hero and the sidekick (who are Koyla and Lev modeled after in Russian culture OR how do they play into a long standing literary tradition?)
• The superhuman alongside the profoundly human (life in Leningrad during the siege—what was real/what over-exaggerated?)
• Life/war as a game of chess-(chess in Russian culture?)
• Another you find interesting/important….

Identify a topic you are most interested in exploring further. Craft any of the ideas listed above into a valid essay topic. What about any of them is interesting, significant, or valid in relation to our exploration of the novel, and of history and/or literature? To consider: how do any of these themes or motifs add to our understanding and appreciation of the novel and of life in Russia during the 900 Day Siege? Why would Benioff include them?

For Monday, October 29th please draft a topic proposal, one that explains what you will explore/examine/investigate further AND why? Your proposal should be a finely developed paragraph in which you identify your topic, your reason for exploring it, and your goal(s) in the essay. You should also include an initial bibliography of the resources you have identified to date.

Once you have chosen and proposed a topic you will spend some time researching. What can you learn about the Russian fairy tale, about the 900 Day Siege, about military strategy or military personnel, about Russian literary heroes, about the role of chess in Russian culture that might enrich your appreciation of Benioff’s novel? Your essay should explore your topic through careful close reading of key scenes AND via reference to a secondary source(s). 

Please fill out this Search Log throughout your process.

MAKE A COPY of the Google Doc. Share with Ms. Matlack and Ms. Latham by Monday morning.