Slavic 130

Introduction to Slavic Culture:

The Vampire in East European and American Culture

Lecture: TTh 1:30-3:18, Hitchcock 35
Instructor: Dr. Daniel Collins
Office Hours: T 9:30-12:30 and by appointment
Office: 232 Cunz Hall
Telephone: 292-6733 (office, messages)
Email: collins.232@osu.edu

Discussion Section Instructors:
Instructor: Elizabeth Worrall and Thaddeus Fortney
Office Hours: T 12-1, W 1:30-2:30 and by appt. W 9-11 and by appt.
Office: 432 Cunz Hall 432 Cunz Hall
Telephone: 292-4235; 292-6733 (messages)
Email: worrall.1@osu.edu or fortney.20@osu.edu

Website: class.osu.edu (after you login in with your OSU Internet username, go to the prompt for "Slavic 130.")

Course Description

SLAVIC 130 is an introduction to the culture of the Eastern European and East Central European peoples-(Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusans, Poles, Kashubs, Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenes, Croats, Bosniaks, Serbs, Macedonians, Bulgarians, Romanians, Hungarians, and Albanians). We will discuss their present distribution, prehistory, and relation to other peoples of Eurasia. We will also survey their early culture, including pagan, animistic, and dualistic religious practices and their Christianization. Our focus will be the myth of the VAMPIRE, which has had enduring power not only in Eastern European folk belief but also in American popular culture right up to the present day. In our study of vampire beliefs, we will cover a wide variety of topics:

• Folk beliefs about the soul, fertility, community safety, and diseases
• The coexistence of pagan and Christian practices in Eastern Europe
• Eastern European rites of social passage
• Boundary-crossers and their demonization
• Folk monsters related to the vampire (Evil Eye, rusalka, nav, mora, etc.)
• The function of monsters in coping with fears, identity issues, & repressed desires
• The historical Dracula-his life; his image in Romanian folklore; how he came to be a symbol of all that is evil in Western culture
• The vampire's changing image from its origins to the present-East European communal demon; Enlightenment puzzle; Romantic Sublime hero; Victorian violator of innocence; Nietschean Superman; old Hollywood sexual predator; new Hollywood sexual brinksman and misunderstood social misfit
• Why the vampire has such enduring power and adaptability as a cultural symbol

Graded Work (Subject to Change with Due Notice)

Study questions accompany the readings in the course packet; additional study questions and reading guides will be given out in class to help you prepare for quizzes and exams. NO NOTETAKING SERVICES HAVE BEEN GIVEN PERMISSION TO RECORD THE CLASS. DR. COLLINS MAKES HIS LECTURE NOTES AVAILABLE TO ANYONE WHO REQUESTS THEM.

Grading Scale

Grades will be assigned based on the following scale:
93–100	A	80–82	B–	68–69	D+
90–92	A–	78–79	C+	65–67	D
88–89	B+	73–77	C	0-65	E
83–87	B	70–72	C–

Midterm Examinations (40% of the grade):

1) Wednesday, 10/13 in the discussion sections. The exam will be 48 minutes long and will have fill-in-the-blank questions (including map questions) about the readings from Unit 1 and Unit 2. A study guide will be distributed in advance.

2) Wednesday, 10/27 in the discussion sections. The exam will be 48 minutes long and will have fill-in-the-blank and short-answer questions about the lectures and readings from Units 2-5 and a ten-point analysis of a vampire text. A study guide will be distributed in advance.

• Final Examination (25% of the grade): Wednesday, 12/8, 1:30-3:18 in Hitchcock 35. The examination is cumulative. It will be 96 minutes long and will have fill-in-the-blank and short-answer questions, a short essay, and a ten-point analysis of a vampire text. A study guide will be distributed in advance, and review sessions will be held.

• Paper (10% of the grade): 5 pages, stapled, double-spaced, 1-inch margins on all sides, 12-point font. Be sure to specify your section and TA. A list of possible topics will be distributed in advance. The paper is due Tuesday, 11/30. Students who turn it in by Tuesday, 11/23 will have the opportunity to do a rewrite (due on 12/8), and the improved version will be counted for the grade. PLAGIARISM IS NOT ALLOWED AND WILL BE TREATED AS ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT. Email submissions are not allowed.

• Attendance, Participation and Professionalism (25% of the grade): You are expected to attend both the lectures and discussion sections. This is vital for your success in the class.
• Attendance will be checked periodically from the second week onwards. If you are absent without leave, you will receive a zero for the day. If you are ill, you must provide a doctor's note when you return if you wish to be counted as excused for that day. Other excuses must be cleared with your TA in advance.
• There will be occasional in-class writing assignments in the lecturers and discussion sections to check how well you are learning the material.
• There may be occasional pop quizzes to check whether you have prepared the readings for that week.
• We encourage you to participate actively. Active participation will be noted and considered when we assign the final grade.

Grading Appeals

If you have questions about a grade, please consult with your TA or with Dr. Collins. If you disagree with a correction on a graded work, please be prepared to show us that your answer was drawn from the readings or lecture notes.

Makeup Policy

Makeups require prior permission from your teaching assistant or Dr. Collins, if you cannot reach your TA. If you are forced to miss class on the day of a quiz or exam, you must contact your teaching assistant or Dr. Collins (leaving a message at 292-6733 if no one is available) in advance. If you are ill, you must provide a doctor's note when you return if you wish to be counted as excused for that day.

Extra Credit

If you would like to do extra credit work, you may receive up to 5 points on the cumulative grade by writing a report (5 pages, stapled, double-spaced, 1-inch margins on all sides, 12-point font). Be sure to specify your section and TA. Reports will be graded for accuracy and insight; the following scale will be used: passable = 3 points, good = 4 points, excellent = 5 points. PLAGIARISM IS NOT ALLOWED AND WILL BE TREATED AS ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT; that means you must cite your sources appropriately whenever you use information prepared by other people. Extra-credit reports will be due on Thursday, 12/4. Email submissions are not allowed.

You must have your topic approved by Dr. Collins. The following are some suggested topics: 1) discussion of folk beliefs (e.g., about the soul), customs, or rituals (e.g., what happens at childbirths, weddings, or funerals and why) from some culture known to you, based on interviews with elderly family members or with acquaintances from other countries; 2) review of a vampire novel, applying the concepts discussed in class.

Readings (Available at SBX)

Course Packet (= CP)

The Penguin Book of Vampire Stories , by Alan Ryan (= PB)

Dracula , by Bram Stoker (any unabridged edition will do)

Schedule of Topics and Assignments

Readings should be prepared in advance.

Week 1
Reading: Begin reading Units 1 and 2

9/22 Class Policies

9/23 Course Overview. The vampire as icon. Typology of vampires.

Week 2
Reading:Continue Reading Units 1 and 2 (CP)

9/28 The Eastern European folk vampire (part 1)

Be sure you've read "The Field of Folklore"; Afanas'ev, "Poetic Views" ; and "Modern Bulgarian Vampire Beliefs" (CP)

9/29 Overview of Eastern European geography and religion (Unit 1)

Discussion of the Eastern European folk vampire (Unit 2)

9/30 The Eastern European folk vampire (part 2)

Be sure you've read Perkowski, "The Vampire" and "A Recent Vampire Death"; "Modern Bulgarian Folktales about Vampires"; and "Forensic Pathology"

Week 3
Reading: Units 3 and beginning of Unit 4 (CP)

10/5 Archaic family structure, the Image of Limited Good, and the Problem of Evil.

Be sure you've read "A Zadruga in Bileca Rudine"; "Three Folktales" (CP)

10/6 Discussion of the Zadruga and the Problem of Evil (Unit 3)

Be sure you've read "' Salem's Lot"; "Rebellion" (CP)

10/7 The problem of Evil in Eastern European Religion and Folklore (part 1)

Be sure you've read "Peasant Society"; "Romanian Myths"; "Russian Myths" (CP)

Week 4
Reading: Continue Reading Unit 4 (CP)

10/12 The Problem of Evil in Eastern European Religion and Folklore (part 2)

Introduction to Rites of Passage

Be sure you've read "The Seed of Evil Within"; "The Evil Eye in Roumania "; "Vampires: Fabrication or Reality?" ; "Bad Guy"; and "The Question of Evil" (CP)

10/13 Midterm 1 (covers Units 1 and 2)

10/14 Film: Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors

Week 5 Reading: Unit 5 (CP)

10/19 Comments on Shadows. Rites of passage and the undead (part 1)

Be sure you've read "Mermaids and Russian Beliefs"; "Polish Beliefs about the Nightmare"; and "Vampires, Dwarves, and Witches" (CP)

10/20 Rites of passage; folktales and urban legends

Be sure you've read "Stories about Vampires Told by Russian Children" (CP)

10/21 Rites of passage and the undead (part 2)

Be sure you've read "Polish Funeral Rites"; "The Glass Coffin"; and "19th-Century Russian Folktales" (CP)

Week 6

10/26 Wrap-up of folklore; Vlad Dracula

10/27 Midterm 2 (covers Units 2-5)

10/28 Film: Nosferatu

Week 7
Reading: Unit 6 (CP); "The Vampyre" and "Varney the Vampyre" (PB, 7-35)

11/2 The vampire in Western culture (part 1)

Be sure you've read " An Enlightenment View"; "The Decline of Witches" (CP)

11/3 The vampire in Western culture (review and discussion)

Be sure you've read "Nice to Eat You" (CP)

11/4 The vampire in Western culture (part 2)

Be sure you've read "The Vampyre" (PB), "Varney" (PB); "Viy" (CP)

Week 8
Reading: Carmilla (PB, 71-137)

11/9 Le Fanu's Carmilla.

11/10 Discussion of Carmilla; review of "The Vampyre," "Varney," and "Viy"

11/11 Veteran's Day Holiday

Week 9
Reading: Dracula, Chapters 1-16

11/16 Bram Stoker’s Dracula and the image of Dracula on film (part 1).

11/17 Discussion of Dracula (reading and lecture)

11/18 Bram Stoker’s Dracula (part 2)

Week 10
Reading: Dracula, Chapters 17-27; Short Stories

11/23 Bram Stoker’s Dracula (part 3)

The image of Dracula on film (part 1)

You must turn in your paper by this date if you want a chance for a rewrite

11/24 No discussion section

11/25 Thanksgiving holiday

Week 11
Reading: "Girl with the Hungry Eyes" (PB); "The Mindworm" (PB); "Love-Starved" (PB)

11/30 The vampire in modern culture (part 1)

The image of Dracula on film (part 2)

Papers due

12/1 Discussion of short stories; review for final

12/2 The vampire in American culture (part 2)

The image of Dracula on film (part 3)

Extra-credit papers due

12/8 Final Exam, 1:30-3:18 in Hitchcock 35