Nariman Skakov
Nariman Skakov
Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures
Focal Groups: Philosophy and LiteratureContact:
Building 240, Room 107
Phone: 650 724 3073
nariman.skakov@stanford.edu
Office Hours:
By appointmentOVERVIEW:
Nariman Skakov’s trajectory from a peaceful dweller of the wide and wild steppes of Central Asia to an overworked West-Coast academic included an intermediary stop in the UK, where he studied literary theory and cinema. He has a strong interest in Andrei Platonov, the cinema of Andrei Tarkovsky and Rustam Khamdamov, literary theory (Bakhtin and Shklovsky in particular), Moscow conceptualism (Ilya Kabakov, Vladimir Sorokin and Dmitri Aleksandrovich Prigov), intersections between the textual and the visual, and the Soviet 'Orient'. His first monograph (The Cinema of Tarkovsky: Labyrinths of Space and Time) was published by I.B. Tauris in January, 2012.
EDUCATION:
D.Phil., Medieval and Modern Languages, University College, Oxford University, 2009.
M.Phil., European Literature, University College, Oxford University, 2006.
Certificate in Philosophy (Visiting student), Wadham College, Oxford University, 2004.
Courses
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COMPLIT210Spr2011-12
'Quests for my own word are in fact quests for a word that is not my own, a word that is more than myself,' writes Mikhail Bakhtin towards the end of his life. It was this ceaseless pursuit of another word that allowed Bakhtin, one of the most distinguished literary critics of the twentieth century, to author several influential literary theory concepts, many of which deal with the ideas of multiplicity, diversity and unfinalizability. The seminar explores these core concepts through close reading of key texts in English and investigates their reverberations in the writings of other thinkers such as Kristeva, de Man and Derrida
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SLAVGEN185/285Aut2011-12
The term cinematography, which literally means "inscribing motion," tends to lose the "graphic" part in modern use. However, several influential film-makers not only practiced the art of "inscribing motion" but also wrote texts discussing the aesthetic premises of cinematographic art. This course explores theories of cinema as propagated by the following film-makers: Vertov, Eisenstein, Godard, Bresson, Antonioni, Pasolini, Tarkovsky, Greenaway, and Lynch. Selected key texts will be supplemented by screenings of classic films, indicative of each director's work.
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DLCL349Aut2011-12
Advanced survey course of key schools in literary theory, from formalism onwards. Emphasis is on the discussion of primary sources. Topics include structuralism, ideology critique, psychoanalysis, reception aesthetics, deconstruction, feminism, and post-colonialism. Readings by Barthes, Bakhtin, Benjamin, Borges, Derrida, de Man, Foucault, Freud, Iser, Lacan, Shklovsky, and Spivak, among others.
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SLAVLIT232Aut2010-11
This graduate seminar explores the main texts of the two influential Russian literary theory groups: Formalism (Viktor Shklovsky, Yiurii Tynianov, Roman Jakobson, and Boris Eikhenbaum) and the Moscow-Tartu school of semiotics (Yiurii Lotman and Boris Uspensky). The seminar will also cover the key essays of Mikhail Bakhtin who arguably represents the most influential one-man movement in the history of literary theory.
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SLAVLIT244Win2010-11
What is the place of postmodernism in Russia? The course aims to answer the question by engaging with theories of postmodernity (Baudrillard Barthes Derrida) and through close reading of three gems of Russian postmodern literature: Vladimir Sorokin's Marina's Thirtieth Love, Sasha Sokolov's Astrophobia, and Viktor Pelevin's Buddha's Little Finger. The novels will be read in Russian.
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SLAVGEN166Win2010-11
Transcending (Meta)Physical Borders: Russian Cinema since 1964 The course examines Soviet and Russian films which explore the theme of transcending physical (national) and metaphysical (supernatural) borders. It includes classics of `art-house’ cinema (Paradzhanov, Shepitko, Tarkovsky, Mikhalkov) as well as more recent feature films of 'independent' Russia (Muratova, Sokurov, Bekmambetov, Popogrebsky-Khlebnikov).
