UPSC Mains Exam Syllabus : Russian Optional

PAPER-I

Answers must be written in Russian except in the case of question regarding translation from Russian to English. (Language and Culture)

Section-A

Modern Russian Language : Phonetics, Morphology, Syntax, Lexicology, Lexicography and Semantics, linguistics
Translation from Russian into English and vice-versa.

Section-B

Socio-political and economical development of the Russian Federation : Patriotic war of 1812, October Revolution, Perestroika and Glasnost, disintegration
of USSR. Regional & Cultural variations of the Russian Federation.
Essay on general topics.

IAS Mains General Studies Study Kit

PAPER-II

(Answers must be written in Russian ) (Literature)

Section-A

Literary History and Literary Criticism Literary movements, Sentimentalism, Romanticism, Naturalism, Realism, Critical Realism, Socialism, Acmeism, Symbolism,
Futurism; Origin and development of literary genres :

Folk literature, Lyrics and poems- A.S. Pushkin, M.U. Lermontov, Alexander Blok, Esenin, V. Mayakovky,

Anna Akhmatova. Epic-L.N. Tolstoy, M. Sholokhov, Short story, novelet, novels- Pushkin, Lermontov, N.V. Gogol, S. Shchedrin, I. Goncharov, I. Turgenev, F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy, A.P. Chekhov, M. Gorky, M. Sholokhov, I. Bunin, E. Zamyatin, Boris Pasternak, A. Solzhenitsyn, M. Bulgakov, Chingiz
Aitmatov, V. Rasputin, V. Shukshin, Criticism- Belinsky, Dobrolyubov, Chernyshevsky, Pisarev, Drama-Chekhov, Gogol. Influence of socio-political movements
on literature.

Section-B

This part will require first hand reading of the texts prescribed and will be designed to test the candidates’ critical ability.

1. A.S. Pushkin Evgeny Onegin

2. M.U. Lermontov Hero of our times

3. N.V. Gogol Revizor

4. I.S. Turgenev Fathers and sons

5. F.M. Dostoevsky Crime and Punishment

6. L.N. Tolstoy