IAS Main Examination Syllabus - Subject : Russian

Paper-I (Language and Culture)

Answers must be written in Russian except in the case of question regarding translation from Russian to English.

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.

Paper-II (Literary History and Literary Criticism)

Answers must be written in Russian Literature

Section-A

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.

  • A.S. Pushkin Evgeny Onegin
  • M.U. Lermontov Hero of our times
  • N.V. Gogol Revizor
  • I.S. Turgenev Fathers and sons
  • F.M. Dostoevsky Crime and Punishment
  • L.N. Tolstoy
    1. War and Peace
    2. Resurrection
  • A.P. Chekhov
    1. Toska
    2. Smert Chinovnika
    3. Chameleon
  • A.M. Gorky Mother
  • A. Blok The twelve
  • B.B. Mayakovsky
    1. Cloud in plants
    2. Good
  • M. Sholokhov Fate of a man
  • B. Pasternak Doctor Zhivago
  • Solzhenitsyn One day in the life of Ivan Danisovich
  • V. Rasputin Zhivi i Pomni
  • Chingiz Aitmatov Bely Porokhod
  • V. Shukshin Chudik