Civil Service Exam Syllabus for IAS Main Exam – Russian

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.

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
    1. War and Peace
    2. Resurrection
  7. A.P. Chekhov i. Toska
    1. Smert Chinovnika
    2. Chameleon
  8. A.M. Gorky Mother
  9. A. Blok The twelve
  10. B.B.
    1. Cloud in plants Mayakovsky
    2. Good
  11. M. Sholokhov Fate of a man
  12. B. Pasternak Doctor Zhivago
  13. Solzhenitsyn One day in the life of Ivan Danisovich
  14. V. Rasputin Zhivi i Pomni
  15. Chingiz Aitmatov Bely Porokhod
  16. V. Shukshin Chudik

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