Russian & Slavic Studies (RUSSN-UA)

Intended to give beginners a speaking and reading knowledge of the Russian language. Introduces the essentials of Russian grammar and the reading of graded texts, with special emphasis on the acquisition of an idiomatic conversational vocabulary.

Grammar review, vocabulary building, and drills in spoken Russian.

Vocabulary building, idiomatic expressions, and drills in spoken Russian.

Designed for students who speak some Russian at home but have virtually no reading and writing skills. Does not satisfy the College Core Curriculum language requirement.

Completion of this course satisfies the foreign language requirement.

Formerly Russian Literature in Translation I. Offered in the fall. 4 points. A survey of the Russian literature of the first half of the 19th century, from romanticism to the beginning of realism. The reading list includes major works by Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, and Dostoevsky. All works are read in translation.

A critical examination of the great Ukrainian-Russian humorist?s short stories and of his unfinished novel Dead Souls.

The development of utopianism in literature, philosophy, and political theory, as well as attempts to put utopian theory into action. What does it mean to posit a perfect world, and what is the relationship between such an ideal world and our less-than-perfect reality? What are the impulses behind antiutopianism? The current resurgence of utopianism and apocalypticism is examined (millenarian ?cults,? the millennium bug, etc.). Readings include Plato, More, Bellamy, Dostoyevsky, Marx, Zamyatin, Orwell, Huxley, LeGuin, and Revelation.

Study of major techniques in Chekhov's short story writing; analysis of his influence on the development of the Russian and European novella; a close analysis of Chekhov's drama (Three Sisters, Cherry Orchard, and Uncle Vanya) and its impact on Russian playwrights of the 20th century, as well as its relation to the development of Stanislavsky's Moscow Art Theatre.

Theory and practice of the European avant-garde in art and literature, 1890-1930. General cultural and historical approach to the avant-garde, with close readings of some of its key productions. Topics: cubism, Italian futurism, Russian cubo-futurism, imagism and vorticism, Dadaism, constructivism, and surrealism. Stresses aesthetic, historical, and political interconnections beIdentical to V29.0841, V41.0730. Offered every other year. 4 points. Theory and practice of the European avant-garde in art and literature, 1890-1930. General cultural and historical approach to the avant-garde, with close readings of some of its key productions. Topics: cubism, Italian futurism, Russian cubo-futurism, imagism and vorticism, Dadaism, constructivism, and surrealism. Stresses aesthetic, historical, and political interconnections between the Russian avant-garde and the West. Readings are in English, but comparative literature majors are encouraged to read works in the original language.

Iampolski. Offered every year. 4 points. An examination of the history of Russian cinema from its beginnings. The main focus is on landmarks of cinematic art and on the cultural specificity of Russian cinema. The survey also includes questions of cinema and politics (cinema as a propaganda tool), and cinema and the market. Artists discussed include Eisenstein, Vertov, Pudovkin, Kuleshov, Barnet, Shub, Kozintsev, Trauberg, and Tarkovsky. Topics include cinema and revolution, the cinema of the Russian avant-garde and constructivism, cinema and totalitarianism, and socialist realism in film.

This course is an introduction to Russian 20th-century fiction, concentrating on the two periods of greatest cultural ferment: 1920s modernism and late/post-Soviet postmodernism. After the 1917 revolution, Bolshevik ideology held that the Old World would be utterly destroyed, to be replaced by a new society populated by New Soviet Men. The experience of Russia in the 20th century can be viewed as the failed attempt to put radical theory into everyday practice, a grand scheme of social engineering that would inevitably be reflected in the country?s literature.

Drawing on a variety of forms (novels, short stories, poetry, films, performance art, and internet), produced from a variety of positions (nationalist, postmodern, liberal, leftist), this seminar offers an in-depth survey of the main cultural trends in Russia and the former Soviet Union since the mid-1980s. We will place contemporary leading writers, filmmakers, and performers such as Dmitry Prigov, Sergey Dovlatov, Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, Edward Limonov, Svetlana Alexievich, Andrey Zvyagintsev and Galina Rymbu, against the background of not only Russia’s political history but also of transformations in publishing and filmmaking, criticism and cultural consumption, and ultimately, the changing interrelationships between art, capital, and the state over the last 30+ years.

One of the most striking—and appealing—aspects of modern Russian culture is the abundance of figures radically opposed to the existing status quo, and willing to sacrifice their well-being and life by challenging it. Starting from the Old Believers, this course goes systematically through Russia’s major radicals until the present day: Cossacks, Decembrists, Populists, Anarchists, Socialists, Soviet-era Dissidents, contemporary liberals, performance artists, and leftists of different stripes. In the process, students will become familiar with some of the central Russian thinkers—Herzen and Chernyshevsky, Bakunin and Lenin, Tolstoy and Kollontai—and the echoes of their tradition in the Putin era.

Marcel Mauss developed a concept of an alternative, non-market type of economy, based on a nonmonetary exchange of such symbolic values as social recognition, sovereignty, and political participation. Today, this concept has acquired a new relevance in relation to the economy of the Internet. Examines various theories of the symbolic that expand the original Maussian model and encompass multiple aspects of culture.

Are “perversions” political? Who decides what is “normal”? This course explores the mutual influence among literature, medicine, law, and imperial politics in Europe’s turbulent fin de siècle. We will first investigate the invention of “perversions” within the disciplines of sexology (Krafft-Ebing), psychiatry (Freud), and degeneration theory (Nordau, Weininger) — and the passage of these constructs into Russian and European social discourse. We will also consider the concepts of “private” and “public” in Western Europe and Russia (Foucault, Kharkhordin). These will in turn frame our readings in Russian and European fin-de-siècle literature, which include classics like Tolstoy’s The Kreutzer Sonata (1889) and Chekhov’s “The Duel” (1891) as well as lesser-known works that created a sensation in their day, like Huysmans’ Against Nature (1884) and Artsybashev’s Sanin (1904). By charting the history of sexual deviance in Europe around 1900, we will gain insight into contemporary debates around “normalcy” of every kind, be it sexual, political, or intellectual. Bridging scientific, literary, and critical sources, this course introduces students to the historical contingency of familiar sexual categories through an interdisciplinary approach.

This course will examine speculative writing from the late nineteenth century to the present with the aim of better understanding the relationship between genre convention within fantastic writing and political commentary. We will first investigate the history and theory of the concept of utopia (and its counterpart, dystopia) in Western Europe and Russia, then move to an exploration of the literature of the ideal and the nightmarish in the Soviet century and beyond. By charting the evolution of the utopian/ dystopian imagination in Russian culture, we will gain insight into the anxieties animating some of the major events of the previous hundred years, including the turn of the century, the Bolshevik Revolution, Stalinist collectivization, the Second World War, late socialism, the breakdown of the USSR, and the millennium.

Native speakers of Russian may work with Russian language students and assist language instructors. A maximum of 4 points of internship may be counted toward the major (not toward the minor). Consult the director of undergraduate studies for further details. Internship credit in other settings and organizations requires a description of duties and approval of the director of undergraduate studies, as well as a final paper.

A maximum of 8 points of independent study may be counted toward an undergraduate major (not toward a minor). Before registering, students must submit a one-page typed description of the proposed project to the director of undergraduate studies and the proposed professor.

The course combines the traditional grammatical approach with a communicational, interactive method. Since the size of the classes is usually small we can put a great emphasis on oral drills and getting the pronunciation right from the beginning. This course is tailored for students who have never taken Russian but some linguistic awareness about Slavic languages is welcome. Students will be introduced to the grammatical complexity of the Russian language and will have the opportunity to master enough Russian to cope with everyday situations in Russian. The students will do considerable amount of grammar and vocabulary exercises in the Workbook as part of the home assignments.

The course combines the traditional grammatical approach with a communicational, interactive method. The course covers the situations, vocabulary and grammar required to take the students to the Pre-Intermediate level. Since the size of the classes is usually small we can put a great emphasis on drills in spoken Russian and to the acquisition of an idiomatic conversational vocabulary. There will also be increased attention to reading and writing skills and the students will do considerable amount of grammar and vocabulary exercises in the Workbook as part of the home assignments.

The course combines the traditional grammatical approach with a communicational, interactive method. Since the size of the classes is usually small we can put a great emphasis on oral drills and improving speaking in Russian on various subjects. Students will be given short topics to talk about at the beginning of every lesson and most written essays will have to be presented orally in class. The class also focuses on improving your writing skills and broadening your vocabulary. That is why the students are expected to keep a diary in Russian and write several compositions during the course. The students will also read several Russian short stories which will be discussed in class. We will review familiar grammar and study some advanced grammatical structures. The students will do considerable amount of grammar and vocabulary exercises in the Workbook as part of the home assignments. Several short lectures on various aspects of Russian culture and history will be given during the course and we will watch two Russian films that would be followed by the discussions.

The course combines the traditional grammatical approach with a communicational, interactive method. Since the size of the classes is usually small we can put a great emphasis on oral drills and improving speaking in Russian on various subjects. Students will be given short topics to talk about at the beginning of every lesson and most written essays will have to be presented orally in class. The class also focuses on improving your writing skills and broadening your vocabulary. That is why the students are expected to keep a diary in Russian and write several compositions during the course. The students will also read several Russian short stories which will be discussed in class. We will review familiar grammar and study some advanced grammatical structures. The students will do considerable amount of grammar and vocabulary exercises in the Workbook as part of the home assignments. Several short lectures on various aspects of Russian culture and history will be given during the course and we will watch two Russian films that would be followed by the discussions.

The course combines the traditional grammatical approach with a communicational, interactive method. Since the size of the classes is usually small we can put a great emphasis on improving speaking in Russian on various subjects. Students will be given short topics to talk about at the beginning of every lesson and most written essays will have to be presented orally in class. The class also focuses on improving your writing skills. That is why the students are expected to keep a diary in Russian and write several compositions during the course. The students will also read several Russian short stories in original which will be discussed in class. We will review familiar grammar and study some advanced grammatical structures. The greater emphasis is also put on and broadening your vocabulary and the students will do considerable amount of vocabulary exercises as part of the home assignments. Several short lectures on various aspects of Russian culture and history will be given during the course and we will watch two Russian films that would be followed by the discussions.

Students work on pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary enrichment. Emphasis is placed on developing and enhancing listening, comprehension and oral skills. Additional hours are offered to improve pronunciation. Written and oral examinations required.

Continuation of Elementary Czech I course.

Using communicative methodology this course introduces more complex features of the language and focuses on building reading and writing skills while continuing to develop conversational ability.

Continuation of Intermediate Czech I.

Using communicative methodology, this course introduces students to essential linguistic and social conventions of spoken Polish, with an emphasis on establishing conversational skills.

Continuation of Elementary Polish I.

Using communicative methodology this course introduces more complex features of the language and focuses on building reading and writing skills while continuing to develop conversational ability.

Continuation of Intermediate Polish I.

The current anti-Western turn in the Russian politics and the violent Russian reaction to the European aspirations of Ukraine provides a useful context for exploration of the profound diversity of the Eastern half of the European continent which until recently has been sometimes perceived as a monolith called "Eastern Europe". This course aims at helping students to understand the distinctiveness of Russia's cultural, social and political traditions vis-à-vis not only Western Europe, but also vis-à-vis the countries of East-Central Europe which until recently constituted a part of the Soviet sphere of influence locked behind the iron curtain.