Plus discussion section
Introduces Russian grammar with emphasis on reading and speaking. Class meets five days per week plus work in the language laboratory.
Prerequisite: RUSS 1010 (with grade of C- or better)
Plus discussion section
Continuation of Russian grammar. Includes practice in speaking and writing Russian. Class meets four days per week, plus work in the language laboratory.
Prerequisite: RUSS 2010 (with grade of C- or better)
Continuation of Russian grammar. Includes intensive oral practice through reports, dialogues, guided discussions; composition of written reports and essays; readings in literary and non-literary texts.
Two hours of conversation practice per week. May be repeated for credit.
Prerequisite: RUSS 2020 or equivalent
Continuation of Russian grammar. Includes oral practice, extensive reading, and work in Russian stylistics.
Prerequisite: RUSS 3020 (with grade of C or better)
This class is for students with one semester (or the equivalent) of previous classroom instruction in Polish. Students will continue to improve their skills in reading Polish texts, in understanding spoken Polish, and in speaking and writing Polish in basic and predictable contexts (introducing yourself, asking for information, expressing agreement or disagreement, etc.). They will also continue to master the basic grammatical structures of the language, substantially increase active vocabulary, and learn more about Polish culture and traditions. There will be a strong emphasis on spoken and written communication, since these are the skills that are most immediately necessary for travelers to Poland.
Prerequisite: POL 1210 or instructor permission
Second-year continuation of POL 1210-1220.
Prerequisite: POL 1220 or instructor permission
Plus discussion section
This course is an introduction to the English spoken in the southeastern part of the United States. We begin with a unit covering basic linguistic concepts, following which we spend several weeks discussing those aspects of sound structure, grammar, and lexicon which characterize southern English and distinguish it from the English of other areas in the United States. We conclude with a unit discussing the sociolinguistics of southern English (e.g., the attitude of southerners towards their own speech) and theories of its origin including its relationship to Black English.
Plus discussion section
From revolution to Cold War to perestroika to post-communism, American visions of Russia have changed. Russian representations of America have been changing, too. This course explores how ideas of America are refracted through another culture's lens and grounds them within the dynamic context of Russian cultural, social, and political life. Students in “Amerika Through Russian Eyes” will: develop their awareness of, and critical approaches to, cross-cultural norms, practices and stereotypes by closely considering Russian responses to America and Americans; discover and articulate this critical awareness through the learning processes of reading, discussion, and writing; enrich their understanding of Russian and Soviet literature and culture; sharpen their skills in the analysis of texts by major Russian and Soviet writers (including, among others, Gorky, Ilf and Petrov, Shalamov, Aksyonov, and Pelevin); contextualize themes and questions raised by this course within the framework of Russian and Soviet history.
Satisfies humanities requirement and Second Writing Requirement.
RUTR 2730 Dostoevsky
Plus discussion section
This course examines the remarkable legacy of the great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, beginning with his first experiments in prose fiction and culminating with his timeless masterpiece The Brothers Karamazov. Along the way we shall meet Dostoevsky's famous rebel, "the man from underground," the soulful murderer in Crime and Punishment, and a series of alienated heroes, would-be supermen, and relentless seekers after God. The course will also consider Dostoevsky's relationship to other masters of West European and Russian literature. All readings in English, no knowledge of Russian required.
Satisfies humanities requirement.
RUTR 3360-1 Twentieth-Century Russian Literature
This course surveys Russian literature (prose and poetry) of the twentieth century. Readings include works by Soviet and emigre writers. All readings in English, no knowledge of Russian required.
Satisfies the Second Writing Requirement.
RUTR 3510-1 Dostoevsky
This course examines the remarkable legacy of the great Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky, beginning with his first experiments in prose fiction and culminating with his timeless masterpiece The Brothers Karamazov. Along the way we shall meet Dostoevsky's famous rebel, "the man from underground," the soulful murderer in Crime and Punishment, and a series of alienated heroes, would-be supermen, and relentless seekers after God. The course will also consider Dostoevsky's relationship to other masters of West European and Russian literature. All readings in English, no knowledge of Russian required. Students wishing to count a Dostoevsky course for major credit in Russian Language and Literature or Russian and East European Studies should take RUTR 3510-1, not RUTR 2730.
Satisfies humanities requirement.
This course considers works of art in a variety of media and genres which created major controversies in Russia. Against the background of pervasive censorship during the imperial and Soviet periods, creative artists and thinkers shocked the public frequently, if not always intentionally. Scandal became a form of art. Why did certain texts resonate louder than others? What role did authorial intent play in the society's response to art? Why were certain works of art perceived to be provocative? We'll read works of literature by Dostoevsky, Khvoshchinskaia, Turgenev, Tolstoy, Zoshchenko and Solzhenitsyn; study the critical perspectives of such thinkers as Chaadaev and Chernyshevsky; view paintings by the Itinerants, the World of Art group, and the Komar and Melamid team; watch films by Vertov and Balabanov; and listen to music by Stravinsky and Shostakovich. All readings in English, no knowledge of Russian required.
In this course students will grapple in a profound and personal way with timeless human questions: Who am I? Why am I here? How should I live? We will do this, in part, by facilitating discussions about short masterpieces of Russian literature with residents at a local juvenile treatment center. This course offers an integrated academic-community engagement curriculum, and provides a unique opportunity for service learning, leadership, and teaching. It will give students first-hand understanding of both cultural diversity and the things all human beings share. It also will deepen students' appreciation of the ways in which the study and teaching of great literature can effect social change. Authors read will be from both nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and will include Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Gogol, Lermontov, Solzhenitsyn, Sologub, Ilf and Petrov.
RUTR 3559 Dostoevsky and German Modernism
Irina Kuznetsova
Four facets may be distinguished in the rich personality of Dostoevsky: the creative artist, the neurotic, the moralist and the sinner. "How is one to find one’s way in this bewildering complexity?” asks Freud. The goal of this course is to explore the complexity of Feodor Dostoevsky the thinker, and to investigate responses to Dostoevsky’s philosophy and poetics in the works of German modernists who were mostly affected by his writing: Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Franz Kafka, Rainer Maria Rilke, Stefan Zweig, Nietzsche and Freud. What accounts for Dostoevsky’s popularity in turn-of-the century Germany and Austria? What was the nature of his powerful influence in this particular historical, social and artistic period? Did the German modernists admire or fear him, follow or criticize? How did they respond to Dostoevsky’s reflections on the nature of good and evil, on freedom and religious truth, on the role of the unconscious and the function of art? Among Dostoevsky’s works we will read Notes from Underground (1864), Crime and Punishment (1866) and The Devils (1871). German works include, among others, Mann’s Death in Venice (1912), Hesse’s Steppenwolf (1927), Kafka’s The Trial (1925) and The Metamorphosis (1915), as well as excerpts from the works of Nietzsche, Freud and Stefan Zweig. Active participation in class discussions, brief oral presentations, and a final paper are required. All readings are in English. No prerequisites.
Stanley Stepanic
This course is an introduction to Slavic folklore with emphasis on the origins and subsequent manifestations of vampirism. Western perceptions, misconceptions, and adaptations of Slavic culture are explored. The approach is interdisciplinary: demonology, disease, folklore, history, literature, mythology, popular culture, psychology, religion, and sociology. In addition to lectures and readings, several films will be shown throughout the semester.
Plus discussion section
Studies rituals and beliefs associated with marriage, birth, and death in nineteenth-century rural Russia and Ukraine. This course will also do comparative work with American customs and look at gender roles, child rearing practices, folk medicine, and changes in life-cycle ritual in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. No knowledge of Russian required.
Satisfies the Non-Western Perspectives Requirement
This course will focus on the translation into English of unadapted Russian texts of various types and genres. It will emphasize translation as opposed to understanding without concern for English equivalents, and will therefore include discussion of relevant topics in Russian grammar, especially syntax and aspect.
Two hours of conversation practice per week. May be repeated for credit.
Prerequisite: RUSS 3020
Study of the works of Tolstoy.
Examines selected works by the leading writers of the early part of the twentieth century. Explores concepts of symbolism, acmeism, and futurism. Focuses on competing conceptions of literature that evolved in the 1920s until the establishment of the hegemony of socialist realism in the 1930s. Considers works written by Russian writers living in emigration.
This course explores different sources of Russian national identity from pre-Christian "Rus" to the present. We will investigate how the occidental and oriental elements blend into a unique Euro-Asian culture, nation, and world power. Our main aim is to provide an orientation to the symbolic world of Russian self-identification. We will employ the tools of the historian, geographer, political scientist, and student of literature and culture.
All 5000-level courses are open to undergraduate enrollment. Though these are graduate-level courses, they are designed to accommodate advanced undergraduates who have previously taken courses in the Slavic Department. Minors, and especially majors are encouraged to consider enrolling in these courses. If you are an undergraduate interested in taking a 5000-level course, please contact the professor who will be offering it. The faculty of the Slavic Department welcomes such inquiries.