RUSSIAN (RUSS)
Introductory Russian Language (001-004)
001. (RUSS501) Elementary Russian
I. (A) Staff.
This course develops elementary skills in reading, speaking,
understanding and writing the Russian language. We
will work with an exciting range of authentic written materials,
videos and recordings relating to the dynamic scene of
Russia today. At the end of the course students will
be comfortable with the Russian alphabet and will be able
to read basic texts (signs, menus, news headlines) and
participate in elementary conversations about daily life
(who you are, what you do every day, where you are from,
likes and dislikes).
002. (RUSS502) Elementary Russian
II. (B) Staff.
Prerequisite(s): RUSS 001 or equivalent.
A continuation of RUSS 001. Further work developing
basic language skills using exciting authentic materials
about life in present-day Russia. At the conclusion
of the course, students will be prepared to negotiate most
basic communication needs in Russia (getting around town,
ordering a meal, buying goods and services, polite conversation
about topics of interest) and to comprehend most texts
and spoken materials at a basic level.
003. (RUSS503) Intermediate Russian
I. (A) Staff.
Prerequisite(s): RUSS 001 and 002 or placement exam.
This course will develop your ability to use the Russian language
in the context of typical everyday situations, including
university life, family, shopping, entertainment, etc. Role-playing,
skits, short readings from literature and the current press,
and video clips will be used to help students improve their
language skills. At the end of the semester you will
be able to read and write short texts about your daily
schedule and interests, to understand brief newspaper articles,
films and short literary texts, and to express your opinions
in Russian. In combination with RUSS 004, this course
prepares students to satisfy the language competency requirement.
004. Intermediate Russian II. (B) Staff. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 003 or
placement exam.
A continuation of RUSS 003. This course will further
develop your ability to use the Russian language in the
context of everyday situations (including relationships,
travel and geography, leisure activities) and also through
reading and discussion of elementary facts about Russian
history, excerpts from classic literature and the contemporary
press, and film excerpts. At the end of the course
you will be able to negotiate most daily situations, to
comprehend most spoken and written Russian, and to state
and defend your point of view. Successful completion
of the course satisfies the language competency requirement.
SM 107. Russian Outside the Classroom
I. (C) Yakubova.
Prerequisite(s): RUSS 001.
This is a half-credit course that consists of a variety of
fun and entertaining non-classroom Russian language activities. Students
who have taken at least one semester of Russian will take
part in: 1.
Russian lunch and dinner table; 2. Russian Tea and
conversation, featuring cartoons, poetry readings, music
listening, news broadcast, games, cooking lessons, and informal
visits by guests; 3. The Russian Film Series; 4. field
trips to Russian cultural events in the area (symphony, drama,
film, etc.); 5. other Russian Program events.
SM 108. Russian Outside the Classroom
II. (C) Yakubova.
Prerequisite(s): RUSS 001 and RUSS 107.
This is a half-credit course that consists of a variety of
fun and entertaining non-classroom Russian language activities. Students
who have taken at least one semester of Russian will take
part in: 1.
Russian lunch and dinner table; 2. Russian Tea and
conversation, featuring cartoons, poetry readings, music
listening, news broadcast, games, cooking lessons, and informal
visits by guests; 3. The Russian Film Series; 4. field
trips to Russian cultural events in the area (symphony, drama,
film, etc.); 5. other Russian Program events.
Introductory/Survey Russian Courses
(010 - 199)
L/R 048. (HIST048) The Rise and Fall
of the Russian Empire, 1552-1917. (C) History & Tradition Sector. All classes. Nathans.
How and why did Russia become the center of the world's largest
empire, a single state encompassing eleven time zones and
over a hundred ethnic groups? To answer this question,
we will explore the rise of a distinct political culture
beginning in medieval Muscovy, its transformation under
the impact of a prolonged encounter with European civilization,
and the various attempts to re-form Russia from above and
below prior to the Revolution of 1917. Main themes
include the facade vs. the reality of central authority,
the intersection of foreign and domestic issues, the development
of a radical intelligentsia, and the tension between empire
and nation.
L/R 049. (HIST049) The Soviet Century,
1917-1991. (B) History & Tradition
Sector. All classes. Nathans.
Out of an obscure, backward empire, the Soviet Union emerged
to become the great political laboratory of the twentieth
century. This course will trace the roots of the
world's first socialist society and its attempts to recast
human relations and human nature itself. Topics include
the origins of the Revolution of 1917, the role of ideology
in state policy and everyday life, the Soviet Union as
the center of world communism, the challenge of ethnic
diversity, and the reasons for the USSR's sudden implosion
. Focusing on politics, society, culture, and their
interaction, we will examine the rulers (from Lenin to
Gorbachev) as well as the ruled (peasants, workers, and
intellectuals; Russians and non-Russians). The course
will feature discussions of selected texts, including primary
sources in translation.
100. (FOLK107) Once Upon a Fairytale:
Introduction to Russian Culture. (M) Verkholantsev.
The course provides an introduction to Russian culture and
society through the prism of fairy tales. We will
approach Russian culture by studying how classic fairy
tales have been retold in a variety of contexts: folklore,
literature, art, music, opera, ballet, film, political
propaganda, etc. The course also provides a general
introduction to the study of folklore, fairy tales and
mythology from a variety of theoretical and comparative
perspectives.
We will begin with
study of the medieval foundations of Russia's folk tradition. We
will then study how the classic works of Russia's great
literary and cultural blossoming in the nineteenth century
incorporated and enriched these tales and legends. Finally,
we will examine how the fairy tale was used in the twentieth
century, both by the Soviet authorities in their efforts
to educate the masses, and by critical and dissident voices
who turned these
"innocent" stories into tools for disguised criticism and satire.
The objectives
of the course are to: * Develop the ability to understand
Russian culture and values * Learn about Russian cultural
and social history * Comprehend the structure of Russian
fairy tales and fantastic narratives * Examine the diverse
roles of the fairy tale in culture, social life, and politics
in Russia. * Interpret the functions of fairy tales
in psychological terms
125. (CINE125, COML127, GSOC125)
The Adultery Novel In and Out of Russia. (C) Arts & Letters Sector. All Classes. Platt. All
readings and lectures in English.
The object of the course is to analyze a series of novels
(and a few short stories) about adultery from the late
eighteenth through the late nineteenth centuries. At
the same time, we will be examining a series of films concerning
the same subject matter half of them adaptations of the
works that we will read and half original treatments of
infidelity.
Our reading will teach us about novelistic traditions of
the periods in question and about the relationship of Russian
literature to the European models to which it responded. Our
film viewings will allow us to consider the meaning of adultery
today through a different medium of communication, as well
as problems of literary adaptation and the status of classic
literature in contemporary society.
In our coursework
we will apply various critical approaches in order to place
adultery into its social and cultural context, including:
sociological descriptions of modernity, Marxist examinations
of family as a social and economic institution, Freudian/
Psychoanalytic interpretations of family life and transgresssive
sexuality, Feminist work on the construction of gender. In
general, we will see the ways in which human identity is
tied to gender roles, and the complex relationship tying
these matters of the libido and the family to larger issues
of social organization.
SM 130. Russian Ghost Stories. (C) Distribution Course in Arts &
Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Vinitsky. All readings
and lectures in English.
In this course, we will read and discuss ghost stories written
by some of the most well-known Russian writers. The
goal of the course is threefold: to familiarize the students
with brilliant and thrilling texts which represent various
periods of Russian literature; to examine the artistic
features of ghost stories and to explore their ideological
implications. With attention to relevant scholarship
(Freud, Todorov, Derrida, Greenblatt), we will pose questions
about the role of the storyteller in ghost stories, about
horror and the fantastic. We will also ponder gender
and class, controversy over sense and sensation, spiritual
significance and major changes in attitudes toward the
supernatural. We will consider the concept of the
apparition as a peculiar cultural myth which tells us about
the "dark side" of the Russian literary imagination
and about the historical and political conflicts which
have haunted Russian minds in previous centuries.
Reading will include
literary works by Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Turgenev,
Chekhov, and Bulgakov, as well as works by some lesser,
yet extremely interesting, authors. We will also
read excerpts from major treatises regarding spiritualism,
including Swedenborg, Kant, Arthur Conan Doyle, and Mme
Blavatsky. The course consists of 28 sessions ("nights")
and includes film presentations and horrifying slides.
136. (HIST047) Portraits of Russian
Society: Art, Fiction, Drama. (M) Humanities & Social Science Sector. Class of 2010
& beyond. Platt. No prior language experience required.
This course covers 19C Russian cultural and social history. Each
week-long unit is organized around a single medium-length
text (novella, play, memoir) which opens up a single scene
of social history birth, death, duel, courtship, tsar,
and so on. Each of these main texts is accompanied
by a set of supplementary materials paintings, historical
readings, cultural-analytical readings, excerpts from other
literary works, etc. The object of the course is
to understand the social codes and rituals that informed
nineteenth-century Russian life, and to apply this knowledge
in interpreting literary texts. We will attempt to
understand social history and literary interpretation as
separate disciplines yet also as disciplines that can inform
one another. In short: we will read the social history
through the text, and read the text against the social
history.
145. Russian Literature to the
1870s. (A) Arts
& Letters Sector. All Classes. Steiner.
Major Russian writers in English translation: Pushkin, Gogol,
Turgenev, early Tolstoy, and early Dostoevsky.
155. Russian Literature after 1870s.
(B) Arts
& Letters Sector. All Classes. Steiner.
Major Russian writers in English translation: Tolstoy, Pasternak,
Babel, Zamyatin, Solzhenitsyn, and others.
165. (CINE265, SLAV165) Russian
and East European Film. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Todorov.
The purpose of this course is to present the Russian and East
European contribution to world cinema in terms of film
theory, experimentation with the cinematic language, and
social and political reflex. We discuss major themes
and issues such as: the invention of montage, the means
of visual propaganda and the cinematic component to the
communist cultural revolutions, party ideology and practices
of social-engineering, cinematic response to the emergence
of the totalitarian state in Russia and its subsequent
installation in Eastern Europe after World War II; repression,
resistance and conformity under such a system; legal and
illegal desires; the nature of the authoritarian personality,
the mind and the body of homo sovieticos; sexual and political
transgression; treason and disgrace; public degradation
and individual redemption; the profane and the sublime
ends of human suffering and humiliation; the unmasking
of the official
"truth" as a general lie. All readings and lectures in English.
190. Terrorism: Russian Origins
and 21st Century Methods. (M) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009
& prior only. Todorov.
This course studies the emergence of organized terrorism in
nineteenth century Russia. It examines the philosophy
of the terrorist struggle through its methods, causes,
various codes, and manifestoes that defined its nature
for the times to come. We critique intellectual movements
such as nihilism, anarchism, and populism that inspired
terrorism defining the political violence and disorder
as beneficial acts. The issue of policing terrorism
becomes central when we study a police experiment to infiltrate,
delegitimize and ultimately neutralize the terrorist networks
in late imperial Russia.
The discussions
draw on the ideology and political efficacy of the conspiratorial
mode of operation, terrorist tactics such as assassination
and hostage-taking, the cell structure of the groups and
underground incognito of the strikers, their maniacal self-denial,
revoluntionary asceticism, underground mentality, faceless
omnipotence, and other attributes-intensifiers of its mystique.
We analyze the technology and phenomenology of terror that
generate symmetrical disorganizing threats to any organized
form of government and reveal the terrorist act as a sublime
end as well as a lever for achieving practical causes. Our
study traces the rapid proliferation of terrorism in the
twentieth century and its impact on the public life in Western
Europe, the Balkans, and America.
193. (COML150, HIST149) War &
Representation. (M) Humanities & Social
Science Sector. Class of 2010 & beyond. Platt.
Representations of war are created for as many reasons as
wars are fought: to legitimate armed conflict, to critique
brutality, to vilify an enemy, to mobilize popular support,
to generate national pride, etc.
In this course we will examine representations of war drawn
from the literature, film, state propaganda, memoirs, visual
art, etc. of Russia, Europe and the United States. We will
investigate these images of conflict in the context of the
history of military technology, social life, and communications
media over the last two centuries. Students will write
two papers, take part in a group presentation, and take a
final exam.
196. Russian Short Story. (M) Distribution Course in Arts &
Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Todorov.
This course studies the development of 19th and 20th century
Russian literature through one of its most distinct and
highly recognized genres -- the short story. The
readings include great masters of fiction such as Pushkin,
Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Solzhenitsyn, and
others. The course presents the best works of short
fiction and situates them in a literary process that contributes
to the history of a larger cultural-political context. Students
will learn about the historical formation, poetic virtue,
and thematic characteristics of major narrative modes such
as romanticism, utopia, realism, modernism, socialist realism,
and post-modernism. We critique the strategic use
of various devices of literary representation such as irony,
absurd, satire, grotesque, anecdote, etc. Some of
the main topics and issues include: culture of the duel;
the role of chance; the riddle of death; anatomy of madness;
imprisonment and survival; the pathologies of St. Petersburg;
terror and homo sovieticus.
197. (COML197) Madness and Madmen
in Russian Culture. (M) Humanities & Social Science Sector. Class of 2010 & beyond. Vinitsky.
All readings and lectures in English.
This course will explore the theme of madness in Russian literature
and arts from the medieval period through the October Revolution
of 1917. The discussion will include formative masterpieces
by Russian writers (Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov,
and Bulgakov), painters (Repin, Vrubel, Filonov), composers
(Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, and Stravinsky), and film-directors
(Protazanov, Eisenstein), as well as non-fictional documents
such as Russian medical, judicial, political, and philosophical
treatises and essays on madness.
The problem of
madness has preoccupied Russian minds since the very beginning
of Russia's troubled history. This subject has been
dealt with repeatedly in medieval vitae and modern stories,
plays, paintings, films, and operas, as well as medical,
political and philosophical essays. This issue has
been treated by a number of brilliant Russian authors and
artists not only as a medical or psychological matter,
but also as a metaphysical one, touching the deepest levels
of human consciousness, encompassing problems of suffering,
imagination, history, sex, social and world order, evil,
retribution, death, and the after-life.
Therefore it is illuminating for a deeper understanding of
Russian culture to examine how major Russian authors have
depicted madness and madmen in their works, how these works
reflected the authors' psychological, aesthetic and ideological
views, as well as historical and cultural processes in Russia.
Intermediate/Seminar Courses (200
- 299)
SM 201. Dostoevsky and His Legacy.
(A) Distribution
Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Vinitsky.
This course explores the ways Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881)
portrays the "inner world(s)" of his characters. Dostoevsky's
psychological method will be considered against the historical,
ideological, and literary contexts of mid- to late- nineteenth
century Russia. The course consists of three parts
- External World (the contexts of Dostoevsky),
"Inside" Dostoevsky's World (the author's technique and ideas) and
The World of Text (close reading of Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov). Students
will write three essays on various aspects of Dostoevsky's "spiritual
realism."
SM 202. Tolstoy. (B) Distribution Course in Arts &
Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Vinitsky.
This course consists of three parts. The first,
"How to read Tolstoy?" deals with Tolstoy's artistic stimuli, favorite
devices, and narrative strategies. The second, "Tolstoy at War,"
explores the author's provocative visions of gender, sex,
art, social institutions, death, and religion. The
emphasis is placed here on the role of a written word in
Tolstoy's search for truth and power. The third and
the largest section is a close reading of Tolstoy's masterwork "The
War and Peace" (1863-68) - a quintessence of both his
artistic method and philosophical insights.
SM 213. (COML213, RELS218) Saints
and Devils in Russian Literature. (M) Arts & Letters Sector. All Classes. Verkholantsev.
Despite the title, Russian 213 is not simply about saints
and devils in Russian culture. Our primary goal is
to trace cultural continuity and understand the dependence
of the 19th and 20th century Russian literature and art
on cultural paradigms and categories of pre-modern Russia. In
Russia, where culture and conscience had been nourished
by Eastern Orthodoxy and Indo-European paganism, the 19th-century
search for spirituality was invariably connected with Orthodoxy
and religious pursuits. The interest in Russian history
kindled a fascination with medieval Russian literary and
artistic productions. Writers and artists turned
for inspiration to medieval themes and genres. In "Saints
and Devils," we will examine the literary images of
the holy and the demonic in works from various periods
and we will learn about the historic trends that have filled
Russia's national character with religious and supernatural
spirit. All readings and films are in English and
include such authors as Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy,
Leskov, Bulgakov, and Nabokov, as well as films by Tarkovsky
and Eisenstein.
SM 220. (COML220, HIST220) Russia
and the West: Russian Thinkers, Prophets, and Writers
on European and American History and Culture. (C) Humanities & Social Science Sector. Class of 2010 & beyond. Vinitsky.
All readings and lectures in English.
This course will explore the representations of the West in
eighteenth- and nineteenth- century Russian literature
and philosophy. We will consider the Russian visions
of various events and aspects of Western political and
social life - Revolutions, educational system, public executions,
resorts, etc. - within the context of Russian intellectual
history. We will examine how images of the West reflect
Russia's own cultural concerns, anticipations, and biases,
as well as aesthetic preoccupations and interests of Russian
writers. The discussion will include literary works by
Karamzin, Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Leskov, and Tolstoy,
as well as non-fictional documents, such as travelers'
letters, diaries, and historiosophical treatises of Russian
Freemasons, Romantic and Positivist thinkers, and Russian
social philosophers of the late nineteenth century. A
basic knowledge of nineteenth-century European history
is desirable. The class will consist of lecture,
discussion, short writing assignments, and two in-class
tests.
234. (COML235, HIST219, SLAV517)
Medieval Russia: Origins of Russian Cultural Identity.
(M) Distribution Course in Hist &
Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Verkholantsev.
This course offers an overview of the literary and cultural
history of Medieval Russia from its origins to the eighteenth
century, a period which laid the foundation for the emergence
of the Russian Empire. Three modern-day nation-states
- Russia, Ukraine and Belarus - share and dispute the cultural
heritage of Medieval Rus', and their political relationships
even today revolve around questions of national and cultural
identity. The course takes a comparative and interdisciplinary
approach to the evolution of the main cultural paradigms
of Russian Orthodoxy viewed vis-_-vis a broader European
context. Students will explore the worldview of medieval
Orthodox Slavs by delving into such topics as religion,
spirituality, art, literature, education, music, ritual
and popular culture.
The legacy of the
Middle Ages has a continuing cultural influence in modern
Russia. This legacy is still referenced, often allegorically,
in contemporary social and cultural discourse as the society
attempts to reconstruct and reinterpret its history. The
study of the medieval cultural and political history explains
many aspects of modern Russian society, and, in particular,
the roots of its imperial political mentality and its spirituality. Those
interested in the intellectual and cultural history of
Russia, and Eastern Europe in general, will find that this
course greatly enhances their understanding of the region
and its people.
All readings and
films are in English.
260. (HIST413) Conformity &
Dissent: USSR. (M) Distribution
Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Platt & Nathans.
How are human behaviors and attitudes shaped in a socialist
society? What forms to conformity and dissent take
under a revolutionary regime? This course will explore
these issues in the Soviet Union from the end of the Second
World War to the collapse of communism in 1991. We
will investigate a variety of strategies of resistance
to state power as well as the sources of communism's enduring
legitimacy for millions of Soviet citizens. Above
all, we will be concerned with the power of the word and
image in Soviet public and private life. Assigned
texts will include memoirs, manifestos, underground and
officially approved fiction & poetry, films, works
of art, and secondary literature.
275. (CINE265) Russian History
in Film. (M) Distribution
Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Todorov.
This course draws on the fictional, drama and cinematic representation
of the Russian history based on Russian as well as non
Russian sources and interpretations. The analysis
targets major modes of imagining, such as narrating, showing
and reenacting historical events, personae and epochs justified
by different, historically mutating ideological postulates
and forms of national self-consciousness. Common
stereotypes of picturing Russia from "foreign" perspectives
draw special attention. The discussion involves the
following themes and outstanding figures: the mighty autocrats
Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, and Catherine the Great;
the tragic ruler Boris Godunov; the brazen rebel and royal
impostor Pugachov; the notorious Rasputin, his uncanny
powers, sex-appeal, and court machinations; Lenin and the
October Revolution; images of war; the times of construction
and the times of collapse of the Soviet Colossus.
299. Independent Study. (C) Staff.
Advanced Russian Language Courses
311. (RUSS511) Russian Conversation
and Composition. (A) Shardakova. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 004 or placement exam.
This course develops students' skills in speaking and writing
about topics in Russian literature, contemporary society,
politics, and everyday life. Topics include national
identities and ethnic conflicts, the economic situation,
science and education, environmental problems, and life
values. Materials range from selected short stories
by 19th and 20th century Russian authors to articles from
the Russian media, video-clips of interviews, and excerpts
from films. Continued work on grammar and vocabulary
building.
312. (RUSS512) Russian Conversation
and Composition II. (B) Shardakova. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 311.
A continuation of RUSS 311. This course develops students'
skills in speaking and writing about topics in Russian
literature, contemporary society, politics, and everyday
life. Topics include national identities and ethnic
conflicts, the economic situation, science and education,
environmental problems, and life values. Materials
range from selected short stories by 19th and 20th century
Russian authors to articles from the Russian media, video-clips
of interviews, and excerpts from films.
Continued work on grammar and vocabulary building.
360. Literacy in Russian for Russian
Speakers I. (C) Korshunova. Previous language experience required.
This course is intended for students who have spoken Russian
at home and seek to achieve proficiency in the language. Topics
will include an intensive introduction to the Russian writing
system and grammar, focusing on exciting materials and
examples drawn from classic and contemporary Russian and
emigre culture and social life. Students who complete
this course in combination with RUSS 361 satisfy the language
requirement in Russian. Students should have completed
no more than three years of formal schooling in Russian,
or the equivalent. Students who have attended Russian
school for more than three years may be permitted to enroll
with the instructor's permission.
361. Literacy in Russian for Russian
Speakers II. (B) Korshunova. Prerequisite(s): Prerequisites: Russian 360 or at least three
and no more than six years of Russian formal schooling,
or instructor's permission.
RUSS 361 is for students who have (i) successfully completed
RUSS 360, (ii) speak Russian more or less fluently and
have some basic reading and writing skills, or (iii) spent
no more than six years in Russian school and wish to improve
their reading and writing skills.
A continuation
of RUSS 360. Fulfills the language competency requirement.
399. Supervised Work. (C)
Hours and credits on an individual basis.
Advanced Courses (400 to 425) in History,
Literature and Culture. Taught in Russian.
SM 401. (COLL224, COML401) Russian
Poetics. (A) Distribution
Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Steiner. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 311. This course
is taught in Russian.
Introduction to the analysis of poetic texts, based on the
works of Derzhavin, Tyutchev, Blok, Fet, Mayakovsky, and
others.
SM 402. (COLL224, COML402) Pushkin.
(B) Distribution
Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Steiner. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 311. This course
is taught in Russian.
The writer's lyrics, narrative poems, and drama.
412. Nineteenth-Century Russian
Literature and Culture: Romantics and Realists. (M) Verkholantsev. Prerequisite(s): RUSS
311 or placement exam. Conducted in Russian.
This course combines an advanced work on Russian language
with study of some of the fundamental movements, works
and figures of nineteenth-century Russian literature and
culture. Works studied will include poetry and short
prose by some of the acknowledged masters of Russian literature
(Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Pavlova, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy
and Chekhov), as well as painting and sculpture of the
period. Work on Russian will be devoted to composition,
advanced grammar, matters of style, and increased proficiency
in spoken Russian. The course is primarily intended
for students who speak no Russian at home.
413. Twentieth-Century Russian
Literature, Film and Culture: Utopia, Revolution and
Dissent. (M) Staff. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 311 or
placement exam. This course is taught in Russian.
A continuation of Russian 412. This course will continue
to develop advanced language skills in Russian, turning
attention to the study of the major movements, figures
and works of twentieth-century Russian literature and culture. Works
studied will include poetry, prose and film by well-known
Russian masters: Akhmatova, Mayakovsky, Eisenstein, Zoshchenko,
Zamaitin, Tvardovsky, and others. Language development
will focus on advanced composition and expansion of vocabulary
and expressive capability in spoken Russian. The
course is primarily intended for students who speak no
Russian at home.
SM 416. Business and Democracy in
the New Russia. (M) Bourlatskaya.
Prerequisite(s): RUSS 312, 314 or placement exam. This
course is taught in Russian.
This course is designed to familiarize students with contemporary
Russian society, its historical background and its present
political and economic structure, and to develop functional
proficiency in speaking, writing, reading and listening. The
course will focus on a variety of issues central to Russian
society since the fall of the Soviet Union, including changing
values, political parties and movements, the business climate
and businessmen, various nationalities within Russia, women
in the family and at work. This course is conducted
in Russian and intended for students who do not speak Russian
at home but have completed at least six semesters (or the
equivalent) of Russian. Course materials will ibclude interviews,
articles, essays by leading Russian journalists and statesmen,
and contemporary Russian movies.
417. Modernism: Literature, Music
and Visual Art. (J) Shardakova.
Prerequisite(s): RUSS311 or placement exam. This course
is taught in Russian.
This course continues developing students' advanced skills
in Russian, while closely studying a representative selection
of texts from the modernist period. The course will
explore central issues of the period, such as the relationship
between literature and revolution, reconceptualizations
of society, history and the self. Of particular interest
will be authors' experimentation in form and language in
order to present afresh the experience of life. The
textual study is combined with a general overview of the
period, including reference to parallel trends in the visual
arts, architecture and music, as well as contemporary intellectual
movements. Principal writers studied will include
Bunin, Brusov, Sologub, Remizov, Kuprin, L. Andreev,
Garshin, Pilnyak, Babel, Platonov, Zamyatin, Olesha, and
Kharms.
SM 419. Russian Song and Folklore.
(M) Verkholantsev.
This course is taught in Russian.
Song and, in particular, folk song is an essential and exciting
component of Russian culture and social life, and an important
language learning tool. The course offers a general
introduction to the history of Russian song and folklore
for advanced students of Russian.
Students will explore the historical trajectory of Russian
song and its various genres (from folk to the modern Estrada),
examine the poetic and literary principles of song, discuss
its aesthetic properties, and analyze the educational, community-building
and ideological roles of song in Russian society.
Among the wide-ranging
topics and genres that we will discuss and work with are
lyrics of folk songs (byliny, chastushki, choir song, Cossack
song), romances (gypsy romance, urban romance, cabaret,
literary romance), Soviet and patriotic songs (war, pioneer
and revolutionary song), Anti-Soviet songs (song of the
White Guard, prison and gulag song), Russian/Soviet anthems,
bard songs, songs for cinema, children's songs, Soviet
and Russian Rock and Pop. Classes will be practically oriented
and will center around presentations and discussions conducted
in Russian, and weekly writing assignments. Musical
talent is not a requirement for this course.
420. Contemporary Russia Through
Film. (C) Taught
in Russian.
Film is arguably the most powerful medium for reflecting changes
in modern society. This course will examine Russian's
transition to democracy and market economy through the
eyes of its most creative and controversial cinematographers. The
course will focus on the often agonizing process of changing
values and attitudes as the country moves from Soviet to
Post-Soviet society. Russian films with English subtitles
will be supplemented by readings from contemporary Russian
media sources. The course provides an excellent visual
introduction to the problems of contemporary Russia society.
Advanced Courses Taught in English
(426 - 449)
426. (CINE365) Chekhov: Stage
& Screen. (M) Distribution
Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Zubarev.
"What's so funny, Mr. Chekhov?" This question
is often asked by critics and directors who still are puzzled
with Chekhov's definition of his four major plays as comedies. Traditionally,
all of them are staged and directed as dramas, melodramas,
or tragedies.
Should we cry or should we laugh at Chekhovian characters
who commit suicide, or are killed, or simply cannot move
to a better place of living? Is the laughable synonymous
to comedy and the comic? Should any fatal outcome be
considered tragic? All these and other questions will
be discussed during the course.
The course is intended
to provide the participants with a concept of dramatic
genre that will assist them in approaching Chekhov's plays
as comedies. In addition to reading Checkhov's works,
Russian and western productions and film adaptations of
Chekhov's works will be screened. Among them are
Vanya on 42nd Street, with Andre Gregory, and Four Funny
Families. Those who are interested will be welcome
to perform and/or direct excerpts from Chekhov's works.
SM 430. (CINE365) Nationalism and
Ethnic Conflict in Film. (M) Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Todorov.
This course studies the cinematic representation of civil
wars, ethnic conflicts, nationalistic doctrines, and genocidal
policies.
The focus is on the violent developments that took place
in Russia and on the Balkans after the collapse of the Soviet
Bloc and were conditioned by the new geopolitical dynamics
that the fall of communism had already created. We
study media broadcasts, documentaries, feature films representing
the Eastern, as well as the Western perspective. The
films include masterpieces such as 'Time of the Gypsies," "Underground," "Prisoner
of the Mountains," "Before the Rain," "Behind
Enemy Lines"
and others.
SM 432. (CINE365, COML196) Fate
& Chance in Literature and Film. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009
& prior only. Zubarev. All readings and lectures in English.
Be a winner -- manage all your situations and don't let pure
chance govern your life! With a chain of literary
characters as a vivid illustration, you will explore a
mysterious world of fate and chance and learn about various
interpretations of the forces ruling human life. Slavic
and Greek mythology, as well as folklore and modern literary
works of Russian and Western writers and cinematographers
will assist you in your journey to the world of the supernatural. Screenings
will include Tarkovsky's Mirror and Zeffirelli's and Luhrman's
Romeo and Juliet. For those wishing to bring their
own interpretations of fate and chance to the stage, literary
and theatrical analyses will culminate in the opportunity
to direct and perform excerpts from literary works in class. Don't
miss this chance to choose your fate!
434. Media and Terrorism. (M) Distribution Course in Hist &
Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Todorov.
This course draws on fictional, cinematic and mass-media representation
of terrorism based on Russian as well as Western examples.
We study how the magnitude of the political impact of terrorism
relates to the historically changing means of production
of its striking iconology. The course exposes students
to major modes of imagining, narrating, showing, reenacting
terrorism and forging its mystique. We examine the
emergence of organized terrorism in the 19th century Russia
as an original political-cultural phenomenon. We trace
its rapid expansion and influence on the public life in the
West, and on the Balkans. Historical, political, and
aesthetic approaches converge in a discussion of several
case studies related to intellectual and spiritual movements
such as nihilism, anarchism, populism, religious fundamentalism,
and others. The public appearance of the terrorist
activism and its major attributes are viewed as powerful
intensifiers of its political effect: self-denial, escetic
aura, and stratagem of mystification, underground mentality,
and martyrdom.
436. (CINE365) The Russian Avant-Garde:
Film, Art and Theater of the Russian Revolution. (M) Distribution Course in Arts &
Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Todorov.
This course examines cutting edge trends and artistic experimentation
in Russian film, theater, visual arts, and architecture
in the context of the October Revolution (1917). Themes
include: inventing the Kino-eye; reflexology, bio-mechanics
and performance theory; staging the revolution; proletarian
culture and sexuality; social-engineering of the new man;
bodies and machines; cosmism, rocketry and the emergence
of the Soviet outer-space doctrine; city-planning and constructivist
design of the new social condensers; Lenin's mummy and
the communist psyche; the Mausoleum and symbolic system
of the Red Square. All lectures and course work is
in English.
The pedagogical
goal of this course is to promote and cultivate critical
view and analytical skills that will enable the students
to deal with different modes of politicizing art and creativity. Students
are prompted to compare major ideologies and techniques
in the cultural production of the revolution. They are
expected to learn and be able to deal with a large body
of historical-factual as well as creative-interpreted information. There
are two tests whose purpose is to measure students specific
knowledge about the works we study and the issues we discuss. The
final paper is expected to be argumentative and demonstrate
students' capability to conduct independent research, critique
dominant preconceptions, and politically contextualize
cinema and art.
MLA students (CGS Master in Liberal Arts) are expected to
write a longer paper and present the thesis in class.
Courses in Literature, Culture, and
History for Russian Speakers (450 - 499)
460. Post-Soviet Russia in Film.
(C) Distribution
Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Bourlatskaya. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 361 or equivalent
competence. Taught in Russian.
Film is arguably the most powerful medium for reflecting changes
in modern society. This course will examine Russia's
transition to democracy and market economy through the
eyes of its most creative and controversial cinematographers. The
course will focus on the often agonizing process of changing
values and attitudes as the country moves from Soviet to
Post-Soviet society. Russian films with English subtitles
will be supplemented by readings from contemporary Russian
media sources. The course provides an excellent visual
introduction to the problems of contemporary Russian society.
This course is primarily intended for students who have
spoken Russian at home and who have already gained intermediate
to advanced competency in written Russian.
SM 461. 20th Century Russian Literature:
Fiction and Reality. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009
& prior only. staff. Classes will be conducted entirely in Russian.
This advanced Russian-language course is intended primarily
for students who have spoken Russian at home and who have
gained competency in written Russian.
Russian 461 introduces the major movements and figures of
twentieth-century Rusian literature and culture, works
of modern Russian writers, and feature films.In studying
the poetry of Mayakovsky, Block, and Pasternak, students
will become familiar with the important literary movements
of the Silver Age. The reality of the Soviet era will be
examined in the works of Zamyatin, Babel, and Zoshchenko. There
will be a brief survey of the development of Soviet cinema,
including films of Eisenstein, Tarkovsky, and Mikhalkov.
Literary trends in the later Soviet period will be seen
in war stories, prison-camp literature, village prose,
and the writings of female authors of that time.
SM 464. Russian Humor. (M) Distribution Course in Arts &
Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Korshunova. Prerequisite(s):
Russian 360 or at least five years of Russian formal schooling,
or consent of instructor.
One of the most fascinating and most difficult things for
a student of foreign culture is to understand national
humor, as it is presented in various stories and films,
jokes and shows. To an extent, humor is a gateway
to national mentality. In the present course we will
examine Russian cultural history, from the sixteenth through
the twenty first centuries, through the vehicle of Russian
humor. How does Russian humor depend on religion
and history? What was considered funny in various
cultural trends? What are the peculiarities of Russian
humorist tradition?
Students will be familiarized with different Russian theories
of humor (Bakhtin, Likhachev, Panchenko, Tynianov, etc.)
and, of course, with a variety of works by Russian kings
of humor Pushkin and Gogol, Chekhov and Zoshchenko, Bulgakov
and Ilf and Petrov, Erofeev and Kibirov, etc. Class
lectures will be supplemented by frequent video and musical
presentations ranging from contemporary cartoons to high
comedies and from comic songs (Chaliapin's Flee) to Shostakovich
s music (The Nose). This class is designed for Russian
heritage learners and will be conducted in Russian.
465. History of Russian Song: Singing
in the Snow. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Verkholantsev. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 361 or equivalent
competence.
Song is an essential and exciting component of Russian culture
and social life, and an important language learning tool. The
course offers a general introduction to the history of
Russian song and an advanced study of the Russian language
for students who speak Russian at home and wish to improve
their langauge proficiency to the academic level.
Students will explore the historical trajectory of Russian
song and its various genres (from folk to the modern Estrada),
examine the poetic and literary principles of song, discuss
its aesthetic properties, and analyze the educational, community-building
and ideological roles of song in Russian society. Among
the wide-ranging topics and genres that we will discuss and
work with are lyrics of folk songs (byliny, chastushki, plachi,
choir song, Cossack song), romances (gypsy romance, urban
romance, literary romance), Soviet and patriotic songs (war,
pioneer and revolutionary song), Anti-Soviet songs (song
of the White Guard, prison and gulag song, "blatnye
pesni"), Russian/Soviet anthems, bard songs ("avtorskaia
pesnia"), film and theater songs, children's songs,
Soviet and Russian Rock and Pop. Classes will be practically
oriented and will center around presentations and discussions
conducted in Russian, and weekly writing assignments.
467. Classic Russian Literature
Today. (M) Distribution
Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Verkholantsev. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 361 or equivalent
competence.
This course will be of interest to Russian-speaking students
with intermediate to advanced language competence who seek
to read and study classic Russian literature in the original,
and improve their language skills to an academic level. Readings
will consist of some of the greatest works of the 19th
and 20th-century authors, such as Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy,
Dostoevsky, and Bulgakov. Students will examine various
forms and genres of literature, learn basic techniques
of literary criticism, and explore the way literature is
translated into film and other media. An additional
focus of the course will be on examining the uses and interpretations
of classic literature and elitist culture in contemporary
Russian society.
Observing the interplay of the "high" and "low" in
Russian cultural tradition, students will develop methodology
of cultural analysis.
468. Post-Soviet Russian Society:
People, Business, Democracy. (M) Distribution Course in Society. Class of 2009 & prior
only. Bourlatskaya.
Russian 468 offers an introduction to contemporary Russian
society, its historical background and its present political
and economic structure. The course will focus on
the political, economic and sociological developments in
Russia from Perestroika (late 1980s) to Putin. The
course will discuss the society's changing values, older
and younger generations, political parties and movements,
elections, the business community and its relations with
the government, common perceptions of Westerners and Western
society, and the role of women in the family and at work. Emphasis
will be placed on the examination, interpretation and explanation
of peoples behavior and their perception of democracy and
reforms, facilitating comparison of Western and Russian
social experience.
Classes will be
conducted entirely in Russian. This advanced Russian-language
course is intended primarily for students who have spoken
Russian at home and who have gained competency in written
Russian.
SM 469. Russian Utopia in Literature,
Film, and Politics. (M) Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009
& prior only. Korshunova. Prerequisite(s): Russian 360 or at least five
years of Russian formal schooling, or consent of the instructor.
In this course we will undertake a fascinating journey to
the Dreamland of Ru ssian culture. Students will
read and discuss Russian utopian imagination as presented
in a variety of literary texts, paintings, musical works,
films, as well as philosophical texts and economical theories. Topics
for discussion will include Russian fairy tales and legends,
religious prophesies and communist projects, history and
imagination, technological and patriarchal utopias. This
course is taught in Russian.
Graduate Courses
SM 508. Advanced Russian for Business.
(M) Bourlatskaya.
Prerequisite(s): At least one RUSS400-level course.
This advanced language course focuses on developing effective
oral and written communication skills for working in a
Russian-speaking business environment. Students will discuss
major aspects of Russian business today and learn about
various Russian companies on the material of the current
Russian business press. In addition, students will
be engaged in a number of creative projects, such as business
negotiation simulations, and simulation of creating a company
in Russia.
SM 544. (COML541) Haunted House: Russian
Realism in European Context. (M) Vinitsky.
In this class we will examine works of major Russian Realist
writers, painters, and composers considering them within
Western ideological contexts of the 1850-1880s: positivism,
materialism, behaviorism, spiritualism, etc. We will focus
on Russian Realists ideological and aesthetic struggle
against Romantic values and on an unpredicted result of
this struggle -- a final spectralization of social and
political realities they claimed to mirror in their works. Paradoxically,
Russian Realism contributed to the creation of the image
of Russia as a house haunted by numerous apparitions: nihilism
and revolution, afflicted peasants and perfidious Jews,
secret societies and religious sects. The spectropoetics
(Derrida) of Russian Realism will be examined through works
of Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Leskov, Chekhov, as well
as paintings by Ilya Repin and operas by Mussorgsky and
Tchaikovsky. Requirements include one oral presentation,
mid-term theoretical survey essay, and a final paper. Relevant
theories include M.H. Abrams, Brookes, Levine, Greenblatt,
Castle, and Derrida.