RU 101-102
Beginning Russian I and II
3 credits
This introduction to the Russian language will develop students' skills
in listening, speaking, reading, and writing, while also fostering an appreciation
for Russian culture. Emphasis will be placed on the acquisition of
basic structures, vocabulary, and sound systems. Students will be
encouraged to use their language skills to communicate and interact in
a variety of situations and contexts. No prerequisite.
RU 180J
University Seminar: Chasing the Troika: Russia’s Literary Search for Self (taught in English)
3 credits
Russia’s current identity crisis began long before the fall of the Berlin
Wall, the onset of perestroika, or even the Bolshevik Revolution. In this
introduction to nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian literature, we
will explore the historical and cultural roots of the problems facing Russia
today. By focusing on images of "Russia" and "Russianness" in works by
some of the greatest Russian writers and poets (Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov,
Akhmatova, Solzhenitsyn, and others), we will trace Russia’s tortured literary
search for her own national identity. No prerequisite.
RU 180J
University Seminar: Russian Literature and the Arts Through History (taught in English)
3 credits
This course is an introduction to Russian culture from medieval times
to the present. Russian religious culture, painting, music, architecture,
the folk tradition, and socio-political movements will all provide the
context for our study of Russian literature, beginning with the ancient
historical chronicles and the lives of early Russian saints, and ending
with poems and stories by several contemporary authors. Short works by
such classic Russian authors as Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov
are also included in the syllabus. Class discussions will be supplemented
by frequent video, internet, and musical presentations. No prerequisite.
RU 381
A Space for Speech: Russian Women Memoirists (taught in English)
3 credits
Throughout the history of Russian literature, the genres of autobiography,
memoir, and diary have provided a venue for women writers to find their
voices in a private arena safely distanced from the privileged genres of
novels and lyric poetry. This course examines the history and development
of the female memoir in Russian literature, from the eighteenth-century
memoirs of a courtier of Catherine the Great to documents of the Stalinist
terror and prison camp life of the twentieth century. We will also
address theoretical questions about women's autobiographical writing and
consider the relationship of the works we read to the dominant literary
tradition. No prerequisite.
RU 385 / FTT386
New Directions in Russian Cinema (taught in English)
Link to course webpage
3 credits
Freed from the constraints of Soviet-era censorship, since 1990 Russian
filmmakers have exploited the unique qualities of the film medium in order
to create compelling portraits of a society in transition. The films we
will watch cover a broad spectrum: reassessing Russia’s rich pre-Revolutionary
cultural heritage as well as traumatic periods in Soviet history (World
War II, the Stalinist era); grappling with formerly taboo social issues
(gender roles, anti-Semitism, alcoholism); taking an unflinching look at
new social problems resulting from the breakdown of the Soviet system (the
rise of neo-fascism, the war in Chechnya, organized crime); and meditating
on Russia’s current political and cultural dilemmas (the place of non-Russian
ethnicities within Russia, Russians’ love-hate relationship with the West).
From this complex cinematic patchwork emerges a picture of a new, raw Russia,
as yet confused and turbulent, but full of vitality and promise for the
future. No prerequisite.
RU 471
Introduction to Russian Poetry (taught in Russian)
3 credits
An introduction to Russian poetry, poetic movements, and verse forms.
We will survey the major periods and styles of Russian poetry, including
Classicism and the Baroque (18th century), Romanticism and the
post-Romantics (19th century), and the early Modernist poetry
of the pre-revolutionary period (including Symbolism, Acmeism and Futurism)
as well as later 20th century Russian poetry. Readings will
include poems by Derzhavin, Pushkin, Pavlova, Zhukovskii, Tiutchev, Nekrasov,
Blok, Akhmatova, Mandel’shtam, Pasternak, Khlebnikov, Maiakovskii, Tsvetaeva,
Vysotskii, Brodskii, and others. Emphasis will be placed on the evolution
of verse forms and poetics, as we attempt to fathom the extraordinary power
of the Russian poetic word in the context of Russian society, history,
and culture. Students will be required to write short compositions in Russian,
make oral presentations and translate selected pasages from assigned works.
Prerequisite:
RU 202 or the equivalent.
RU 482
Russian Romanticism (taught in Russian)
3 credits
This course will introduce students to the literature of Russian Romanticism,
which came into being at the turn of the nineteenth century, dominated
Russian literature in the 1820's and was still influential well into the
latter part of the century. Inspired by Russian writers' encounters with
English, German, and French Romantic literature, Russian Romanticism was,
paradoxically, the first literary movement in Russia that sought to develop
a definitively national, uniquely Russian literature and literary language.
We will explore this quest for a national literature in light of Russian
Romanticism's Western influences. In so doing, we will study works of poetry,
fiction, drama, and literary criticism by a diverse group of Romantic writers
including Vasily Zhukovsky, Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol, Mikhail Lermontov,
Alexander Bestuzhev-Marlinsky, Vissarion Belinsky, Karolina Pavlova, Fedor
Tiutchev, Afanasy Fet, and others. Themes of the course will include the
national and the exotic, the natural and the supernatural, rebellion and
social alienation, violence and passion. Prerequisite: RU 202
or the equivalent.
RU 493
Pushkin (taught in Russian)
3 credits
This course is an introduction to the life and works of the great Russian
poet Alexander Pushkin, often called the Father of Russian Literature.
Through a reading and discussion of selections from Pushkin's short verse,
narrative poetry, drama, and prose, students will gain an appreciation
for Pushkin's extraordinary literary imagination and innovativeness, as
well as his significance for the history of Russian literature as a whole.
Discussions will focus on Pushkin's compositional genius, his mastery of
a variety of literary forms, his role in the creation of a literary language,
his transition from Romanticism to Realism, his innovative treatment of
genres, and his role in the development of the Russian tradition of prose
fiction. Students will be required to write short compositions in
Russian, make oral presentations and translate selected passages from assigned
works. Prerequisite: RU 202 or the equivalent.
RU 492
Chekhov (taught in Russian)
3 credits
This course is an introduction to the short stories and plays of Anton
Chekhov, with attention to the development of his art of characterization,
dialogue, plot construction, and innovative dramatic technique. Central
themes of the course will be alienation and banality in Chekhov's works,
Chekhov's attitude to science and progress, and his views on the future
of Russia. A portion of the semester will be largely devoted to the reading
and performance (in Russian) of one of Chekhov's plays. Prerequisite:
RU 202 or the equivalent.
This page last modified May 27, 2004