Russian (RU)

This one-credit class is designed to prepare students for an easy transition into our Beginning Russian I course, which is offered in the fall. By the end of the semester, students will 1) use the Cyrillic alphabet with confidence, 2) understand the fundamentals of Russian phonetics and grammar, and 3) be able to speak and write briefly about their personal and university biographies. The course will be scheduled to accommodate student schedules. One credit; Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory.

This course is for Russian language students of all levels. It will focus on conversation, supplemented by viewings and discussion of Russian news, Russian music videos, cartoons and clips of movies and television. Since this course focuses on oral communication skills, there will be no written homework or readings outside of class time.

No prerequisite. Develops students' skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing while also fostering an appreciation for Russian culture. Emphasis is 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.

Continuation of Beginning Russian I. Develops students' skills in listening, speaking, reading, and writing while also fostering an appreciation for Russian culture. Emphasis is 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.

What happens when a country abandons a three-hundred-year way of life, enters into repeated revolution and war, seeks heaven-on-earth, but achieves inferno and hell? Even more contradictory, perhaps, what happens when, at the same time, this country so revamps literature, film, painting, and dance that it leads the arts in Europe in the beginning of the twentieth century? "Russia in Revolution (1890-1925)" is an interdisciplinary, multi-media course on Russia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Topics to be considered are the dynamics of revolution and war; the form and function of utopia and dystopia; the nature of imprisonment, liberation, and exile (physical, social, spiritual, and aesthetic); and, the nostalgia for Imperial Russia and the dismay at the new Soviet state. Other themes are: the "lost" man, woman, and child in the early twentieth century; the conflict between city and country, "old" and "new," Russia and the West; the interplay of "patriarchal," "maternal," and "messianic" voices; and. the role of memory and myth (archetypal, classical, and personal) A crucial component will be the tie of literature to film, painting, and dance in the critique of fin de siecle modernity and its implications for humankind.

This is an introductory course for complete beginners in Ukrainian. The course aims to provide a solid foundation in four major communicative skills: speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Students will learn to communicate effectively across cultural and linguistic boundaries while developing knowledge of the Ukrainian language, traditions, and culture. Emphasis is 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. Cultural awareness will be enhanced with authentic audio-visual materials, literary texts, and cultural artifacts. By the end of the course, students will be able to read short original Ukrainian texts and communicate on everyday topics. No prerequisite.

This course introduces students to Russian literature and culture while also serving as an introduction to the seminar method of instruction. The course is writing-intensive, with emphasis given to improving students' writing skills through the careful analysis of specific texts.

This is the first half of a two-semester review of Russian grammar designed to facilitate a near-native proficiency with the form and function of Russian nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Exceptional forms are stressed, and reading selections on contemporary Russian life and excerpts from literature are employed to improve comprehension and build conversational and writing skills.

This is the second half of a two-semester review of Russian grammar designed to facilitate a near-native proficiency with the form and function of Russian nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Exceptional forms are stressed, and reading selections on contemporary Russian life and excerpts from literature are employed to improve comprehension and build conversational and writing skills.

This lecture course examines some of the most important events, ideas, and personalities that shaped late Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet periods of Russian history during the last one hundred years: from the outbreak of the First World War and the Revolutions of 1905 and 1917 through the Great Terror of the 1930s, the experience of the Second World War and the emergence of the Soviet Empire, late Stalinism and post-Stalinist developed or mature socialism, the collapse of the communist rule and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, as well as Russia's uneasy transition "out of Totalitarianism" and into Putin's authoritarianism during the first fourteen years of the twentieth-first century. The course is designed for history majors as well as for students in other disciplines with or without background in modern Russian and East European history.

Students work with a native speaker in small groups of two or three to activate and intensively practice the material covered in Intermediate Russian II. Although this course focuses on all modes of language learning - speaking, listening, reading, writing, and cultural proficiency - particular emphasis is given to improving students' speaking abilities.

Intensive study with a faculty member in the student's area of interest. Normally, only available to majors.

This year-long course is designed to significantly improve students' comprehension and self-expression skills in Russian, serving as a preparation for Russian literature courses in the original. The course will include an intensive review of Russian grammar; Russian stylistics, syntax, and grammar at the advanced level; reading and analysis of a wide range of 19th-century Russian literary texts; writing essays in Russian; and extensive work on vocabulary building and advanced conversation skills.

This year-long course is designed to significantly improve students' comprehension and self-expression skills in Russian, serving as a preparation for Russian literature courses in the original. The course will include an intensive review of Russian grammar; Russian stylistics, syntax, and grammer at the advanced level; reading and analysis of a wide range of 20th-century literary texts (including fiction, poetry, interviews, songs, and newspaper materials); writing essays in Russian; and extensive work on vocabulary building and advanced conversation skills.

What happens when a country abandons a three-hundred-year way of life, enters into repeated revolution and war, seeks heaven-on-earth, but achieves inferno and hell? Even more contradictory, perhaps, what happens when, at the same time, this country so revamps literature, film, painting, and dance that it leads the arts in Europe in the beginning of the twentieth century? "Russia in Revolution (1890-1925)" is an interdisciplinary, multi-media course on Russia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Topics to be considered are the dynamics of revolution and war; the form and function of utopia and dystopia; the nature of imprisonment, liberation, and exile (physical, social, spiritual, and aesthetic); and, the nostalgia for Imperial Russia and the dismay at the new Soviet state. Other themes are: the "lost" man, woman, and child in the early twentieth century; the conflict between city and country, "old" and "new," Russia and the West; the interplay of "patriarchal," "maternal," and "messianic" voices; and. the role of memory and myth (archetypal, classical, and personal) A crucial component will be the tie of literature to film, painting, and dance in the critique of fin de siecle modernity and its implications for humankind.

Why do we tell stories? Myths and legends can help us understand what the people who created them have valued at different places and times. These texts have been interpreted as vessels of national identity, points of access to divine truth, indices of level of civilizational development, and pedagogical tools. They have also inspired some of the most compelling works of art ever produced. Students in this course will learn more about some of the many cultures of Eurasia, the world’s largest continent, spanning West Asia (the Middle East), Central Asia, and Eastern Europe, from these cultures' perspectives. They will read about what role Raven played in the creation of the world, learn the secret of the legendary Simorgh, and watch the tragic love story between a forest spirit and a human. They will consider the links between ancient folklore and contemporary fantasy. They will also have the opportunity to think about the role these stories play in the cultures that produced them and in their own lives. This class is co-taught by two scholars with different backgrounds: a historian of West Asia and the United States and a specialist in the literature of Russia and the former Soviet Union. In this class, students will learn how scholars in different disciplines (including not just literature and history but also folklore and anthropology) might approach the same works very differently and learn how to articulate their own scholarly positions. Assignments include a folklore collection, an in-class presentation on one of the cultures studied, and a creative adaptation of a myth. Students will also be graded on class participation and given weekly online reading quizzes.

Lonely, lost, wondering about the meaning of it all? Tolstoy has the answers! “War and Peace in Literature and Life (in English)” is an in-depth survey of the major fiction of one of the world’s greatest and most provocative writers and thinkers. Topics to be discussed: the evolution of the Tolstoyan hero and heroine within the contest of the writer’s fiction, as well as with the social and literary polemics of the age; the interplay of “patriarchal,” “matriarchal,” and “messianic” voices; the dynamics of Russian soul and soil; the conflict between city and country, “old” and “new,” nobleman and peasant, Russia and the West; and, Tolstoy’s political, theological, and epistemological visions, in particular, his theory of history, his defense of love, marriage, and family, his endorsement of “rational egoism,” his distrust of “great men” in life, and most importantly, his tried-and-true program for happy and productive lives.

Poisoned Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny, currently lying in a Berlin hospital for treatment, provides only the latest image of the nexus of Germany and Russia in matters relating to authoritarian oppression of minorities and opposition groups. Yet their intertwined history of racism, authoritarianism, and persecution of ethnic minorities has been the object of intellectual study for decades: Hannah Arendt, Ernst Nolte, Jurgen Habermas, and more recently, Timothy Snyder are some of the leading scholars who have elucidated the ways in which these cultures intersect in both promoting and confronting mono-ethnic authoritarianism. Part cautionary tale, part success story, this course examines select case studies from the polities of Russia and Germany (with shorter units on Poland, Hungary, and Belarus) in their ongoing struggles with authoritarian, racist, and anti-democratic legacies. Given notorious histories of oppression and persecution of ethnic, religious, and other minorities--haunting images of Soviet gulags, German concentration camps, and of the KGB and the Gestapo spring all too readily to mind--these countries provide potentially valuable lessons in thinking about racism and police brutality in our own time. In the postwar and post-Unification/post-Soviet periods, these countries continue to face these issues in stark and sometimes creative ways--with varying degrees of success. We will be concerned to respect both the historical and cultural particularity of these cultures, and to draw upon this material to enrich our thinking about anti-racist reform in the contemporary world. We draw upon a variety of materials: historical documents, constitutional studies, film and television, literature, political and sociological data, journalistic interventions, including social media.

The claim that Russians and Ukrainians are one people, “a single whole,” has been resounding in Russian mass media, film, and other discourses for the last two decades. Putin took a pronounced colonial turn with his return to the Presidency in 2012, describing Russia as a state-civilization, in which Russians and Ukrainians are joined in “spiritual unity.” History thus serves as a justification for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This course will look at historical facts and cultural artifacts of Russia and Ukraine to determine the roots of Russia’s current aggression in Ukraine. Among others, the course will discuss the following questions. Is Kyivan Rus part of Russian or Ukrainian history, or neither? Does Ukraine have its own history and culture that is distinct from Russian? Are Ukrainians divided into Russian-speakers (aspiring to join Russia) and Ukrainian-speaking nationalists (aspiring to EU)? The course will examine the origins, points of intersection and divergence of Ukrainian and Russian cultures through the lens of history, art, and literature from the Christianization of Rus (10th century) to the present time. We will look at the history of Russian imperialism, centuries of appropriation of Ukrainian cultural achievements, annihilation of Ukrainian traditions, extermination of Ukrainian intellectuals, and the politics of Russification with the purpose to see how the current events reflect a tendency that has already existed for centuries.

This lecture course examines some of the most important events, ideas, and personalities that shaped late Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet periods of Russian history during the last one hundred years: from the outbreak of the First World War and the Revolutions of 1905 and 1917 through the Great Terror of the 1930s, the experience of the Second World War and the emergence of the Soviet Empire, late Stalinism and post-Stalinist developed or mature socialism, the collapse of the communist rule and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, as well as Russia's uneasy transition "out of Totalitarianism" and into Putin's authoritarianism during the first fourteen years of the twentieth-first century. The course is designed for history majors as well as for students in other disciplines with or without background in modern Russian and East European history.

This lecture course examines some of the most important events, ideas, and personalities that shaped late Imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet periods of Russian history during the last one hundred years: from the outbreak of the First World War and the Revolutions of 1905 and 1917 through the Great Terror of the 1930s, the experience of the Second World War and the emergence of the Soviet Empire, late Stalinism and post-Stalinist developed or mature socialism, the collapse of the communist rule and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, as well as Russia's uneasy transition "out of Totalitarianism" and into Putin's authoritarianism during the first fourteen years of the twentieth-first century. The course is designed for history majors as well as for students in other disciplines with or without background in modern Russian and East European history.

Over the last two decades of Putin's presidency, Russia's geopolitical strength and imperial ambition were placed at the center of Russia's political line. Military incursions in the neighboring countries have expanded Russia's territorial claims and reasserted its aspirations to former Soviet spheres of influence. While Russian identity continued to be imperial after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Ukrainians set off on a journey of building their national identity. The course considers how post-Soviet cinema revives tropes and aesthetic tendencies of the earlier periods, such as stark depictions of the self and Other, spiritual superiority and monumentalism, as well as updates them for a contemporary context. The class explores the Putin-era Russian cinema and Ukrainian national cinema of the last two decades in the light of the common past that these two countries share and how the past is reshaped for the present. No previous knowledge of Russian is required, the course is taught fully in English.

This lecture/discussion course explores how historical actors, writers, artists, filmmakers, and historians, over the last century, have portrayed and interpreted the 1917 revolution. We will also explore how the centenary of this defining event is being commemorated in Putin's Russia.

Russia under the tsars was a vast empire, a land of stunning achievement and immense inequality, mired in backwardness yet also a laboratory of modernity. Through works of scholarship, art, and cinema, and writings by Russians from the 18th to the early 20th centuries, we will explore how women and men, peasants and aristocrats, conservatives and revolutionaries, experienced the power and contradictions of the Romanov empire.This is a seminar. There will occasional lectures, but mostly we will have oral discussions about the readings, Russian historical films, and works of art that depict the everyday life of diverse groups in imperial Russian society.There are many ways of knowing the world - scientific, artistic, and other ways. Ours will be historical. This means that we will examine how the totality of life changed over time. We will consider the past from many angles, for instance, politics, culture, and the social order. We will discuss interpretations proposed by historians, analyze the primary sources on which they are based, and construct our own interpretations. We will not render facile judgments on the people of the past, but we will also explore what their legacy means for us today. We will examine imperial Russian history from three distinct perspectives: What do we know about the actual course of imperial Russian history? What are the original sources on which our knowledge is based? What role do artistic representations of this era play in modern Russian culture?

This course will examine the history of Russia from its medieval origins until the age of Catherine the Great in the 18th century. We will begin with the genesis of Orthodox Slavic civilization in medieval Kievan Rus and that state's destruction in the Mongol invasion. Then we will study the rise of the tsardom of Muscovy and the fateful developments that nearly doomed it in the 16th-17th century: the reign of Ivan the Terrible, the Time of Troubles, the imposition of serfdom, the schism of the Orthodox Church, and widespread popular revolts. Lastly, we will see how Peter the Great and his 18th century successors attempted to stabilize the social order, Westernize the upper classes, and make Russia a great European power.

This is the lab (film screenings) for RU 30357.

Students work with a native speaker in small groups of two or three to activate and intensively practice the material covered in Intermediate Russian II. Although this course focuses on all modes of language learning - speaking, listening, reading, writing, and cultural proficiency - particular emphasis is given to improving students' speaking abilities.

This course is limited to students who are concurrently enrolled in RU 40102: Advanced Russian II. Students work with a native speaker in small groups of two or three to activate and intensively practice the material covered in Advanced Russian II. Although this course focuses on all modes of language learning - speaking, listening, reading, writing, and cultural proficiency - particular emphasis is given to improving students' speaking abilities.

In this special course designed for inquisitive international economics / romance language majors, students will attend a number of lectures, panels, and seminars on campus during the semester, with a follow-up discussion for each led by either a visitor or a member of the economics or romance languages faculty. Before each session, students will be expected to complete a short reading assignment. At each follow-up session, the students will submit a 1-2 page summary and analysis of the talk, with a critical question for discussion. The goal is to encourage students to enrich their major experience by participating in the intellectual discussions that occur amongst ND and visiting scholars across the campus, distinguished alumni, and professionals in the field.

The course is designed for students of advanced level of Russian who are looking to deepen their proficiency through specialized study. This course explores complex aspects of the Russian language, such as advanced grammar, nuances of style and syntax, as well as cultural and idiomatic expressions. Each semester, the course will focus on different themes or topics, ranging from contemporary Russian literature, film, media, or art to advanced translation techniques. The course provides an interactive environment where students can engage in sophisticated conversational practice, detailed textual analysis, and extensive writing exercises. Students will work with authentic Russian texts, multimedia, and other resources to enhance their understanding and appreciation of the language in real-world contexts.

In 1987, the Soviet Union was the largest political entity on the planet. Four years later, it had vanished from the map entirely. In this interdisciplinary course, you will learn about the ‘new Russia’ that has emerged in the three decades since this stunning collapse. Drawing on an array of resources in English translation, you will explore the politics, media, and culture of the post-Soviet period: from the lawless years of the “wild 90s” under Boris Yeltsin to the return of totalitarianism under Vladimir Putin and his brutal invasion of Ukraine. In so doing, your study of contemporary Russia will lead us to discuss some of the most pressing questions in global politics today. What is the nature of truth and power in Putin’s dystopian propaganda state? Should the current leadership in Russia be described as a fascist regime or neo-Soviet? And, perhaps most importantly, how did Russia’s democratic experiment ultimately end with the launch of the largest war in Europe since 1945—and what lessons might this failure hold for America and the rest of the world?

Armenia, one of the oldest countries on the Silk Road and the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion, possesses a rich literary and cultural heritage in which one finds localized variants of devices, themes, and, broadly speaking, cross-cultural tropes. Armenia’s geographic location has also posed a hindrance to its self-determination: Arab, Persian, Ottoman, and Russian empires have shaped, reformulated, and at times suppressed literary and cultural traditions. Like the best writers of any nation, the Armenian greats have concentrated their efforts on universal themes and concepts such as suffering and strength, death and determination, sadness and joy, proving again and again that literature, like the human self it often takes as its subject, is not sui generis. In this course, we will examine Armenian literary works in their historical, intercultural, and colonial contexts, tracing these patterns through prose and verse. In this course, students will cultivate skills in close reading, critical thinking, and writing through various assignments that target these areas of growth. The written assignments in this course will help students exercise their ability to advance an argument based on textual evidence in writing and become astute interpreters of ideas presented in the assigned texts. Course discussions, in- class workshops meant to improve argumentative writing, and critical essays (expository, creative, and research) will familiarize students with literary theory and critical tools useful for the analysis of literary works and cultural elements. Moreover, specific assignments in this course will allow students to approach the topics at hand less conventionally and more creatively through art, music, or other media, approaching each text comparatively and interdisciplinarily to broaden students’ horizons in order to understand other cultures in a wider context.

In this interdisciplinary course, students will trace the development of Christian theology and culture in Eastern Europe—from the baptism of Rus in 988 to the classic novels of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, and from the liturgical theology of Alexander Schmemann to the religious cinema of Putin’s Russia. Throughout the course, students will grapple with the “accursed questions” that have long defined Russian religious thought, while also examining the diverse and divergent images of Christ put forward by Russia’s greatest theologians, artists, philosophers, and writers.

What happens when, in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, a country turns away from more than seven hundred years of an intensely religious culture and embraces secularization, socialism, and science? How does it adapt medieval ideals to modern political, social, and economic structures? How does it err in false messianism, men-gods and cults? How is it called back to religious tradition and truth by indigenous writers, particularly in images and ideas of the Evil One (physical, social, supernatural, psychological, theological, and existential; romantic, modern, and most-modern)?  Finally, how does it resurrect religious consciousness after nearly seventy-years of socio-political atheism? "Russia Seeks God: Theology, Literature and the Arts" is an interdisciplinary, multi-media course on the national spiritual tradition from medieval to modern times. Topics to be discussed are the Russian idea of God, Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the angels and saints; the understanding of Satan and devils; the nature of dvoeverie or "dual" meld of Christian and folk beliefs; the workings of religious prophets and communities (genuine and false); the dynamics of wandering and pilgrimage (internal and external); the appeal to myth (Christian and pagan) and to other faith-systems (Judaism, Buddhism);  the tie between church and state: and the expression of faith and spirituality in literature, art, architecture, music, and ritual. The course is designed to sharpen students' aesthetic and analytical capabilities, improve their reading comprehension, and strengthen their written and oral skills.

The philosopher Mircea Eliade, in his classic work, The Sacred and the Profane (1957), states: “Man becomes aware of the sacred because it manifests itself, shows itself, as something wholly different from the profane” (10). Seemingly oppositional modalities, the sacred and the profane are central to the poetics of Fyodor Dostoevsky, the author of such works as Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Brothers Karamazov. Dostoevsky, who for a lifetime preoccupied himself with pro and contra states of being and action, complicates the bearing of oppositionality itself. Idiots, madmen, ascetics, holy fools, buffoons, schismatics, zealous monks,self-sacrificing women, and other eccentric personalities make up Dostoevsky’s oeuvre and speak to his enduring interest in a broader understanding of the sacred and the profane, which in this course, we will examine as umbrella categories to better understand the ways in which the author complicates the relationships between them. Could this direction help us elucidate Dostoevsky’s approach not only to ethical issues and life’s “accursed questions” but also to eccentricity and otherness in general? Closely studying the contradictions and instances of symbiosis arising in each of these categories within their historical, religious, socio-cultural, and medical contexts will help us in our endeavor, as well is provide insight into our own fascination with this celebrated writer of human personality for whom perhaps the sacred was also a way of orientation in chaos.

A multifaceted investigation into the philosophical, psychological, theological, and political determinants of Dostoevsky's most complex novel. Discussions highlight a variety of themes, from the author's visionary political predictions and rejection of materialism to his critique of rationalism and mockery of literary convention.

Was the Soviet Union a "workers paradise" or an "evil empire?" Nearly three decades after this country transformed into what we now call "post-Soviet space," the legacy of the USSR looms large in international politics and culture. This course will offer students an introduction to Soviet history through film, which Lenin famously called "the most important of the arts," and literature, which Soviet writers used to "engineer human souls." Since the 1917 Revolution, art has had a close relationship to the Soviet state. At the same time, writers and filmmakers with individualistic and even rebellious tendencies have created some of the twentieth century's greatest masterpieces, including Dziga Vertov's Man With a Movie Camera and Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita. In this class we will explore how this tense relationship between art and the state developed in the first half of the twentieth century. Since cultural context is an important lens for our analysis, each artistic work will be accompanied by historical readings about the period in which it was produced, as well as artistic manifestos and contemporary reviews, when relevant. All films will be shown with subtitles and all readings offered in English. Students of the Russian language have the option of discussing the course material in Russian once a week with the instructor in a group for an additional course credit.

No prerequisite. Freed from the constraints of Soviet-era censorship, in the transitional years (1990-2005) Russian filmmakers 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. Short readings supplement the film component of the course. Film screenings optional; films will also be available on reserve.

Intensive study with a faculty member in the student's area of interest. Normally, only available to majors.

This course helps students improve their reading proficiency in Russian by developing strategies for efficiently deciphering sophisticated texts, reviewing grammar, and exploring the art of translating from Russian into English. The reading list consists of works and excerpts from the canon of Russian literature as well as some non-fiction.

This course surveys modern Russian traditions and culture from the perspective of the most significant Russian cities. Topics include a brief history of each city, its cultural heritage, and its contributions to Russian literature and modern society. Through lectures and discussion, we will consider cities in European Russia (St. Petersburg, Moscow, Ryazan', Kaliningrad), Siberia (Irkutsk, Novosibirsk), and the Russian Far East (Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, Yuzno-Sakhalinsk). We will learn which of them gave birth to a widely popular intellectual club, which one was visited by a famous Russian writer after an eighty-two day journey, which was the place where an extremely popular Russian band started its career, etc. We will uncover these and other gems of Russian culture by listening to songs, reading poems, training our brains playing smart games, and many other activities full of Russian Spirit. (In English)

This year-long course is designed to significantly improve students' comprehension and self-expression skills in Russian, serving as a preparation for Russian literature courses in the original. The course will include an intensive review of Russian grammar; Russian stylistics, syntax, and grammar at the advanced level; reading and analysis of a wide range of 19th-century Russian literary texts; writing essays in Russian; and extensive work on vocabulary building and advanced conversation skills.

This year-long course is designed to significantly improve students' comprehension and self-expression skills in Russian, serving as a preparation for Russian literature courses in the original. The course will include an intensive review of Russian grammar; Russian stylistics, syntax, and grammer at the advanced level; reading and analysis of a wide range of 20th-century literary texts (including fiction, poetry, interviews, songs, and newspaper materials); writing essays in Russian; and extensive work on vocabulary building and advanced conversation skills.

This course is limited to students who are concurrently enrolled in RU 40101: Advanced Russian I. Students work with a native speaker in small groups to activate and intensively practice the material covered in Advanced Russian I. Although this course focuses on all modes of language learning—speaking, listening, reading, writing, and cultural proficiency—particular emphasis is given to improving students' speaking abilities.

This course is limited to students who are concurrently enrolled in RU 40102: Advanced Russian II. Students work with a native speaker in small groups of two or three to activate and intensively practice the material covered in Advanced Russian II. Although this course focuses on all modes of language learning - speaking, listening, reading, writing, and cultural proficiency - particular emphasis is given to improving students' speaking abilities.

Love and death are overwhelming experiences that, in many ways, define our orientation in and toward the world. At the same time, love and death are not always describable within the framework of language. Nevertheless, authors have tried to capture some of their essence for centuries. In this course, we will be reading Russophone short stories from the 19 th through the 21 st centuries that grapple with these two philosophically beguiling ideas. Authors like Gogol, Dostoevsky, Korolenko, Babel, Teffi, and others ask: Does love exist and can it be knowable or comprehensible? Is death a self-evident end, or are we always already beings moving toward death from the moment we are born? We will explore these rich themes as offered by Russophone writers in their philosophical, political, historical, and social contexts. All readings and discussions will be in Russian.

This course surveys the generic richness, stylistic innovation, and political intrusion into literature that defined Russian literary culture in the first six decades of the 20th century. It introduces such movements/periods as Symbolism, Acmeism, Futurism, the "fellow travelers," socialist realism, and the "thaw." Readings, discussions, and written assignments are in Russian and English.

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 lyric 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. Attention will be given to Pushkin's evolving understanding of his role as Russia's national poet, including such themes in his work as the beauty of the Russian countryside, the poet's sacred calling, political repression and the dream of civic freedom, Russia's relationship to East and West, the dialectic between chance and fate, St. Petersburg and the specter of Revolution, and the subversive power of art. Prerequisite: Russian 40102 or permission of the instructor.

Russia under the tsars was a vast empire, a land of stunning achievement and immense inequality, mired in backwardness yet also a laboratory of modernity. Through works of scholarship, art, and cinema, and writings by Russians from the 18th to the early 20th centuries, we will explore how women and men, peasants and aristocrats, conservatives and revolutionaries, experienced the power and contradictions of the Romanov empire. This is a seminar. There will occasional lectures, but mostly we will have oral discussions about the readings, Russian historical films, and works of art that depict the everyday life of diverse groups in imperial Russian society. There are many ways of knowing the world - scientific, artistic, and other ways. Ours will be historical. This means that we will examine how the totality of life changed over time. We will consider the past from many angles, for instance, politics, culture, and the social order. We will discuss interpretations proposed by historians, analyze the primary sources on which they are based, and construct our own interpretations. We will not render facile judgments on the people of the past, but we will also explore what their legacy means for us today. We will examine imperial Russian history from three distinct perspectives: - What do we know about the actual course of imperial Russian history? - What are the original sources on which our knowledge is based? - What role do artistic representations of this era play in modern Russian culture?

From its inception in 1703 on the banks of the Neva River, St. Petersburg has embodied Russia's search for a national identity. Founded by Peter the Great as Russia's "Window on the West," it has been championed by those who wished to ally Russia more closely with Western Europe and vilified by those who viewed Western influence as undermining native Russian values. From the early nineteenth century on, numerous writers and artists have focused explicitly on the dual nature of the city. In this course, we will discuss some of the key works in this tradition with the goal of assessing Russia's uneasy relationship with the West and the symbolic importance of St. Petersburg within Russian culture. Prerequisite: RU 40102 or permission of the instructor.

Description: In this course, we will develop speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills by studying late and post-Soviet culture from an interdisciplinary range of perspectives: film, literary texts, historical writings and lectures from contemporary Russian academics, and newspaper articles. It should prepare students for advanced work in Russian in the area of their choosing. A regular number of class sessions will be devoted to either recent news articles or materials related to students' personal interests.

This course guides Russian students in developing one of the most important - but most challenging - skills they will need as language learners: navigating the specialized discourse of SMI, or mass media. Students will learn to navigate the changing Russophone media landscape and regularly discuss how various organs present current events in class. In addition, the course will examine how documentary and journalistic modes of knowledge inform Russian artistic culture, from the revolutionary documentary filmmaking of Dziga Vertov to the Nobel Prize-winning writing of Svetlana Alexievich to the influential graphic journalism of the cartoonist Victoria Lomasko.

Intensive study with a faculty member in the student's area of interest. Normally, only available to majors.

Intensive study with a faculty member in the student's area of interest. Normally, only available to majors.

Intensive study with a faculty member in the student's area of interest. Normally, only available to majors.

Thesis writers work closely with their advisor, who guides them through the bulk of their research and the initial stages of writing the thesis. Goals to be accomplished in the first semester include the submission of a thesis statement and one-paragraph introduction by October 1, a two-page prospectus and an annotated bibliography by November 15, and ten pages of the thesis by the end of the semester.

Working closely with an advisor, the student completes the research and writing of the honors thesis. Goals to be accomplished in the second semester include the submission of the completed thesis to the advisor in mid-March (the first Monday after Spring Break), submission of the final draft of the thesis incorporating the revisions suggested by the advisor (Monday of the last full week of classes), and the candidate's oral defense of the thesis before the faculty of the Russian section (approximately one week after the submission of the final draft).