Programs of Study

Before being advanced to candidacy, graduate students complete 18 graduate-level courses. As Northwestern is on a quarter system, this works out to three courses per quarter for two years. Of these, at least 12 must be taken in the Department in the distribution outlined below. Of the remaining 6 courses, at least four generally constitute a coherent minor area of specialization consistent with the student's interests, while the remaining courses are free electives. Minor areas can include film, a second Slavic language and literature, Russian history, Russian art, German, French or comparative literature. Students plan their course of study with the Department's Graduate Advisor, who is empowered to make exceptions to the above rules as necessary. Students who enter the program with a Master's Degree can receive up to 9 course credits toward the 18-course total required.

Slavic Department - Core Graduate Program (Required):

1. Department Proseminar (411)
2. The History of the Russian literary language (340)
3. Studies in Old Russian Literature (430)
4. 18th-Century Literature (434)
5. Survey of 19th-Century Poetry (360)
6. Survey of 20th-Century Poetry (361)
7. Graduate seminar in Poetry (437)
8. Graduate seminar in 19th-century Prose (436)
9. Graduate seminar in 20th-century Prose (438)
10. Graduate-level course in Literary criticism/intellectual history
11. Russian drama (369)
12. MA Tutorial (599)

The Department offers the following roster of graduate courses:

1. Proseminar (411) every year.
2. The History of the Russian literary language (422) every other year.
3. Studies in Old Russian Literature (430) every other year.
4. 18th-Century Literature (434) every other year.
5. Survey of 19th-Century Poetry (360) every other year.
6. Survey of 20th-Century Poetry (361) every other year.
7. Graduate Poetry Seminar (437) every year.
8. Russian Literary and Cultural Criticism 19th Cent.(440) every other year.
9. Russian Literary and Cultural Criticism 20th Cent. (441) every other year.
10. Bakhtin (442) every other year.
11. Russian Theater and Drama (369) every other year.
12. Seminar on 19th-cent. prose (436) every year.
13. Seminar in 20th-cent. prose (438) every year.

Although the course number for 400-level seminars remains the same each year, the content changes depending on the needs of the students, and the interests of the instructor offering any given seminar.

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