DEPARTMENT OF SLAVIC LANGUAGES AND LITERATURES

Elementary Russian 101-1 is the first in a three-quarter sequence designed to introduce students to the Russian language and contemporary Russian culture. In this course, students will continue to develop the fundamentals of speaking, listening, writing, and reading. Emphasis will be placed on practical communication so that students can function at a basic level in several authentic situations by the end of the year.

Elementary Russian 101-1 is the first in a three-quarter sequence designed to introduce students to the Russian language and contemporary Russian culture. In this course, students will continue to develop the fundamentals of speaking, listening, writing, and reading. Emphasis will be placed on practical communication so that students can function at a basic level in several authentic situations by the end of the year.

Welcome to continuing Elementary Russian! This is the second part in a three-quarter sequence designed to introduce students to the Russian language and contemporary Russian culture. Students will continue to develop the fundamentals of speaking, listening, writing, and reading through a variety of communicative and content-based activities. Emphasis will be placed on practical communication so that students should be able to function at a basic level in authentic situations by the end of the year.

Welcome to continuing Elementary Russian! This is the second part in a three-quarter sequence designed to introduce students to the Russian language and contemporary Russian culture. Students will continue to develop the fundamentals of speaking, listening, writing, and reading through a variety of communicative and content-based activities. Emphasis will be placed on practical communication so that students should be able to function at a basic level in authentic situations by the end of the year.

Elementary Russian 101-3 is the third part in a three-quarter sequence designed to introduce students to the Russian language and contemporary Russian culture. In this course, students will continue to develop the fundamentals of speaking, listening, writing, and reading through a variety of communicative and content-based activities. Emphasis will be placed on practical communication so that students should be able to function at a basic level in several authentic situations by the end of the year.

Elementary Russian 101-3 is the third part in a three-quarter sequence designed to introduce students to the Russian language and contemporary Russian culture. In this course, students will continue to develop the fundamentals of speaking, listening, writing, and reading through a variety of communicative and content-based activities. Emphasis will be placed on practical communication so that students should be able to function at a basic level in several authentic situations by the end of the year.

Intermediate Russian 102-1 is the first in a three-quarter sequence designed to continue exploring the Russian language and contemporary Russian culture. In this course, students will develop the skills of speaking, listening, writing, and reading through a variety of activities. They will be able to function in many authentic situations at an intermediate level by the end of the year.

Добро пожаловать! Welcome back to Intermediate Russian! This is the second part in a three-quarter sequence focusing on the Russian language and contemporary Russian culture. Students continue to develop the skills of speaking, listening, writing, and reading through a variety of communicative and content-based activities. Emphasis will be placed on practical communication so that students should be able to function in many authentic situations by the end of the year.

Intermediate Russian 102-3 is the continuation of a two-year sequence that enables students to acquire intermediate-level proficiency.  It proposes the further development and command of skills and abilities in the areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Emphasis is also placed on vocabulary expansion, especially in the areas of speaking and writing. A great deal of attention will be devoted to the learning of grammar in conjunction with the immediate activation of it in conversation.

In this course we will explore some of the sociolinguistic issues in Slavic speaking countries and areas (the Russian Federation, the former Soviet Union, the former Czechoslovakia, etc.) and in Central Europe (specifically, Turkish in Germany). We will look at contemporary issues in Russia and the Ukraine, especially the annexation of the Crimea, anti-gay laws in Russia, and censorship of Pussy Riot. We will explore language policies, minority language rights, language vs. dialect, language planning, language and identity, and language and nationalism.

This course is the first in a three-quarter sequence designed to introduce students to Polish language and culture. We learn the basic Polish grammar and vocabulary, focusing on speaking, reading, writing, and listening.

Slavic 108-2 is the second part in a three-quarter sequence designed to introduce students to Polish language and culture. We will continue to learn the basic grammar of Polish, building on the material acquired in first quarter. Our focus will be on speaking, reading, writing, and listening.

This is the third of a three-quarter sequence designed to introduce students to Polish language and culture. We continue to learn the basic grammar of Polish, focusing on speaking, reading, writing, and listening.

The primary goal of Intermediate Polish is to expand the student's speaking, reading and writing skills by building on grammar and vocabulary learned during the first year of study. As a complement to the linguistic side of the course, the student will gain a greater familiarity with Polish history and culture through varied means including readings of literary works, articles from contemporary Polish newspapers and movies.

In Winter Quarter of Second Year Polish, the students expand their speaking, reading and writing skills by building on grammar and vocabulary. As a complement to the linguistic side of the course, the students will gain a greater familiarity with Polish history and culture through varied means including readings of literary works, articles from contemporary Polish newspapers and movies.

In Spring Quarter of Second Year Polish, students expand their speaking, reading and writing skills by building on grammar and vocabulary learned during prior quarters. As a complement to the linguistic side of the course, the students will gain a greater familiarity with Polish history and culture through varied means, including readings of literary works, articles from contemporary Polish newspapers and movies.

Before Tolstoy and Dostoevsky came three canonical nineteenth-century Russian writers: Pushkin, Gogol, and Lermontov. In this early era, Russia was heavily in dialogue with Western European culture, which introduced Russia to a new genre of writing—the novel. Steeped in poetry, the gothic, and the Romantic, these writers' groundbreaking works resounded through the generations that followed. We explore the history, culture, and society that produced these long-studied classics of Russian literature.

In this course, we will examine two of the greatest works of world literature, The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky, and Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, in depth. These two novels raise profound questions and offer challenging answers to the most important issues of life: What gives life meaning, how to understand evil, the nature and kinds of love, the significance of death, faith and despair, how to make ourselves and the world around us better, and the way human minds work. We will see why Tolstoy and Dostoevsky are often considered the greatest psychologists who ever lived and why Russian literature conveys a sense of urgency perhaps unmatched anywhere else in human culture. Students will also learn skills for understanding novels that will make it easier and more rewarding to read great fiction generally.

In this course, Spiritual Autobiography and Russian Literature, we will read classic works of Russian literature that explore the challenges of achieving spiritual growth in an individual life, with focus on moments of heightened experience and consciousness. Students will have the (optional) opportunity to write a spiritual autobiography. Works by Tolstoy, Chekhov, Turgenev, and Bunin.

(Co-listed with CLS 202)

This course focuses on interconnections between new ideas in literature, culture and politics in the early 20th century. Texts include great Modernist novels Peterburg (1913) by Andrei Bely, Master and Margarita (1940) by Mikhail Bulgakov, and Evgeny Zamiatin's We (1921); poetry by Aleksandr Blok, Vladimir Mayakovsky, and Osip Mandelstam. These major works are discussed in the broad Russian and European cultural and historical context.

(Co-listed with CLS 202-0-20)

This course is designed as a following sequence to SLAV211-1, a general survey of early 20c. Russian Literature, focused on the interconnections between new ideas in culture and politics.  It explores the legendary novel Doctor Zhivago (1957), written by the Noble Laureate Boris Pasternak. This work is discussed in the Russian and European cultural and historical context of the Cold War era; we follow and compare the paths of literary heroes and their real-life prototypes: Pasternak himself and his long-time companion Olga Ivinskaya. Doctor Zhivago was harshly criticized and censored in Soviet Union, then smuggled to the West with the help of the CIA to be preserved and published for the first time, finally becoming a literary sensation and winning the Nobel Prize. 

(Co-listed with LING 222)

Students will examine and analyze political and identity issues in terms of the languages and dialects of the Balkans (particularly Albanian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Macedonian, Romani, and Serbian). Topics include: linguistic nationalism, language laws, rights of minority languages, language discrimination, language and religion, alphabet issues, language and dialect as ethnic identity, standard language, and others. We explore key issues that have plagued the Balkans and continue to shape its future. Area IV, Historical Studies, in SLAVIC 255 and Area V, Ethics and Values, in LING 222.

This course is the first part of a three-quarter sequence focusing on communication, cultural understanding, connections of Russian language and culture with other disciplines (such as history and sociology), and comparisons of Russian and American culture and language. It is a combined third- and fourth-year all skills language and culture class.  This course includes topics in grammar, a focus on developing discussion and conversational skills and writing, and readings from a range of contemporary Russian writers. It is taught in Russian and is intended for students who have completed the SLAVIC 302 series and/or the SLAVIC 102 series.

This course is the second part of a three-quarter sequence focusing on communication, cultural understanding, connections of Russian language and culture with other disciplines (such as history and sociology), and comparisons of Russian and American culture and language. It is a combined third- and fourth-year all skills language and culture class.  This course includes topics in grammar, a focus on developing discussion and conversational skills and writing, and readings from a range of contemporary Russian writers. It is taught in Russian and is intended for students who have completed the SLAVIC 302 series and/or the SLAVIC 102 series.

This course is the third part of a three-quarter sequence focusing on communication, cultural understanding, connections of Russian language and culture with other disciplines (such as history and sociology), and comparisons of Russian and American culture and language. It is a combined third- and fourth-year all skills language and culture class.  This course includes topics in grammar, a focus on developing discussion and conversational skills and writing, and readings from a range of contemporary Russian writers. It is taught in Russian and is intended for students who have completed the SLAVIC 302 series and/or the SLAVIC 102 series.

Introduction to Dostoevsky’s life and works: Notes from the Underground, Crime and Punishment, Brothers Karamazov.

Theories and methods of linguistics as applied to the description of modern Russian. Phonetics, morphology, and other topics.

Selected works of Russian masters: Early 20th century. Russian modernist prose and socialist realism.

Introduction to the major currents of Russian 20th-century lyric poetry and basic techniques for its study: Tsvetaeva, Mayakovsky, Khlebnikov, Blok, Akhmatova, Mandelshtam, Pasternak, Brodsky.

(Co-listed with RTVF 351-0-20)

The goal of this course is to provide students with a firm understanding of the major contributions of Russian film art to world cinema, especially what is often termed Russian, or dialectical, montage, introduced in the early 20th century by Lev Kuleshov and developed by Sergei Eisenstein.  Students will gain knowledge in classic Russian cinematography, as well as in the theatrical “method” of Stanislavsky and “biomechanics” of Meyerhold that were influential in shaping Russian film theory and history.  We will watch major films by Protazanov, Eisenstein, Pudovkin, and Vertov -- and texts – and discuss them in class. 

(Co-listed with Int St 390)

We examine the relationship of the Russian writer to the State.  While the Tsars sought to place limits on Tolstoy, Pushkin, and others, they had a privileged place in society.  But Stalin’s regime expected the writer not just to enlighten the masses, but to mobilize them to accomplish the goals of the State.  Repressive measures continued until the 1980s, when Gorbachev allowed more free debate (“glasnost”).  Under Putin, repression returns, rewarding those who support the State, and intimidating or silencing those who don’t.

This course investigates the richness and complexity of historical and cultural aspects, myths, and multi-religious traditions that have shaped Polish literature in the modern period (1800-2010) —especially the works of Polish-Jewish writers, such as Bruno Schulz, Zuzanna Ginczanka (Sara Ginzburg), and Julian Tuwim.  Readings are offered both in English translation and original Polish.  Discussion in class is in English, with optional Polish discussion section. 

(Co-listed with Int St 390-0-22)

This course examines the roots and the drivers of Putin’s foreign policy. We will look at factors leading to the USSR’s disintegration and resulting ethnic conflicts, security issues and responses. The U.S. faced four nuclear powers (Russian Federation, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and Belarus), under-secured nuclear weapons, and armed secessionist conflicts in the Caucasus and Moldova. We will examine the post-Cold War security environment, focusing on Russia’s efforts to assert a sphere of influence, and its efforts to undermine Western solidarity and confidence in the liberal democratic system.

(Co-listed with RTVF 351-0-21)

This course will explore post-World War II film from Poland (with English subtitles). We will watch films by Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Kieślowski, Andrzej Munk, Roman Polanski, and others. We will assess what the end of WWII, followed by joining the Eastern Bloc, the fall of communism, and the entry into post-Soviet Europe have meant for the film culture and the Polish national film tradition.

(Co-listed with German 346) This course examines Prague, one of the most beautiful and culturally vibrant cities in Europe. Its magnificent streets and buildings both conceal and reveal a past full of multiethnic coexistence and interethnic conflict. We explore the development over the past two centuries from a multicultural, democratic city to a homogeneous, communist one, and ultimately to its present open and capitalist incarnation. We will read a range of literary and historical sources, including the story of the Golem and writings by Milan Kundera, Václav Havel, and Franz Kafka, and will study Prague’s architecture and watch several films set on its streets.

(Co-listed with HUM 260)

This course offers a cross-disciplinary approach to the concept of alternatives and choices. At any given moment, how many alternatives are possible? Is there really such a thing as chance or choice? On what basis do we choose? How does our understanding of the past affect the future? Can we predict the future? Professor Gary Saul Morson, a specialist in literature, and Professor Morton Schapiro, a labor economist specializing in the economics of higher education, will themselves offer alternative approaches to these questions based on the presuppositions of their disciplines.

This course will consider the Russian debates of the early 1860s, about nihilism, materialism, utilitarianism, irrationality, love, God, history, and other “accursed questions.”  We will read Turgenev’ greatest novel, Fathers and Children, and Russia’s most widely read work, Chernyshevsky’s What Is to Be Done?  Dostoevsky responded with Notes from the Underground and Crime and Punishment.  We will trace these works and related articles.

This course offers a survey of Russian 18th-century culture in its major literary genres and generic trends.  Students will be introduced to European classicism in literature as a bigger screen to project and compare with the Russian one, noting major theoretical and practical similarities and differences.  We focus on works by Lomonosov, Trediakovsky, Sumarokov, Derzhavin, Bogdanovich, Knyazhnin, Fonvizin, and Karamzin, in comparison with Dryden and Pope (England), Boileau, Racine and Corneille (France). 

Content varies.