RUSS - Russian

RUSS Class Schedule

Courses

RUSS 101   First-Year Russian I   credit: 4 Hours.

Oral-aural practice and elements of grammar, reading, and writing. For students who have no credit in Russian.

RUSS 102   First-Year Russian II   credit: 4 Hours.

Continuation of RUSS 101. Oral-aural practice and elements of grammar, reading, and writing. Prerequisite: RUSS 101.

RUSS 115   Intro to Russian Culture   credit: 3 Hours.

Introduction to the culture of Russia and the USSR. Course addresses two central themes. First, the very distinctiveness of Russian culture, and the functions of that notion within Russia and for outsiders; Second, Russia as a cultural space between East and West. We will explore Russian culture through the following, the language(s); foundational narratives of collective memory going back to the medieval times; the cultural impact of colonial subjugation both by and of peoples to the East, South, and West; Russian Orthodoxy's connection with the political and cultural spheres; peak achievements in literature, music, architecture and visual arts. Same as REES 116.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Humanities - Lit & Arts
Cultural Studies - Western

RUSS 122   Russia and Black America   credit: 3 Hours.

A survey of the interactions and intersections between key African American figures and cultural practices, and Russian imperial, Soviet, and post-Soviet culture, in a historical, social, and political context, with emphasis on Russian-sourced cultural transfers that influenced and sometimes shaped the Black American experience and which functioned as the currency and medium of the African American–Russian connection. Same as AFRO 122 and CWL 122.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Cultural Studies - US Minority

RUSS 201   Second-Year Russian I   credit: 4 Hours.

Oral-aural practice, systematic functional grammar, reading, and writing. Prerequisite: RUSS 102 or equivalent.

RUSS 202   Second-Year Russian II   credit: 4 Hours.

Systematic review of the structure of Russian covered in RUSS 101, RUSS 102, and RUSS 201 through class lectures, drills, and homework exercises. Prerequisite: RUSS 201.

RUSS 219   Russian Cinema Survey   credit: 3 Hours.

Survey of Russian and Soviet film, from Eisenstein to the present. Weekly film screenings. No knowledge of Russian required.

RUSS 220   Golden Age of Russian Literature   credit: 3 Hours.

Survey of Russian literature in the long 19th century; romanticism, realism, nationalism, orientalism, empire; writers may include Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Pavlova, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and others; reading and discussion in English. Same as CWL 227.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Advanced Composition
Humanities - Lit & Arts

RUSS 225   Russian Lit and Revolution   credit: 3 Hours.

Major works from 1900 to the present; futurism, modernism, Stalinism, post-modernism, and after; writers may include Mayakovsky, Babel, Olesha, Akhmatova, Bulgakov, Nabokov, Solzhenitsyn, Tolstaya, and others; readings and discussion in English. Same as CWL 249.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Humanities - Lit & Arts

RUSS 260   Medicine & Russian Literature   credit: 3 Hours.

Examines cultural significance of medicine and the figure of the physician, and understandings of illness and health, primarily in literature of Russia and the USSR from the 1860s to present. Asks what larger issues are at stake in the literary representation of medical practice by physicians and non-physicians alike in the Russian and Soviet contexts; investigates what medicine and literature offer each other, and the bearing on this of the latter's formal, aesthetic qualities. Considers how medical practice is conditioned by the broader culture, how medical discourse, knowingly or unknowingly, 'borrows' from, is conditioned by, or otherwise reciprocally involved with other greater or peripheral discursive spheres. Reads fiction by leading literary figures who were physicians (Chekhov, Bulgakov, Veresaev, and Aksyonov); fiction by "lay" authors about doctors and medical practice (such as Solzhenitsyn); memoirs by physicians (tales of training and practice, apologies, denunciations); memoirs by patients; 'real' and fictional case histories; theoretical and methodological readings.
This course satisfies the General Education Criteria for:
Humanities - Lit & Arts

RUSS 261   Intro Russian-Jewish Culture   credit: 3 Hours.

Introduction to the interaction of the intellectual, artistic, political, social, and religious life of the Jewish community in Russia through film, literature, art and historical record. Same as HIST 261.

RUSS 290   Readings in Russian   credit: 1 to 4 Hours.

Individual topics or projects chosen in consultation with a Slavic Department representative. May be repeated to a maximum of 8 hours. Prerequisite: RUSS 202 or equivalent proficiency.

RUSS 301   Third Year Russian I   credit: 3 Hours.

Grammar review; training in writing Russian; translation from English and free composition. Prerequisite: RUSS 202 or consent of instructor.

RUSS 302   Third Year Russian II   credit: 3 Hours.

Practice in intermediate-level speaking, listening, reading, and writing, based upon advanced grammar and conversation topics and upon readings from current fiction and non-fiction. Students are expected to write essays and give oral reports based on in-class assignments and outside Interests. Prerequisite: RUSS 301 or consent of department.

RUSS 320   Russian Writers   credit: 3 Hours.

Focused study of the work of a single Russian writer, or the comparison of that writer with another major author, in translation. No Russian required. Same as CWL 321. May be repeated in separate terms to a maximum of 6 hours, if topics vary. Prerequisite: At least one other college literature course or consent of instructor.

RUSS 322   Dostoevsky   credit: 3 Hours.

Introduction to the major works of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. No Russian required. Same as CWL 324 and ENGL 322. May be repeated up to 6 credit hours in separate terms. Prerequisite: At least one other college literature course or consent of instructor.

RUSS 323   Tolstoy   credit: 3 Hours.

Introduction to the major works of Lev Tolstoy. No Russian required. Same as CWL 323 and ENGL 323. May be repeated up to 6 credit hours in separate terms, if topics vary. Prerequisite: One other college literature course or consent of instructor.

RUSS 325   Chekhov   credit: 3 Hours.

Introduction to the major works of playwright and author Anton Chekhov. Same as CWL 325 and THEA 362. Prerequisite: At least one other literature course or consent of instructor.

RUSS 335   Nabokov   credit: 3 Hours.

Nabokov' s Russian and American novels read in a comparative context. All works in English, no knowledge of Russian is required. Same as CWL 335. Prerequisite: At least one other college-level literature course or consent of instructor.

RUSS 401   Fourth Year Russian I   credit: 3 Hours.

Practice in advanced speaking, listening, reading, and writing, based upon reading selected from current fiction and non- fiction, and covering a wide variety of styles: literary, conversational, scientific, etc. Course taught in Russian. Students are expected to write essays and give oral reports based on what they read in class and on their outside interests. 3 undergraduate hours. 3 graduate hours. Prerequisite: Three years of college Russian or consent of instructor.

RUSS 402   Fourth Year Russian II   credit: 3 Hours.

Practice in advanced speaking, listening, reading, and writing, based upon reading selected from current fiction and non- fiction, and covering a wide variety of styles: literary, conversational, scientific, etc. Course taught in Russian. Students are expected to write essays and give oral reports based on what they read in class and on their outside interests. 3 undergraduate hours. 3 graduate hours. Prerequisite: RUSS 401 or consent of instructor.

RUSS 418   18th Century Literature   credit: 3 or 4 Hours.

Reading of texts; historical and literary background of the period. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours.

RUSS 424   Russian Modernism   credit: 3 or 4 Hours.

Representative works of the period 1880 to 1917, with emphasis on Chekhov, Gorky, and Blok; readings for non-majors and class discussions in English. Same as CWL 457. 3 undergraduate hours. 3 or 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: Junior standing or consent of instructor.

RUSS 444   Problems in Romanticism   credit: 3 or 4 Hours.

Study of major authors of the romantic period, and some lesser authors. Historical background, textual analysis, and connections with Western European romanticism. Same as CWL 444. 3 undergraduate hours. 3 or 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: Consent of instructor.

RUSS 460   Russian Culture Studies   credit: 3 or 4 Hours.

Role of Russian literature in the social, political, and intellectual life of Russia from the 1840s to the present. Same as CWL 440. 3 undergraduate hours. 3 or 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: Junior standing.

RUSS 461   Russia and the Other   credit: 3 or 4 Hours.

Interdisciplinary and comparative topics including, but not limited to: Russia and the West, Russia and the East, the Cold War, and post-Soviet cultural studies. Same as CWL 466. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. May be repeated to a maximum of 6 undergraduate hours or 8 graduate hours. Prerequisite: Russian course at the 200 or 300 level or consent of instructor.

RUSS 465   Russian-Jewish Culture   credit: 3 or 4 Hours.

Study of Russian-Jewish cultural, social, and political life through literature and film. No Russian required. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: One literature course in the Slavic department at the 200 or 300 level, or consent of instructor.

RUSS 466   Russian Women's Writing   credit: 3 or 4 Hours.

Study of fiction and non-fiction writing by Russian women, including discussion of historical context and feminist theory. 3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: One literature course in the Slavic department at the 200 or 300 level, or consent of instructor.

RUSS 474   Russian Translation   credit: 3 or 4 Hours.

Theory and practice of translation in Russia from the eighteenth century to the present; "literal" versus "creative" translation; and practical work in translation into English of various Russian texts. 3 undergraduate hours. 3 or 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: RUSS 302 or equivalent.

RUSS 493   Honors Senior Thesis   credit: 2 Hours.

Intended primarily for candidates for honors in Russian but open to other seniors. 2 undergraduate hours. No graduate credit. May be repeated. Prerequisite: Senior standing.

RUSS 501   Russian for Grad Students I   credit: 4 Hours.

Provides training in academic Russian for graduate students in social sciences and humanities. Designed for advanced learners of Russian who are interested in developing more specialized language skills. The content of the course will be tailored to the needs of the specific group. May be repeated to a maximum of 8 hours. Prerequisite: RUSS 402 or consent of instructor.

RUSS 502   Russian for Grad Students II   credit: 4 Hours.

Continuation of Russian 501. Provides training in academic Russian for graduate students in social sciences and humanities. Designed for advanced learners of Russian who are interested in developing more specialized language skills. The content of the course will be tailored to the needs of the specific group. May be repeated to a maximum of 8 hours. Prerequisite: RUSS 501 or consent of instructor.

RUSS 511   Russian Literature 1800-1855   credit: 4 Hours.

Graduate-level study of major literary trends and developments in Russian literature from 1800-1855, from early romanticism to the emergence of a realist tradition, in criticism, drama, poetry, and prose. Prerequisite: Ability to read in Russian.

RUSS 512   Russian Literature 1855-1905   credit: 4 Hours.

Graduate-level survey of Russian literature of the second half of the nineteenth century, tracing the emergence, blossom, and decline of the great Russian realist novel, as well as the social and ideological debates of the 1850s and 1860s that were that form's most significant context. Explores the emergence and varied meanings of the term "realism" in Russian literature and criticism of the nineteenth century and will cover the rise of the short form in the 1880s and then, of Russian Decadence/Symbolism in the 1890s. Key developments in Russian drama will also be covered: Ostrovskii, Sukhovo-Kobylin, Chekhov and the Moscow Art Theater. Prerequisite: Ability to read in Russian.

RUSS 513   Russian Literature 1905-1955   credit: 4 Hours.

Survey of major developments in Russian literature and culture between the early 1900s and the mid-1950s, from the Silver Age to the beginning of the Thaw period, in poetry, prose and drama. Students will learn about major literary trends of the time, such as Modernism, Avant-garde, and Socialist Realism, and the scholarly approaches and interpretations that have shaped our understanding of the period. 4 graduate hours. No professional credit. Prerequisite: Knowledge of Russian is required or consent of the instructor. Graduate standing in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures or consent of the instructor.

RUSS 514   Russian Literature After 1956   credit: 4 Hours.

Graduate-level survey of Russian literature of the second half of the twentieth century. Course focuses on the questions of the Soviet "before" and "after," considering specifically the development of socialist realism after its High Stalinist period, its late-socialist manifestations, and theories of post-modernism as applied to late and post-Soviet Russian Literature and culture. Novels, films, and theoretical texts (focusing on the periods of the 1960s, stagnation, collapse, and "after") will provide a common base for thinking about late and post-Soviet culture. 4 graduate hours. No professional credit. Prerequisite: Ability to read in Russian or consent of instructor.

RUSS 520   Russian Writers   credit: 4 Hours.

Study of a Russian author's works in the original Russian, historical and philosophical contexts, current critical approaches. May be repeated to a maximum of 8 hours.

RUSS 521   Gogol   credit: 4 Hours.

Study of Nikolai Gogol's works in the original Russian, historical contexts, and current critical approaches. 4 graduate hours. No professional credit.

RUSS 522   Dostoevsky   credit: 4 Hours.

Study of Dostoevsky's works in the original Russian, historical and philosophical contexts, current critical approaches. May be repeated to a maximum of 8 hours.

RUSS 523   Tolstoy   credit: 4 Hours.

Study of Tolstoy's works in the original Russian, of their historical and philosophical context, and of current critical approaches to Tolstoy's works. 4 graduate hours. No professional credit.

RUSS 524   Pushkin   credit: 4 Hours.

Study of Alexander Pushkin's works in the original Russian, of their historical context, and of current critical approaches to Pushkin's works. 4 graduate hours. No professional credit.

RUSS 535   Nabokov   credit: 4 Hours.

Study of Nabokov's Russian and American novels in the original Russian and English, read in a comparative and theoretical context. Same as CWL 535. Prerequisite: Knowledge of Russian or consent of instructor.