Russian Courses Spring 2008

RUSS 102: Elementary Russian II
Section 000 Lunk MW 9:35-10:25 and TT 10:00-11:15 Limit 15
Section 001 Proskurina MW 12:50-1:40 and TT 1:00-2:15 Limit 15

Content: This course is an introduction to Russian grammar with emphasis on conversation. The course will include discussion of contemporary Russian life and culture. Multi-media approach.

Text: Lubensky, Ervin, Jarvis, Nachalo, When in Russia Book 2

Prerequisites: Russ 101 or consent of instructor.

RUSS 202: Intermediate Russian: Conversation and Reading
Section 000 Lunk MW 11:45-12:35 and TT 11:30-12:45 Limit 15

Content: Intermediate Russian is designed to develop proficiency in conversational and written usage of Russian. Although implementation of new grammar is essential, the main focus is on Russian as a living means of communication.

Text: Kagan Miller, V. Puti

Particulars: Unit quizzes, mid-term, final exam. Prerequisite: RUSS 201 or its equivalent. Required for Russian majors.

RUSS 372WR: 20th Century Russian Literature in English Translation
Section 000 Epstein TT 4:00-5:15 Limit 15

Content: If ever history has reached the proportion of both a great myth and a terrifying nightmare, it was in Russia during the 20th century. Russian literature developed side by side with the events of the century and can compete in intensity, uniqueness, and power of imaginative geniuses with some of the greatest works written in any time or place. From the fall of tsardom to the rise of Bolshevik power, and from consolidation of the Soviet empire to its ultimate demise, Russia was the locus of one of the most radical social and political experiments of all time. Complex interrelationships between literature and politics in Russia reveal clashes between utopian ideals and harsh realities, and between the forging of new collective identities and the needs of individuals. Authors for the course include Nobel Laureates Bunin, Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn, and Brodsky, as well as Nabokov and the new generation of post-Soviet writers.

RUSS 373: Russian Avant-Garde Arts
Section 000 Apkarian TT 2:30-3:45 Limit 5
Same as ARTHIST 369 Limit 10
Same as FILM 373 Limit 5

Content: The drama of Russian culture in the 20th century is filled with revolutionary political and artistic change. Spanning the twilight of tsardom, as well as the Communist and post-Communist eras, the 20th century in Russia was a battleground for sharply conflicting political ideas and artistic strategies that continue to have an impact on today's world. The course focuses upon the interface between art and politics in Russia and upon interrelationships among visual and verbal arts underlying such movements as Futurism, Suprematism, Constuctivism, and Socialist Realism. Painters such as Kandinsky, Malevich, and Tatlin will be examined alongside filmmakers such as Eisenstein, Vertov, and Sokurov, and writers such as Bely and Mayakovsky. The course is conducted in English.

RUSS 402WR: 20th-Century Russian Literature in the Original
Section 000 Proskurina MW 2:00-2:50 and TT 2:30-3:45 Proskurina Limit 15

Content: This course provides a systematic survey of some best Russian short stories and poems, from Brusov and Blok to Nabokov, Bulgakov and Brodsky. Topics for reading, discussing and writing include the variety of literary schools, cultural and social issues, and individual differences in styles. The course is required for the major in Russian language and culture and is conducted in RUSSIAN.

Prerequisites: RUSS 401 or equivalent.

RUSS 420S: Philosophy and Religion in Russia
Section 000 Epstein TT 5:30-7:00 Limit 10
Same as REL 472RS Limit 5
4 credit hours

Content: Russian philosophical and religious thought is deeply rooted in the meditative practice of Eastern Christianity and at the same time is strongly influenced by the systems of Western rationalism. The typically Russian combination of philosophy and religion (or atheism) has produced social movements that crucially changed the history of the world, but their intellectual sources and potentials are insufficiently known to the
West. This course explores the development of Russian religious and atheistic philosophy from 19th century debate between Slavophiles and Westernizers, idealists and nihilists through comprehensive philosophical systems of Solovyov and Berdyaev and Soviet "dialectical materialism" to Bakhtin's theory of dialogue. The latest trends of 1980s-2000s such as Cosmism, Culturology and postmodern Conceptualism are examined in the
aspects of their Russian specificity and affinities with Western philosophy. No knowledge od Russian is required.

RUSS 495BWR: Honors Program in Russian
Section 00P: Faculty
Permission Required

RUSS 496R: Russian Language Internship
Section 00P Faculty
VC

Permission Required

RUSS 497R: Individual Directed Reading
Section 00P Faculty
VC

Permission Required

RUSS 797R: Directed Studies in Russian Language or Culture
Section 00P Faculty
VC

Permission Required

For additional offerings please see REES Course Offerings (Russian and East European Studies)

this page last modified November 19, 2007