Professor: Alexis Klimoff (Chair); Assistant Professor: Dan
Ungurianu.
Requirements for Concentration: 10 units beyond introductory
language; including 331/332 or equivalent, 135/235, 152/252, plus 3
units in literature at the 300–level.
Senior–Year Requirements: 3 units of advanced course work
except for students returning from a full–year JYA program in Russia,
who may satisfy this requirement with 2 units of 300–level work.
Senior thesis (300) is required only of students who are candidates
for departmental honors.
Recommendations: Study of the language should be started in
the freshman year. Study at an accredited summer school is strongly
urged. JYA in Russia through approved exchange programs.
A Teaching Certification program is available.
Advisers: The department.
Correlate Sequence in Russian Studies: Four semesters of the
Russian language (or equivalent) and three additional courses in culture,
literature and/or language, one of which must be at the 300–level.
I. Introductory
105a–106b. Elementary Russian (11/2)
The essentials of grammar with emphasis on the development of oral–aural
proficiency. Mr. Ungurianu.
Open to all classes. Five 50–minute periods plus two hours of
oral practice.
135a. The Russian Classics: The Great Realists of the Nineteenth
Century (1)
The great tradition of Russian literature with its emphasis on ultimate
existential and moral questions. Selected works by such nineteenth–century
masters as Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky. Mr. Ungurianu.
Open to all classes. Readings and lectures in English. Russian majors
see 235a.
Three 50–minute periods.
152b. The Russian Modernists (1)
Outstanding works of major twentieth–century Russian writers,
with emphasis on those who broke with the realist tradition of the nineteenth
century. The department.
Open to all classes. Readings and lectures in English. Russian majors
see 252b.
Two 75–minute periods.
165a. The Faces of Russia (1)
A survey of selected features of the prerevolutionary cultural tradition
within a historical framework. Topics explored include folklore, the
religious world of medieval Russia with special emphasis on art and
architecture, the inroads of secular culture, the challenges of Westernization,
and the emergence of national traditions in literature, art, and music.
Given in English. Mr. Klimoff.
Open to all classes.
Two 75–minute periods plus one 2–hour screening.
169b. Utopia in Power: Russian Culture in the Twentieth Century
(1)
A survey of modern Russian culture in its historical context. Topics
include cultural and social revolutions, the Red Avant–Garde, Socialist
Realism, the creation of the New Man, the Great Terror, the totalitarian
system and its collapse, the dissident movement, ethnic identity and
ethnic conflicts, Russian rock and pop music, post–Communist Russia.
Mr. Ungurianu.
Open to all classes. All readings and discussions are in English.
Three 50–minute periods, plus regular film screenings.
171a. Russia and the Short Story (1)
In this course we read and discuss a number of classic short stories
by such Russian masters of the genre as Gogol, Turgenev, Chekhov, Babel,
and Olesha. Mr. Klimoff.
Satisfies college requirement for a Freshman Course.
Two 75–minute periods.
181b. Dostoevsky and Psychology (1)
Fyodor Dostoevsky was an avid student of the human mind, with particular
interest in aberrant and self–destructive behavior. He was steeped
in the medical literature of his day, and drew on this knowledge as
well as on his four–year–long prison experience to endow his
characters with profound psychological depth. And after Dostoevsky's
death his works have been cited by Freud and other psychologists in
support of their views of human behavior. This course involves a close
study of a number of works in which the depiction of psychological issues
is particularly crucial to an understanding of what Dostoevsky is attempting
to convey. Readings include The Double, Notes From the House of the
Dead, Notes from Underground, The Devils, The Idiot, and a number
of short stories. An examination of Dostoevsky's texts is accompanied
with some discussion of the nineteenth century psychological and medical
literature admired by the writer, as well as a consideration of Dostoevsky's
influence on later psychological theory. Mr. Klimoff.
Given in English and open to all classes.
Two 75–minute periods.
II. Intermediate
210a–211b. Intermediate Russian (1)
Review of the basics of grammar and analysis of more complex grammatical
phenomena through the study of literary, historical, and newspaper texts,
composition, and discussion. The department.
Prerequisite: Russian 105–106 or permission of instructor.
Four 50–minute periods plus one hour of oral practice.
231b. Russian Screen and Stage (1)
Aspects of Russian film, drama and performing arts.
Topic for 2001/02: Soviet Film: Propaganda, Myth, Modernism.
A survey of Soviet cinema from the 1920s to 2000. Films considered include
the early masterpieces directed by Eisenstein, Dovzhenko, Vertov and
others; the productions of the Stalin era; the movies dating from the
"Thaw" and the following two decades, including the great
works of Tarkovsky and Paradjanov; films from the years of "glasnost"
and beyond. Readings include critical and theoretical articles by filmmakers
and literary scholars. Given in English. The department.
Prerequisite: Sophomore status or above, or one of the following courses:
Russian 135, 152, 165, 169, or Film 175.
Two 75–minute periods plus weekly film screening.
235a. The Russian Classics: The Great Realists of the Nineteenth
Century (1)
Individually designed for Russian majors and other students with some
knowledge of Russian. Students in this course attend the same lectures
and discussions as those in Russian 152, but are required to do part
of the work in Russian.
By permission of instructor.
252b. The Russian Modernists (1)
Individually designed for Russian majors and other students with some
knowledge of Russian. Students in this course attend the same lectures
and discussions as those in Russian 152, but are required to do part
of the work in Russian.
By permission of instructor.
[267a. Culture and Ideology] (1)
In Eastern Europe in generaland in Russia in particularthe impact of
ideology on culture has been experienced more intensely than in other
European societies. The intersections of ideology and culture are explored
in depth, with a specific focus that varies from year to year.
Not offered in 20001/02, see Russian 181 and 231.
[271b. Focus on Literature] (1)
Aspects of the Russian literary traditionincluding authors, genres,
and thematic emphasesand the place of this tradition in world literature.
Not offered in 2001/02.
298. Independent Work (1/2 or 1)
Program to be worked out in consultation with an instructor. The department.
III. Advanced
Prerequisite for all advanced courses: Russian 210–211. Additional
prerequisites indicated where appropriate.
300a or b. Senior Thesis (1)
331a/332b. Advanced Russian (1)
A course designed to increase all aspects of Russian proficiency. Includes
readings on a wide range of topics, discussion, oral reports, stylistic
analysis, written assignments, and review of persistent grammatical
difficulties. Mr. Klimoff.
Three 50–minute periods, plus one hour of conversational practice.
371b. Seminar on Russian Culture (1)
Advanced seminar on Russian culture. Designed for majors and students
with sufficient knowledge of Russian.
Topic for 2001/02: Russian Blockbusters. The culture of the
twentieth century includes the phenomenon of "film classics"productions
of enduring popular appeal which, though not necessarily considered
great achievement of cinematic art, have become universally recognized
cultural symbols within a national group. This course involves a close
study of several Russian films of this type, including the Civil War
classic Chapayev, the Soviet "Eastern" entitled The
White Sun of the Desert, the Russian equivalent of It's a Wonderful
World, The Irony of Fate, and some other comedies. Also included
are several episodes from the TV spy serial Seventeen Moments of
Spring. In each case an attempt is made to determine the source
of the film's popularity in terms of aesthetic and psychological factors,
together with the social and political context that may have played
a significant role in its reception. Mr. Ungurianu.
Conducted in Russian.
Prerequisite: Russian 331 or equivalent.
Two 75–minute periods plus weekly film screenings.
373a. Seminar on Russian Literature (1)
Focused analysis of an author, work, theme, genre, or literary school
in the nineteenth or twentieth century.
Topic for 2001/02: The Silver Age of Russian Literature. A close
study of representative works by Blok, Sologub, Mandelshtam, Akhmatova,
Pasternak, and several others. The department.
Conducted in Russian.
Prerequisite: Russian 331 or equivalent.
Two 75–minute periods.
399. Senior Independent Work (1/2 or 1)
Program to be worked out in consultation with an instructor. The department.