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Russian Course Listings

Lower Division Courses

1. Elementary Russian. (5) Recitation, five hours; laboratory, one hour. P/NP or letter grading.

2. Elementary Russian. (5) Lecture, five hours; laboratory, one hour. Requisite: course 1. P/NP or letter grading.

3. Elementary Russian. (5) Lecture, five hours; laboratory, one hour. Requisite: course 2. P/NP or letter grading.

4. Intermediate Russian. (5) Lecture, five hours; laboratory, one hour. Requisite: course 3. P/NP or letter grading.

5. Intermediate Russian. (5) Lecture, five hours; laboratory, one hour. Requisite: course 4. P/NP or letter grading.

6. Intermediate Russian. (5) Lecture, five hours; laboratory, one hour. Requisite: course 5. P/NP or letter grading.

10. Intensive Elementary Russian. (12) Intensive basic course in the Russian language equivalent to courses 1, 2, and 3.

11A-11B-12A-12B-13A-13B. Self-Paced Program in Russian. (2 each) Basic courses in the Russian language; 2 to 4 units per term recommended. Each 2-unit course in sequence requires 30 minutes of laboratory session per week and 30 minutes of discussion session per week, plus individual instruction as required by the staff. Courses 11B and higher require completion of or simultaneous enrollment in all courses lower in sequence. P/NP or letter grading.

15A-15B. Accelerated Elementary Russian. (8-7) Recitation, five hours; laboratory, two hours. Material of first-year Russian course to be covered in two terms, with extensive use of language laboratory and the Russian Room. P/NP or letter grading.

20. Intensive Intermediate Russian. (12) Requisite: course 10 or one year of elementary Russian. Intermediate instruction in reading, writing, and speaking Russian equivalent to courses 4, 5, and 6.

25. Russian Novel in Translation. (5) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Not open for credit to students with credit for course 25W. Designed for nonmajors. Study of major works by the great 19th-century Russian novelists. P/NP or letter grading.

25W. Russian Novel in Translation. (5) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisite: English Composition 3 or 3H or English as a Second Language 36. Not open for credit to students with credit for course 25. Designed for nonmajors. Study of major works by the great 19th-century Russian novelists. Satisfies Writing II requirement. Letter grading.

30. Russian Literature and World Cinema. (4) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Examination of Russian literary masterpieces and their screen adaptations in various national cinematic traditions, with focus on problems of perception and misperception arising when literature is translated into cinema, and one national culture is viewed through the eyes of another. P/NP or letter grading.

31. History of Russian Cinema. (5) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour; film screening, three hours. Overview of Russian cinema from silent films of early 20th century to current developments, with focus on cinematic styles, genres, and directors. Particular attention to differences between visual and verbal storytelling. P/NP or letter grading.

32. Russia and Asia: Cultural Dialogues. (5) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Since end of Soviet Union, cultural and political flux within non-Christian lands neighboring Russia has increased dramatically. Given radical rejection of Russian heritage in most former Soviet territories, key distinctions in humanities have become unclear, including fundamental confusion between limits of Slavic and Near Eastern studies. Examination of relation of Russia’s culture to its borders: Caucasus, Central Asia, China, and Japan. P/NP or letter grading.

90A. Introduction to Russian Civilization. (5) Lecture, three hours; computer laboratory, one hour. Introduction to Russian culture and society from earliest times to 1917. P/NP or letter grading.

90B. Russian Civilization in 20th Century. (5) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Not open for credit to students with credit for course 90BW. Survey of literature, theater, cinema, television, press, music, and arts. Emphasis on contemporary period, with constant reference to Russian and early Soviet antecedents. P/NP or letter grading.

90BW. Russian Civilization in 20th Century. (5) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisite: English Composition 3 or 3H or English as a Second Language 36. Not open for credit to students with credit for course 90B. Survey of literature, theater, cinema, television, press, music, and arts. Emphasis on contemporary period, with constant reference to Russian and early Soviet antecedents. Weekly discussions focus on varied approaches to writing addressing class topics. Five short papers required. Satisfies Writing II requirement. Letter grading.

Upper Division Courses

100A-100B-100C. Literacy in Russian. (4-4-4) Lecture, three hours. Course 100A is requisite to 100B, which is requisite to 100C. For students who speak Russian but have difficulty reading and writing. Focus on improving reading and writing skills, increasing vocabulary, and developing speaking skills required for academic discourse. P/NP or letter grading.

101A-101B-101C. Third-Year Russian. (5-5-5) Recitation, five hours. Requisite: course 6. Advanced grammar, reading, and conversation. P/NP or letter grading. 101A. Russia and the West; 101B. Soviet Russia; 101C. Contemporary Russia.

102A-102B-102C. Topics in Advanced/Superior Russian. (4-4-4) Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 101C. Discussion and composition, with emphasis on vocabulary development and review of selected grammar topics. Readings in fiction and nonfiction, films, and videos, and use of Internet. Each course may be taken independently and may be repeated for credit. P/NP or letter grading.

103A-103B-103C. Russian for Native and Near-Native Speakers. (4-4-4) Lecture, three hours. Course 103A is not requisite to 103B, which is not requisite to 103C. Improvement of oral and written language skills, emphasizing correct and diversified use of language and addressing individual grammatical difficulties. May be repeated for credit with topic and/or instructor change. P/NP or letter grading. 103A. Russian National Identity. Readings in literature, philosophy, criticism, film. 103B. Literature and Film. Film adaptations of Russian literature. Readings and screenings. 103C. Special Topics.

107A-107B-107C. Russian for Social and Cultural Studies. (4-4-4) Lecture, three hours. Exploration of texts and media in social sciences and culture, with emphasis on press, television, and Internet. Each course may be taken independently and may be repeated for credit. P/NP or letter grading.

108. Russian for Business: Language and Culture. (4) Lecture, three hours. Discussion of economics and business in Russia, language of advertising, business and official correspondence. P/NP or letter grading.

M118. History of Russia, Origins to Rise of Muscovy. (4) (Same as History M127A.) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Designed for juniors/seniors. Kievan Russia and its culture, Appanage principalities and towns; Mongol invasion; unification of Russian state by Muscovy, Autocracy and its Servitors; serfdom. P/NP or letter grading.

119. Golden Age and Great Realists. (4) Lecture, three hours. Designed for juniors/seniors. Russian majors are advised to take this course in their sophomore year. Lectures and readings in English. Survey of 19th-century Russian literature (Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov) in its cultural, political, and social contexts. P/NP or letter grading.

120. Literature and Revolution. (4) Lecture, three hours. Designed for juniors/seniors. Russian majors are advised to take this course in their sophomore year. Lectures and readings in English. Major works of the 20th century (Belyi, Pasternak, Bulgakov, Solzhenitsyn, and others) from prerevolutionary avant-garde to the present. P/NP or letter grading.

121. Russian Pop Culture. (5) Lecture, three hours. Designed for juniors/seniors. Lectures and readings in English. Overview of Russian popular culture today, with examination of status of Russia’s classic(al) traditions for artists and audiences working in modern Russia. Death of one tradition and attempts at creation of another lead away from written word into neighboring forms of expression, primarily visual. Consideration of battles of modern storytelling with cinema, television, animation, music videos, and Internet. Letter grading.

122. Siberia. (5) Lecture, three hours. Introductory survey in which current cultural and ecological issues are situated in their geographical and historical background, including analysis of Siberian human geography before first contact with European colonizers and development of modes of interaction among different cultural groups. Reading in English of selection of literary works by well-known 20th-century Siberian writers whose texts serve as locus for closer examination of Siberian regional literary culture and ecological network within which it exists. Letter grading.

123. Historical Commentary on Modern Russian. (4) Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 101C. Historical explanation of phonological and morphological anomalies of modern Russian.

124C. Studies in Russian Literature: Chekhov. (4) Lecture, three hours. Lectures and readings in English. Survey of short stories, novellas, and major plays (The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard), with discussion of Russian and American productions. P/NP or letter grading.

124D. Studies in Russian Literature: Dostoevsky. (4) Lecture, three hours. Lectures and readings in English. Selections from early short fiction and philosophical writings followed by in-depth readings of one or two major novels such as Crime and Punishment or The Brothers Karamazov. P/NP or letter grading.

124G. Studies in Russian Literature: Gogol. (4) Lecture, three hours. Lectures and readings in English. Short stories, novel Dead Souls, and selected plays. P/NP or letter grading.

C124N. Studies in Russian Literature: Nabokov. (4) Lecture, three hours. Lectures and readings in English. Russian novelist (The Gift), American novelist (Lolita), autobiographer (Speak Memory), and critic. Concurrently scheduled with course C277. P/NP or letter grading.

124P. Studies in Russian Literature: Pushkin. (4) Lecture, three hours. Lectures and readings in English. Major works in all genres, including lyric poetry, narrative poems, plays, prose fiction, and selected letters. P/NP or letter grading.

124T. Studies in Russian Literature: Tolstoy. (4) Lecture, three hours. Lectures and readings in English. Early and late stories and novellas, excerpts from the diaries and one major novel such as War and Peace or Anna Karenina. P/NP or letter grading.

125. Russian Novel in Its European Setting. (4) Lecture, three hours. Designed for juniors/seniors. Lectures and readings in English. Emphasis on 19th- and 20th-century novelists.

126. Survey of Russian Drama. (4) Lecture, three hours. Lectures and readings in English. Introduction to representative selection of most important dramatic works in Russian literary tradition, including works from neoclassical, Romantic, realist, and futurist traditions. P/NP or letter grading.

M127. Women in Russian Literature. (4) (Same as Gender Studies M127.) Lecture, three hours. Designed for juniors/seniors. Lectures and readings in English. Introduction to alternative tradition of women’s writings in Russia and Soviet Union. Emphasis on images of women expressed in this tradition as compared with those found in works of contemporary male writers. P/NP or letter grading.

128. Russian Science Fiction. (4) Lecture, three hours. Readings in English. Introduction to Russian science fiction in the 20th century. Emphasis on function of science fiction in development of Russian culture before and after the October Revolution. P/NP or letter grading.

129. Animation and Music Video. (5) Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Designed for juniors/seniors. Lectures and readings in English. Humanities have recently passed through so-called visual turn: traditional emphases on language(s) in field have been reconsidered in light of society’s increasingly visual workings. New attitude toward our own changing culture (i.e., toward its future) has equal value if applied retrospectively to multiple cultures of one erstwhile empire. In territory where many tongues or traditions needed to be ironed out, visual often plays special role in social cohesion. Because of past politics and today’s profit-driven events, small fickle forms of visual narrative reflect change and social chance much better than ponderous grandeur of feature-length cinema. Letter grading.

130A-130B-130C. Russian Poetry. (4-4-4) Lecture, three hours. Preparation: third-year Russian recommended. Lectures and readings in Russian. May be repeated for credit with topic and/or instructor change. 130A. Introduction to Analysis of Russian Poetry. Role of biography, cultural subtexts, rhetoric, and form in interpreting poetic texts. 130B. Poetry of Russian Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Realism. Major works of late 18th and 19th centuries in their historical and cultural contexts. 130C. Russian Poetry in the 20th Century. Major poetic schools from early modernism (symbolism, futurism, acmeism) to contemporary avant-garde.

131. History of Russian Cinema. (4) Lecture, three hours. Overview of most popular art form in world’s largest nation to show how cinema struggled under incipient capitalism in Russia, how moviemaking on other side of world departed from path marked out by Hollywood and London, how films operate as form of nationwide persuasion, relationship between word and image in those acts of persuasion, how even frightening dogma cannot escape importance of audience desire(s), different forms of social existence as refuge from both capitalism and communism, and what values of world’s biggest country are. Role of language in self-definition. Is selfhood verbal or visual matter? P/NP or letter grading.

M132. Comparative Media Studies. (4) (Same as Comparative Literature M132.) Lecture, three hours. History, form, and function of various media. Grounded in political and commercial experience of Eastern Europe, comparative investigation of media technologies, today’s burgeoning markets, and yesterday’s tragic abuses. Development of media form(s) and content across various times, places, and cultures, with special attention to Slavic phenomena. Letter grading.

140A-140D. Russian Prose Fiction. (4 each) Lecture, three hours. Preparation: third-year Russian recommended. Lectures and readings in Russian. May be repeated for credit with topic and/or instructor change. P/NP or letter grading. 140A. Introduction to Analysis of Russian Narrative Prose. Close analysis of genre, narrative, and rhetorical strategies and interplay of literature, history, and culture. 140B. Russian Romantic Prose. Karamzin, Pushkin, Gogol, and others. 140C. Great Realists. Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and others. 140D. 20th-Century Modernism.

150. Russian Folk Literature. (4) Lecture, four hours. Lectures and readings in Russian. P/NP or letter grading.

C170. Russian Folklore. (3 to 5) Lecture, three hours. Lectures and readings in English. General introduction to Russian folklore, including survey of genres and related folkloric phenomena. Concurrently scheduled with course C240. P/NP or letter grading.

187A. Advanced Tutorial Instruction in Russian. (2) Tutorial, one hour; laboratory, one hour. Enforced requisite: course 102C or Russian placement test. Tutorial and guided independent study of advanced Russian: advanced conversation, composition, vocabulary development, and review of selected grammar topics. May be repeated for credit with topic change. P/NP or letter grading.

187B-187M. Advanced Tutorial Instruction in Russian. (2 each) Tutorial, one hour; laboratory, one hour. Preparation: prior course in sequence or Russian placement test. Tutorial and guided independent study of advanced Russian: advanced conversation, composition, vocabulary development, and review of selected grammar topics. May be repeated for credit with topic change. P/NP or letter grading.

191. Variable Topics Research Seminars: Russian Literature. (4) Seminar, three hours. Requisite: course 6. Reading and discussion of selected authors; culminating seminar paper required. May be repeated for credit with topic and/or instructor change. P/NP or letter grading.

Graduate Courses

201A-201B-201C. Russian: Vocabulary, Pronunciation, Style. (4-4-4) Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 102C. Conducted in Russian. Reading and analysis of texts with focus on vocabulary, pronunciation, and style, respectively, in three consecutive terms. S/U or letter grading.

202. Structure of Colloquial Russian. (4) Phonology, morphology, word formation, lexicon, and sentence and discourse structure of contemporary vernacular of Russian intelligentsia in context of linguistic variation. S/U or letter grading.

203. Practicum in Russian. (2) Requisite: course 201C. Two terms per year required of Ph.D. students. Reading of advanced texts; advanced composition, conversation; stylistics. May be repeated for credit. S/U grading.

204. Introduction to History of Russian Literary Language. (4) Lecture, three hours. Requisites: course 220A, Slavic 201. Required for M.A. (linguistics) and Ph.D. (literature). Evolution of literary Russian from the 11th to 20th centuries. Analysis of texts. S/U or letter grading.

210. Readings in Old Russian Texts. (4) Lecture, three hours. Requisite: Slavic 201. Readings in premodern Russian texts. May be repeated for credit.

211A. Literature of Medieval Rus’. (4) Lecture, three hours. Required for M.A. (literature). Survey of the literature from its beginning through the Kievan and Muscovite periods up to end of the 17th century.

211B. 18th-Century Russian Literature. (4) Lecture, three hours. Required for M.A. (literature). Lectures and readings in major and secondary writers. Analysis of related literary works.

212A-212B. 19th-Century Russian Literature. (4-4) Lecture, three hours. S/U or letter grading: 212A. Golden Age. Lecture, three hours. Required for M.A. (literature). Survey of major literary movements and schools following demise of neoclassicism: sentimental school, early and late Romanticism, and beginnings of natural school. Discussion of representative works of Karamzin, Zhukovsky, Batyushkov, Pushkin, Baratynsky, Lermontov, Gogol. S/U or letter grading. 212B. Age of Realism. Lecture, three hours. Required for M.A. (literature). Survey devoted to emergence of critical and psychological realism, beginning with early works of Turgenev, Goncharov, and Dostoevsky, moving to major novels of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Saltykov-Shchedrin, and concluding with works of the presymbolist period, especially short stories of Chekhov. S/U or letter grading.

213A. 20th-Century Russian Literature, 1890 to 1929. (4) Lecture, three hours. Required for M.A. (literature). Lectures and readings in major literary trends of modernist period, such as decadence, symbolism, futurism, acmeism, and ornamental school. Analysis of representative works by Blok, Belyj, Khlebnikov, Pasternak, Platonov, and others. S/U or letter grading.

213B. 20th-Century Russian Literature, 1930 to 1989. (4) Lecture, three hours. Required for M.A. (literature). Lectures and readings in major literary trends, including socialist realism, The Thaw, and second- and third-wave emigration. S/U or letter grading.

214. Contemporary Russian Literature. (4) Lecture, three hours. Requisites: courses 213A, 213B. Required for Ph.D. (literature). Close readings in selected texts of poetry and prose, metropolitan and emigre, of recent vintage. May be repeated for credit. Letter grading.

219. Movements and Genres in Russian Literature. (4) Lecture, three hours. Introduction to most important theoretical issues of Russian literature viewed in diachronic perspective. Letter grading.

220A-220B. Structure of Modern Russian. (4-4) Lecture, three hours. S/U or letter grading. 220A. Required for M.A. (literature, linguistics). Survey of basic concepts and categories (graphics, phonetics, phonology, morphology, syntax, discourse). 220B. Requisite: course 220A. Required for M.A. (linguistics). Selected problems and approaches in structure of Russian.

227. Linguistic Approaches to Russian Poetry. (4) Lecture, three hours. Introduction to use of linguistic methods in study of Russian poetic texts. May be repeated for credit. S/U or letter grading.

C240. Russian Folklore. (3 to 5) Lecture, three hours. Lectures and readings in English. General introduction to Russian folklore, including survey of genres and related folkloric phenomena. Concurrently scheduled with course C170. S/U or letter grading.

241. Topics in Russian Phonology. (4) Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 220A. Selected topics in Russian phonology. May be repeated for credit with consent of instructor.

242. Topics in Russian Morphology. (4) Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 220A. Selected topics in Russian inflection and derivation. May be repeated for credit with consent of instructor.

243. Topics in Historical Russian Grammar. (4) Lecture, three hours. Requisites: course 204, Slavic 221. Selected topics in Russian historical phonology, morphology, and syntax. May be repeated for credit with consent of instructor.

251. Topics in Literature of Medieval Rus’. (4) Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 211A. Detailed discussion of particular writers, periods, or genres. May be repeated for credit with consent of instructor and graduate adviser.

261. Discourse Grammar of Russian. (2 or 4) Lecture, three hours. Analysis of phenomena of Contemporary Standard Russian controlled by discourse/pragmatic factors at all levels of linguistic structure from phonology to intersentential syntax. S/U or letter grading.

263. Russian Dialectology. (4) Lecture, three hours. Requisite: Slavic 221. Phonology and grammar of modern Great Russian dialects.

264. History of the Russian Literary Language. (4) Lecture, three hours. Requisites: course 204, Slavic 201. Evolution of literary Russian from the 11th to 20th century. Lectures and analysis of texts.

265. Topics in Russian Syntax. (4) Lecture, three hours. Requisite: course 220B. Traditional and generative approaches to Russian syntax. May be repeated for credit with consent of instructor.

270. Russian Poetics. (4) Lecture, three hours. Introduction to technical study of Russian poetics and versification, with attention to metrics, stanza forms, rhyme, and development of various verse types from the 18th into the 20th century.

C277. Studies in Russian Literature: Nabokov. (4) Lecture, three hours. Lectures and readings in English. Russian novelist (The Gift), American novelist (Lolita), autobiographer (Speak Memory), and critic. Concurrently scheduled with course C124N. S/U or letter grading.

290. Seminar: Russian Poetry. (4) Seminar, three hours. Recommended preparation: course 270. Detailed study of a single author, period, or work. May be repeated for credit with consent of instructor and graduate adviser.

291A. Seminar: Literature of Medieval Rus’. (4) Seminar, three hours. Requisite: course 211A. Selected topics from the 11th through the 17th century. May be repeated for credit with consent of instructor and graduate adviser.

291B. Seminar: 18th-Century Russian Literature. (4) Seminar, three hours. Requisite: course 211B. Selected authors and works from 18th-century poetry, prose, and drama. May be repeated for credit with consent of instructor and graduate adviser.

292. Seminar: 19th-Century Russian Literature. (4) Seminar, three hours. Requisites: courses 212A, 212B. Selected authors and works from 19th-century poetry, prose, and drama. May be repeated for credit with consent of instructor and graduate adviser.

293. Seminar: 20th-Century Russian Literature. (4) Seminar, three hours. Requisite: course 213A. Selected authors and works from 20th-century poetry, prose, and drama. May be repeated for credit with consent of instructor and graduate adviser. S/U or letter grading.

294. Seminar: Russian Literary Criticism. (4) Seminar, three hours. Requisites: courses 211B, 212A, 212B, 213A. Detailed study of specific school of literary criticism, single literary critic, or period in Russian literary history as reflected in literary criticism. Simultaneous or similar phenomena in literary criticism in West. May be repeated for credit with consent of instructor and graduate adviser. S/U or letter grading.

296. Seminar: History of Russian Culture. (4) Discussion, three hours. Reading and discussion on selected topics in history of Russian culture.