Introduction to Russian grammar through oral, written, and reading exercises; special emphasis on oral expression. Three periods.

Continued studies in Russian grammar through oral, written, and reading exercises; special emphasis on oral expression. Three periods.

Conversation, composition, reading, music, comprehensive review of grammar; special emphasis on speaking and writing idiomatic Russian. Students learn and perform a play in Russian in the course of the semester. Three periods.

Conversation, composition, reading, popular music, continuation of grammar review; special emphasis on speaking and writing idiomatic Russian. Students read unadapted short stories by Pushkin and Zamiatin. Three periods.

Survey of Russian fiction from the Age of Pushkin (1820s-1830s) to Tolstoy's mature work (1870s) focusing on the role of fiction in Russian history, contemporaneous critical reaction, literary movements in Russia, and echoes of Russian literary masterpieces in the other arts, especially film and music. Major works by Pushkin (Eugene Onegin, "The Queen of Spades"), Lermontov (A Hero of Our Time), Gogol (Dead Souls), Pavlova (A Double Life), Turgenev (Fathers and Children), Tolstoy (Anna Karenina), and Dostoevsky (Crime and Punishment) will be read.

Vladimir Lenin characterized film as “the most important of the arts” for the fledgling Soviet state. Film has played a crucial role in documenting and shaping Russia's Soviet and post-Soviet experience. This course will begin by exploring early Soviet masters of montage (Vertov, Eisenstein, and Pudovkin) and the impact of their revolutionary ideas on world cinema. We will study visionaries of the long take (Tarkovsky, Parajanov, and Sokurov) who later enchanted audiences with a more meditative cinematic sensibility. Along the way, we will consider masterpieces by such filmmakers as the brothers Vasiliev, Kalatozov, Khutsiev, Sheptiko, Mamin, Mikhalkov, Muratova, German, and Zviagintsev. Students will deepen their knowledge of Russian history, from the October Revolution to modern-day Russia, and develop a foundation in film theory and analysis.

Nineteenth-century Russian writers were locked in a desperate struggle for freedom under an extraordinarily repressive regime. Through an intensive analysis of the great ideological novels at the center of Russia's historic social debates from the 1840s to the 1860s, we will unearth the roots of both Lenin’s revolution and Dostoevsky’s fervent anti-radicalism. The tension between literary realism and political exigency will be explored in the fictional and critical works of Chaadaev, Herzen, Belinsky, Turgenev, Chernyshevsky, Goncharov, Dobroliubov, Pisarev, and Dostoevsky. Isaiah Berlin’s famous essays on the Russian intelligentsia, as well as representative works from the nonliterary arts, including Tom Stoppard's epic play, The Coast of Utopia, will supplement our reading and discussion.

Probably no writer has been so detested and adored, so demonized and deified, as Dostoevsky. This artist was such a visionary that he had to reinvent the novel in order to create a form suitable for his insights into the inner life and his prophecies about the outer. To this day readers are mystified, outraged, enchanted, but never unmoved, by Dostoevsky's fiction, which some have tried to brand as "novel-tragedies," "romantic realism," "polyphonic novels," and more. This course challenges students to enter the fray and explore the mysteries of Dostoevsky themselves through study of his major writings.

An odyssey through the fiction of the great Russian novelist and thinker, beginning with his early works (Sevastopol Stories) and focusing on War and Peace and Anna Karenina, though two major achievements of Tolstoy's later period (A Confession, The Death of Ivan I'lich) will conclude the course. Lectures and discussion will examine the masterful techniques Tolstoy employs for his intensive explorations of human existence, from mundane detail to life-shattering cataclysm. Students are encouraged to read as much of the Maude translation of War and Peace (Norton Critical Edition) as possible before the term begins.

An examination of the artistic legacy of the great novelist, critic, lepidopterist, and founder of Wellesley College's Russian Department. Nabokov became one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and English literature. Students will read Lolita, Pnin, and Pale Fire, which were written in English, and Nabokov's English translations of two of his best Russian novels: The Defense and Invitation to a Beheading. The class will also discuss his utterly unique autobiography, Speak, Memory.

Students will become experts in one of the great overarching themes of Russian culture: Moscow. We will read and discuss texts, view films, listen to music, and compose essays on the theme of Russia's historic capital. The course includes study of grammar, vocabulary expansion with strong emphasis on oral proficiency and comprehension. At the end of the semester, each student will write a final paper and present to the class her own special research interest within the general investigation of Moscow's history, traditions, culture, and art.

Students will enter the world of Russian children's folklore, literature, songs, film, and animation. From lullabies to folktales, from Pushkin's skazki, animal fables by Krylov, didactic stories by Tolstoy, we will move on to examine the contributions of Soviet authors from the early 1920s to the present (V. Maiakovsky, K. Chukovsky, S.Marshak, D. Kharms, M. Zoshchenko, A. Gaidar, N. Nosov, E. Uspensky, G. Oster) and their effect on the aesthetic development and ethical upbringing of children in Russia. The course emphasizes oral proficiency, extensive reading, and weekly writing assignments. Students will create and present a final project on their own special research interest.

Students will become experts in one of the great overarching themes of Russian culture: St. Petersburg. We will read and discuss texts, view films, listen to music, and compose essays on the theme of Russia's second capital. The course includes study of grammar, vocabulary expansion with strong emphasis on oral proficiency and comprehension. At the end of the semester, each student will write a final paper and present to the class her own special research interest within the general investigation of St. Petersburg's history, traditions, culture, and art.

This course explores Soviet and Russian popular film classics loved by generations of viewers and that have become cultural symbols. We will study G. Aleksandrov's musicals of the 1930s; sentimental, detective and fantastic comedies by the masters of the genre, L. Gaidai, E. Riazanov, and G. Danelia, in the 1950s-80s; and post-Soviet crime comedies of the twenty-first century. We will attempt to determine the source of their enduring popularity and cult status through an examination of their aesthetics and of their social and political context.

Students will become experts in one of the overarching themes of Russian and Georgian culture: the city of Tbilisi, the capital of the Republic of Georgia.
We will explore the cultural history of Tiflis/Tbilisi in the Russian Empire, in the Soviet Union, and as part of the Independent Republic of Georgia. We will use Diverse Russian: A Multicultural Exploration, a free, online, interactive textbook. Supplementary readings will be drawn from classical Russian literature (Griboedov, Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy, Mayakovsky) and from Georgian poetry (Rustaveli, Baratashvili, Tabidze) in Russian translation.
We will examine the representation of Tbilisi and Georgia in film, music, songs and the visual arts.
Students will present a final project on a topic of their choice in the context of the cultural history of Tbilisi from 1800 to the present. Taught in Russian.

Students will immerse themselves in the famous poems of Derzhavin, Zhukovsky, Pushkin, Lermontov, and Nekrasov, analyzing ballads and verse tales devoted to the natural and the supernatural. Exotic "Eastern" cultures as well as high and low Russian culture serve as the backdrop for these dramatic verse narratives. Russian painting, music, and history will enrich our discussions of Russian Romanticism in the poetry.

This course explores the great works of Russian film in the original Russian. We will view, analyze and discuss films by Vertov, Eisenstein, Pudovkin, Tarkovsky, Parajanov, Sokurov, the brothers Vasiliev, Kalatozov, Khutsiev, Shepitko, Mamin, Mikhalkov, Muratova, German, and Zviagintsev. Students will deepen their knowledge of Russian history, from the October Revolution to modern-day Russia, and develop a foundation in film theory and analysis. They will also improve their passive and active Russian. All classroom discussion, writing assignments and oral presentations will be in Russian.

In this course students will enter the world of Dostoevsky's short fiction and learn his explosive literary style, obsessive themes, and artistic strategies. Students will increase their passive and active vocabulary and improve their speaking, writing and reading fluency in Russian. We will discuss one work of short fiction (about 20 pages) each week of the semester. Students will translate excerpts from each work discussed. Each student will write a short essay on a story of her choosing and present it to the class. Class meets twice weekly for 75 minutes. All work will be in Russian.

A Russian-language course designed to supplement RUSS 277 above, though RUSS 377H may be taken independently. Students will read and discuss, in Russian, major short works by Tolstoy.

In this course students will enter the world of Nabokov's short fiction and learn to recognize his innovative literary style, obsessive themes, and artistic strategies. Students will increase their passive and active vocabulary and improve their speaking, writing and reading fluency in Russian. Students will translate excerpts from each work discussed. Each student will write a short essay on a story of their choosing and present it to the class. Class meets once weekly for 75 minutes. All work will be in Russian.