Course Offerings in English for Fall Term 2003

Slavic Listings

210.001 Slavic Cultures One-credit mini-course. St. Petersburg in Film: Emblem of Russia's Social and Cultural Transformations, Eagle, Th, 4:00–5:30 (October 16, 23, & 30; November 6 & 13; December 4),. Laboratory fee ($10) required.

This mini-course will examine the ways in which Russian filmmakers have used the architecture, art, music, culture, and economic life of St. Petersburg (Petrograd, Leningrad) to chart major changes in the country's image of itself. Includes Wednesday evening screenings of the films at 8:30 p.m. in Auditorium A, Angell Hall.

225 Arts and Cultures of Central Europe, Carpenter, Eagle, Toman, Humanities, R&E,
MWF 2-3

The course is an introduction to the rich cultures of the peoples of Central Europe (Croats, Czechs, Hungarians, Jews, Poles, Serbs, and Slovaks) seen against the background of two world wars, communism and its recent disintegration. Culturally vibrant, Central Europe reveals the tragic destiny of twentieth-century civilization which gave rise to two totalitarian systems: fascism and communism. The course will outline the ethnic complexities of the region, with special attention to Jewish culture and its tragic destruction during the Holocaust. The trauma of the war on the civilian population will be documented by contemporary films. The course will examine the fate of culture under totalitarianism and study subterfuges used by novelists, dramatists, and artists to circumvent political control and censorship. Students will read works by Kafka, Milosz, Kundera, and Havel; see movies by Wajda and others; become acquainted with Czech and Polish avant-garde art and music and the unique cultural atmosphere of Central European cities: Vienna, Prague, Budapest, and Warsaw.

240 Introduction to Slavic Folklore. Tempest, Humanities, MW 4-5:30.

The course aims to give beginning students a background for the study of folklore in general, as well as special insight into the folklore and folk life of the Slavic peoples (including dress, music, dance, cooking, customs, ritual). Lectures, readings, and discussions will provide an introduction to the varied folklore of the Slavs. No specialized background required. All reading in English. Short papers, midterm, and final examination. Texts: Aleksandr Afanas'ev, Russian Fairy Tales; Vladimir Propp, The Morphology of the Folktale.

250 Cultural Diversity in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia Shevoroshkin, R&E, TTh 1–2.30.

This course will explore firsthand the extraordinary cultural diversity of Eastern Europe, Russia and Eurasia, where European and Asian cultures met and often clashed, and whose culture is a unique blend of Western and Oriental influences. One paper and short reviews of films, stories, and articles.

313 Russian Cinema, Eagle, lecture TTh 2–3; laboratory M 9-11; discussion sections Th 3–4,F 12-1 Humanities. Upper-level Writing Requirement satisfied by section 003 (Th 3-4) only.

In the 1920’s Soviet film makers armed with bold new ideas about cinematic art and with a revolutionary political ideology created the theory of film montage and through it a decade of acknowledged masterpieces. In the 1930’s experimentation gave way to an officially sanctioned “socialist realist” art, ideologically dogmatic and oriented toward the regime’s specific political and social goals. However, after Stalin’s death experimentation and diversity re-emerged in Soviet cinema. Although “socialist realism” remained the officially sanctioned style, directors were able to reintroduce personal themes and, more subtly, religious and philosophical issues. The 1980’s saw the re-emergence of a variety of approaches (from documentary to the grotesque) and open political and social criticism in the spirit of glasnost’ With the end of the Soviet Union, sexuality, gender, and ethnicity became important issues as well. The course will examine this rich history in terms of both themes and styles. Evaluation will be based on contributions to class discussion and three short (5-7 page) critical papers.

483 Fundamentals of Slavic Linguistics, Toman, TTh 1-2:30

A comprehensive overview of the field of linguistics as it relates to Slavic Languages. Starting from the question, What does it mean to know a Slavic language?, the course reviews the areas of phonology, morphology, syntax, pragmatics, semantics, applied linguistics, and sociolinguistics. The main goal is to develop students' skills in analyzing data, forming and testing hypotheses, and arguing for the correctness of solutions.

Polish Listing

325 Polish Literature in English, from its beginnings to 1890, Carpenter, MWF 11-12, Humanities.

The course surveys the development of Polish literature in terms of individual authors and major literary movements from the beginning until 1890. Individual critical analysis of texts required. A knowledge of Polish is NOT required. All readings in English translation An historical survey of Polish literature from its origin to 1900.

Russian Listings

347 19^th-Century Russian Fiction and Drama, Schönle, TTh, 1-2.30, Upper-level Writing Requirement, Humanities.

This course focuses on the masterpieces of Russian fiction written between 1820 and 1870, including such classics of world literature as Tolstoy's War and Peace and Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Evolving fast from Romanticism to High Realism, this period marks a blossoming of Russian culture, despite strained relations with political authorities. We will trace how writers treated the political, social, intellectual, and religious issues dividing their contemporaries, creating a unique kind of literature that claimed authority over society in settling these problems. Topics include romantic self-fashioning and posturing (including such risky aristocratic games as dueling and gambling), gender relations, the fate of the educated in society, violence and repentance, reform and stagnation, history and the private self, Russia and the West. No knowledge of Russian literature or history is presupposed. Participation in class discussion, two short papers, and a final.

449 Twentieth-century Russian Literature, Ronen, MWF 3-4

This historical survey of Russian literature from 1890 to 1921 covers the final achievements of realism and the response to modernism in the later works of Tolstoy and Chekhov, the art of symbolism, the post-symbolic currents in poetry and prose, and the major literary events of the first post-revolutionary decade both in the USSR and in exile. The required reading includes English translations of representative poems by Solov’ev, Briusov, Bal’mont, Merezhkovsky, Hippius, Sologub, Blok, Belyi, Viacheslav Ivanov, Annensky, Kuzmin, Khodasevich, Gumilev, Akhmatova, Mandel’stam, Khlebnikov, Maiakovsky, Pasternak, Tsvetaeva, Esenin, and Kliuev. Students select their own readings in prose and drama out of an extensive list of titles ranging from Solov’ev’s Three Conversations through Belyi’s Petersburg to Zamiatin’s We. Midterm and a final take-home examination.

462 Dostoevsky – Fedor Dostoevsky & St Petersburg, Makin, MWF 11-12

A detailed examination of the literary career and major fiction of Fedor Dostoevsky. His novels and short stories, including Poor Folk, The Double, Notes from the Underground, Crime and Punishment, and The Brothers Karamazov are read and analyzed. His contribution to literary and literary-political discussions of the time is assessed. This year, the course will pay special attention to Dostoevsky's St. Petersburg works, and his contribution to the image of the city. Two papers, three in-class examinations. Lectures, with discussion encouraged.

478 Vladimir Nabokov and World Literature I: The Russian Years, Ronen, MW 1-2.30

This course is a first part of a historical as well as theoretical introduction to Nabokov's intellectually challenging literary art as a unique phenomenon of Russo-American cultural synthesis. Readings during fall term include Russian short stories and novels (King-Queen-Knave, Glory, The Eye, Despair, The Gift, Invitation to a Beheading, and the unfinished Solus Rex), plays (The Grand-dad and The Waltz Invention), selected poetry, and Nabokov's first English novel The Real Life of Sebastian Knight. The students will be expected to read a wide selection of scholarly and critical works on Nabokov.

There will be a midterm paper (consisting of a critical report on selected items of secondary reading) and a final take-home exam: a selection of essay topics, and some specific questions and i.d.'s. Independent research papers of high quality (the best were last year published in “The Nabokovian”) instead of a final take-home are encouraged, as are lively contributions to class discussion.