BCS 436: Modern BCS Lit

Czech 484: Modern Czech Lit

Russian 435: Cultural History of Russian Jews

Russian 479: Nabokov&Lit II

Russian 499: Advanced Seminar Russian

Russian 576: Structure of Russian

Russian 616: Russian Service Learning Action Network

Russian 461/854: Early 19th Century: Pushkin

Russian 463/855: Chekhov

Slavic 470: The Avant-Gardes

Slavic 490.001: Rock Kills Communism

BCS 436: Modern BCS Lit • T, Th 11:30 – 1 p.m. – Professor Tatjana Aleksic
"Exile is the truth," claims the narrator of David Albahari's novel Bait in his struggle to repress his native language, and all the memory and suffering linked to it, and create for himself a new life in the New World.

Resonating with the title of the Sarajevo-born writer Aleksandar Hemon’s award-winning novel Nowhere Man, this course will be an exploration of the subject of homelessness, ideology, memory, and identity in the context of the latest political crisis in what used to be Yugoslavia. Our readings will span a period starting with the 1970s, the period of political liberalization which, however, saw the emerging of a new political crisis that eventually led to the latest wars. We begin with fictional and non-fictional prose by writers whose exile was brought about by the rejection of communist totalitarianism or pro-nationalist ideologies in the 1970s (Borislav Peki; and Danilo Kiš, respectively), followed by contemporary writers who exiled themselves from nationalist ideologies that paralyzed the societies of Bosnia, Croatia, and Serbia in the 1990s (Dubravka Ugrešic, Aleksandar Hemon, David Albahari, Miljenko Jergovi;). From their adopted lands these writers keep harking back to the situation at ‘home’ both for inspiration but also with sharp criticism, forever deploring their homelessness. What kind of the ‘truth’ is exile, then? And how does the ‘truth’ of the exile measure up to that of the one who never left?

For a truly interdisciplinary approach, these primary readings will be underlined by theoretical works of some of the world’s leading philosophers and political scientists whose validity and applicability to the (post-)Yugoslav situation will be tested in our class discussions (Fredric Jameson, Slavoj Žižek, Homi Bhabha, Michael Foucault, Louis Althusser, Jürgen Habermas, Paul Ricoeur). While the fictional readings on our list record narrative responses to questions of individual remembering, resistance, and identity politics, the theory offers an insight into the substitution of communist totalitarianism with deadly nationalism in, what some of our writers perceive as, a logical transformation of one deadly ideology into the other.

Czech 484: Modern Czech Lit • M, W 2:30 – 4 p.m. – Professor Jindrich Toman
The twentieth century has been a period of turmoil, rupture, and change in Central Europe. Czech culture often tended to respond with humor, subterfuge, and absurd wit. In this course, we will read literary works and study other areas of culture to see how individual authors reacted to the changing forces of history. The initial segment deals with the late days of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (including the Czech-German-Jewish culture of Prague before 1914) and the impact of World War One (including the work of Jaroslav Hasek). The next segment focuses on the First Republic (1918-1938), both as a literary phenomenon and a period during which a modern lifestyle, comparable to that of the German Weimar period, emerged. Works by Karel Èapek and Milena Jesenská are among those discussed. The World War Two period, the so-called Protectorate (1939-1945), is represented by Holocaust authors, including Jiøí Weil. Finally, the post-1945 era will be surveyed, with foci on liberalization in the 1960s and the underground literature of the dissidents after 1968. Authors of this segment include Havel, Hrabal, and Kundera.

Throughout, the course will emphasize the overall cultural fabric of the period. There is substantial treatment of visual arts (Czech Cubism, Poetism, and Surrealism), film, as well as the interface of political power and literature.

Russian 435: Cultural History of Russian Jews • T, Th 10 – 11:30 a.m. – Professor Mikhail Krutikov
Thematically, the course deals with the two centuries of Jewish cultural creativity in the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation. Interdisciplinary in approach, the course combines historical analysis with close reading of works of literature, art, and cinema. The first part of the course familiarizes students with the different concepts of Jewish history in the Russian Empire from the Partitions of Poland in the late 18th century to the October Revolution of 1917, with the emphasis on cultural transformation and modernization. The second and the third parts deal with the emergence and growth of two main centers of Russian-Jewish cultural production in Odessa and St. Petersburg respectively, and with their representation in literature and arts. The fourth part is dedicated to the Soviet and post-Soviet period, focusing on the issues of assimilation and anti-Semitism, forms of cultural resistance to the totalitarian regime, and the revival of Jewish life in post-Soviet Russia.

Russian 479: Nabokov&Lit II • T, Th 4 – 5:30 p.m. – Professor Omry Ronen
The course is the second part of the survey of Nabokov's life work. It will be devoted entirely to the American period of Nabokov's writing and cover his novels Bend Sinister, Lolita, Pnin, Pale Fire, Ada, Transparent Things, and Look at the Harlequins, as well as most of his English-language short stories and poems. Special attention will be paid to his activities as a translator, literary scholar, and educator. Students will be expected to read a wide selection of scholarly and critical works on Nabokov. Undergraduates concentrators in any field, including natural sciences, especially biology; graduate students of Slavic, English, Romance, German, and comparative literature, linguistics, and visual arts.

Russian 499: Advanced Seminar Russian • M, W 11:30 – 1 p.m. – Professor Michael Makin
In Russia the “provinces” begin at the edges of Moscow and St Petersburg – everything beyond the two “capitals” is “provincial” in the world’s largest country. Thus the vast majority of Russians live in the “provinces”, although the country’s culture (as its economy and politics) is dominated by the two capitals. The geographical extent of Russia, the inaccessibility of even major centers of population, a very centralized institutional structure, obvious economic imbalances, and many other factors go into sustaining the sense that “provincial” Russia is remote, backward, and homogeneous. At the same time, opposite claims are often heard: that here is the “real” Russia, uncontaminated by non-native influences, unchanged by time, pure, and beautiful – a model from which the capitals have deviated to their own detriment.

This course will examine a series of images of the “provincial” in nineteenth, twentieth-, and twenty-first century Russian culture, using assignments not only from fiction, poetry, and travel narratives, but also from beyond the realm of belles lettres (for example, the course will also look at cinema and the pictorial arts, and will make extensive use of the Internet). The course will also require students to address such practical issues as travel, communications, and administration within and across provincial Russia.

In a series of course modules we will explore how the Russian provinces have been imagined, presented, and distorted by those who inhabit them, by those who mythologize them, by those who dread them, and by those who love them.

Russian 576: Structure of Russian • T, Th 10 – 11:30 a.m. –Natalia Kondrashova
The goal of this course is two-fold: first, offer an introduction to Slavic linguistics, and, second, provide an overview of the grammar of the Russian language. We will try to understand the Russian language as a linguistic system with multiple levels of organization, including phonetics, phonology, morphology, and syntax. We will also compare various aspects of the Russian grammar with those in other Slavic languages and make generalizations about their common linguistic features.

Russian 616: Russian Service Learning Action Network • T, Th 2:30 – 4 p.m. – Alina Makin
The Russophone community in the Ann Arbor area has grown exponentially over the last 20 years as many Russian-speakers from the former Soviet Union have moved here. Moreover, Russian-speaking children are adopted in large numbers by American families, and our area is no exception -- 25% of all adoptions from abroad are from Russia. The RUSLAN project will focus on providing language, living and socio-cultural shift assistance to the Russophone community through translation and interpreting, language exchange partnerships, bilingual and biliteracy tutoring for children, help with household chores and companionship, exercise and walking program for seniors, computer literacy tutorials, patient advocacy and other activities. We will also provide Russian cultural education and lessons to American children in the local schools within the global studies and world history curriculum.

This course is oriented towards all learners of Russian language, history and culture who want to apply and improve their newly acquired language skills and area-studies knowledge by directly and personally engaging with the local Russophone community, and with Anglophones interested in Russia. All levels of Russian proficiency are accommodated, while some activities require no knowledge of Russian. Based on their academic and language backgrounds, students will be invited to select a regular service activity (e.g., tutoring, companionship, translation) and/or sign up for one or more occasional ones (e.g., the quarterly county job distribution program, senior trips to concerts, etc.). Students will be engaged in service 2-3 hrs per week and will meet twice a week in class to receive training, discuss assigned articles, debrief on their specific service situations and debate on the issues dealing with their service experiences, as well as share their insights, self- and peer-evaluate within their own focus group. A weekly structured academic/civic reflection journal and a final report will summarize and analyze the different experiences/challenges and will allow the students to analyze different problems and solutions that they encountered, as well as make well-supported recommendation to our community partners towards improving the results of community work.

Russian 461/854: Early 19th Century: Pushkin • T, Th 1 – 2:30 p.m. – Professor Omry Ronen
This lecture course provides an overview of the greatest Russian writer’s poetry, drama, and prose as a structural unity. Among the texts to be read: selected lyric poems; two long narrative poems (“The Gypsies”; “The Bronze Horseman”); a fairy tale in verse (“The Golden Cockerel”); the novel in verse Eugene Onegin; the historical drama Boris Godunov; the “little tragedies” (“The Covetous Knight”; “Mozart and Salieri”; “The Stone Guest”; “The Feast During the Plague”): prose works of fiction and nonfiction (The Captain’s Daughter; “The Queen of Spades”; A Journey to Arzrum).

Russian 463/855: Chekhov • M, W 2:30 – 4 p.m. – Professor Michael Makin
A detailed examination of the literary career of Anton Chekhov: his prose and drama are analyzed and assessed in the context of the literary, social, and political currents of his time, and as masterpieces of Russian literature. An informal lecture course, with contributions and discussion from students encouraged. This course should appeal to anyone interested in short story or in modern drama. It is taught in English, and all readings may be done in English.

Slavic 470: The Avant-Gardes • M, W 4 – 5:30 p.m. – Professor Jindrich Toman
This course surveys the historical avant-gardes of the early twentieth century. Eastern and Central Europe will be a focus, both in and of themselves and in a comparison with the West. Futurism, Dadaism, Constructivism, Poetism and Surrealism will be discussed in detail. Special issues will include the role of language, mass media and technology in the avant-garde. Among other themes are the women artists of the avant-garde, manifesto as a genre, New Typography, and the the avant-garde conception of the book. Avant-garde and interwar politics will be a constant theme.

Slavic 490.001: Rock Kills Communism • M (3/8 – 4/12) 4-6 p.m. – Piotr Westwalewicz
Rock music was the primary factor in the process of defeating totalitarianism in Poland — argued Franciszek Walicki, one of the prominent veterans of Polish pop music, during a conference on rock and politics in Gda in 2000.

Did Polish popular culture destroy the very foundations of Communism? Or did the decline of Communism allow the increasingly critical voices of prominent cabaret artists, pop musicians and cartoonists to express the sentiments of the population?

A study of Polish popular culture in the 1970's and 1980's, the last two decades of the Communist rule in Poland and other Central and Eastern European countries. Humor, music, political and social commentary by such icons of Polish counterculture as Mynarski, Grzeskowiak, Chya, Mleczko, Olewicz, Hodys, Mogielnicki, Ciechowski, and others. A detailed analysis of texts, drawings, performances and films documenting the gradual collapse of the Communist control of all aspects of life.

Return to Top

LSA Course Guide - Graduate Students
A complete course list can be found at the LSA course guide search page. Please note: you must search Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian, Czech, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian for language courses.
Be sure to select Advanced Search; then check the Graduate option at Step 2; and appropriate selections in Step 3.