Russian and Other Slavic
Languages and Literatures

The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures offers courses in the Russian, Czech, Slovak, and Polish languages and literatures, and in Slavic linguistics and other general Slavic subjects. The department also offers a program leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in Russian language and literature, and a program leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in West Slavic (Czech and Polish) languages and literatures.

Degree Program in Slavic Languages and Literatures: Concentration in Russian Language and Literature. This program is designed to teach students skills in written and spoken Russian, instruct them in Russian literature (and linguistics, as an option), and acquaint them with the main characteristics of Russian history and culture. The program is similar to the concentration in Russian civilization but has a more humanistic emphasis. It is intended for students preparing for graduate work, for those planning a career in government or industry in which knowledge of Russian is useful, and for those whose primary aim is to read the masterpieces of Russian literature in the original or to study Russian linguistics as part of a humanistic education. Within the program there are two concentration options, one with emphasis on literature and the other with emphasis on Russian linguistics.

Thirteen courses are required for the B.A. in Russian:

1. Second-, third-, and fourth-year Russian (or their equivalents). Under exceptional circumstances, students may petition the Departmental Adviser and coordinator of Russian language courses to be excused from the fourth-year Russian requirement.

2a. Students in Russian literature must take four courses in literature including any two of the three parts of Russian 255-256-257 (Introduction to Russian Literature). Russian 299 (B.A. Paper) cannot be counted toward this requirement except by written permission of the Departmental Adviser. Russian 297 (Independent Reading and Research) cannot be counted toward the concentration course requirement.

2b. Students in Russian linguistics must take General Slavic 201 (Introduction to Slavic Linguistics), Russian 230 or 231 (Structure of Russian I or II), and two additional courses to be chosen from the fields of Russian literature, Slavic linguistics, and general linguistics. The last two must be approved in writing by the Departmental Adviser.

It is recommended that students fulfill their civilization studies requirement in general education with a sequence in Russian civilization; they are advised to choose electives from such related fields as general linguistics, history, philosophy, political science, and literature. The department suggests that students planning to do graduate work in a Slavic-related field should take a year of French, German, or a second Slavic language. All students must write an acceptable B.A. paper under faculty supervision.

† Credit may be granted by examination.

Grading. Students in the Russian concentration must take letter grades in the thirteen required courses.

Degree Program in Slavic Languages and Literatures: Concentration in West Slavic (Czech and Polish) Languages and Literatures. Recent political changes in Central Europe have brought about a new wave of interest in the languages, literatures, and cultures of this region. The new program in West Slavic Studies aims to give students essential skills in written and spoken Czech or Polish, and a close acquaintance with Czech or Polish literature, culture, and history. The program is ideal for students preparing for graduate study, and for those interested in a career in government, diplomacy, or business in which knowledge of Czech or Polish is useful. In addition, students may combine a Czech or Polish concentration with another concentration as part of a general education in the humanities.

Students interested in the following degree program are required to consult with the Departmental Adviser.

Twelve courses are required for the B.A. in Czech or Polish:

1. Concentrators will be required to demonstrate proficiency in their major language (Czech or Polish) equivalent to three years of college study. The first two years normally will be acquired by taking the elementary and second-year language courses; the third year may be acquired by independent study (Czech or Polish 297) or study abroad (as approved by the departmental adviser). Students who meet the College language requirement by examination in Czech or Polish may begin their language study with the second year of Czech or Polish followed by independent study or study abroad (as approved by the departmental adviser) to complete the requirement for a third year of the language.

2. Two quarters of a survey or of other general courses in the literature of the major language. (2 courses)

3. Two further literature or culture courses in the specialization, to be approved by the Departmental Adviser. (2 courses)

4. Two courses in Slavic literature, culture, or linguistics in the Department; one of these must be a course in General Slavic (GnSlav). (2 courses)

Concentrators are expected to fulfill the course requirements above with regular courses offered by the Slavic Department. Reading courses (Czech or Polish 297) will not be counted towards the concentration except by special permission of the Departmental Adviser. Students planning to do graduate work in Slavic or a related field are strongly advised to use some of their electives for studying Russian, German, or French language; or for studying Russian literature.

All concentrators in their final year must write an acceptable B.A. paper under supervision of a faculty member in the Slavic Department. In doing so, they may register for the B.A. preparation course (Czech 299 or Polish 299) with approval of the supervisor; this course will confer credit but will not be counted towards the concentration.

Summary of Requirements
Concentration in West Slavic (Czech or Polish)
Languages and Literatures

Grading. Students in the West Slavic concentration must take letter grades in the twelve required courses.

Honors Program. To be eligible for the honors program, students must maintain a grade point average of 3.0 or better overall, and 3.5 or better in the concentration. Applications to the honors program should normally be submitted to the Departmental Adviser not later than the first quarter of the senior year. If accepted, the candidate writes an honors paper under the supervision of a member of the department. Honors students may use the honors paper as a bachelor's paper. If the completed bachelor's paper is judged by the supervisor and a second faculty member to be a distinguished example of original research or criticism, the student is recommended to the College for graduation with special honors.

Advising. Concentrators must obtain the Departmental Adviser's approval for their program of study before registration, and should consult periodically with her afterward. Students should consult the Departmental office (F 406, 702-8033) for further information on the undergraduate program. Questions about proficiency examinations and placement in Russian should be directed to Issa Zauber (coordinator of Russian language courses). Questions about proficiency examinations and placement in Czech, Polish, or other Slavic languages should be directed to Malynne Sternstein (Departmental Adviser).

Many 300-level courses are open to qualified College students (concentrators and nonconcentrators) with the consent of the instructor. A complete listing of courses offered by the department is given in the graduate Announcements and the quarterly Time Schedules. Please consult the Slavic Department for the latest information regarding course offerings.

201-202-203. Elementary Czech. This course is offered in alternate years. Offered 1999-2000; will not be offered 2000-2001. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

204-205-206. Intermediate Czech. PQ: Czech 203 or consent of instructor. The main emphasis is on giving students proficiency in reading Czech in their particular fields. Conversation practice is included. The program is flexible and may be adjusted according to the needs of the students. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

277/377. Kafka in Prague (=Czech 277/377, GS Hum 279/379). The goal of this course is a thorough treatment of Kafka's literary work in its Central European, more specifically Czech, context. In critical scholarship, Kafka and his work are often alienated from his Prague milieu. The course revisits the Prague of Kafka's time, with particular reference to Josefov (the Jewish ghetto), Das Prager Deutsch, and Czech/German/Jewish relations of the prewar and interwar years. We discuss most of Kafka's major prose works within this context and beyond (including The Castle, The Trial, and the stories published during his lifetime), as well as selected critical approaches to his work. M. Sternstein. Winter.

297. Independent Reading and Research. PQ: Consent of instructor and Departmental Adviser. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

299. B.A. Paper. PQ: Consent of instructor and Departmental Adviser. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Open to concentrators in Czech and other Slavic languages with fourth-year standing. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

249/349. Eastern European New Waves (=CMS 244/344, ComLit 220/320, EEuro 249/349, German 349). PQ: Knowledge of an Eastern European language or (film) culture helpful but not required. Throughout Eastern Europe, New Wave filmmaking emerged in the late 1950s as part of a larger political and cultural de-Stalinization process and in response to earlier modes of Communist film culture. This course follows the attempts of filmmakers to reform socialism (and the cinema as an institution), and their search for a form adequate to describe political life and historical experience in their full complexity. Screenings include films from Poland (Wajda, Zanussi, Skolimowski, Kieslowski); the Soviet Union (Kalatozov, Paradjanov, Kozintsev); the German Democratic Republic (Wolf, Beyer, Klein); Hungary (Jancsó, Makk, Kovács, Meszáros, Tarr); Czechoslovakia (Nemec, Forman, Chytilová, Jakubisko); and Yugoslavia (Makavejev). Films subtitled. K. Trumpener. Spring.

201/301. Introduction to Slavic Linguistics. A survey of principles of general synchronic and diachronic linguistics as applied to the Slavic languages. H. Aronson. Autumn.

210/310. Comparative Slavic I. PQ: GnSlav 201/301. The prehistory of the phonological system of Common Slavic and the break up of that language into the major early Slavic languages. B. Darden. Spring.

220/320. Old Church Slavonic (=GnSlav 220/320, LngLin 251/351). PQ: Knowledge of another Slavic language or a good knowledge of one or two other old Indo-European languages. Introduction to the language of the oldest Slavic texts. The course begins with a brief historical overview of the relationship of Old Church Slavonic to Common Slavic and the other Slavic languages. This is followed by a short outline of Old Church Slavonic inflectional morphology. The remainder of the course is spent in the reading and grammatical analysis of original texts in Cyrillic or Cyrillic transcription of the original Glagolitic. V. Friedman. Winter.

230/330. Language, Power, and Identity in Southeastern Europe (=Anthro 274/374, GnSlav 230/330, Hum 274, Ling 272/372). Language is a key issue in the articulation of ethnicity and the struggle for power in Southeastern Europe. This course familiarizes students with the linguistic histories and structures that have served as bases for the formation of modern Balkan ethnic identities that are being manipulated to shape current and future events. The course is informed by the instructor's twenty-five years of linguistic research in the Balkans, as well as his experience as an adviser for the United Nations Protection Forces in the Former Yugoslavia and as a consultant to the South Balkan Project of the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Crisis Group, and other organizations. V. Friedman. Winter.

272/372. Modern Central European Novel (=GnSlav 272/372, GS Hum 281/381). This course conducts a close study of the major novels of Central European origin from the twentieth century. We read and discuss Witold Gombrowicz's Trans-Atlantyk, Milan Kundera's Book of Laughter and Forgetting, Hermann Broch's Sleepwalkers, Franz Kafka's Amerika, Robert Musil's Young Törless, and recent works by Peter Esterhazy and Dubravka Ugresic, with emphasis on the aesthetic construction, ethical attitude, and cultural context of the novels cited. One of the course's main concerns is what constitutes the "national" and "regional" character of these novels and novelists and to what extent grouping these novels collectively under the rubric of "Central European" is feasible. M. Sternstein. Autumn.

286/386. Kitsch (=GnSlav 286/386, GS Hum 282/382). This course explores the concept of kitsch (and its attendants: camp, trash, and the Russian poshlost') as it has been formulated in literature and literary essays and theorized in modern critical thinking. The course is discussion intensive with readings from Theodor Adorno, Clement Greenberg, Robert Musil, Hermann Broch, Walter Benjamin, Vladimir Nabokov, Milan Kundera, Matei Calinescu, and Tomas Kulka. No prior experience of kitsch is necessary. M. Sternstein. Spring.

297. Independent Reading and Research. PQ: Consent of instructor and Departmental Adviser. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

299. B.A. Paper. PQ: Consent of instructor and Departmental Adviser. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Open to concentrators in Slavic languages with fourth-year standing. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

201-202-203. Elementary Polish I, II, III. Students are introduced to the grammatical and phonetic basis of the language and are taught to read appropriate texts. Attention is also given to pronunciation and conversation. J. K.-Mlynarczyk. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

204-205-206. Second-Year Polish I, II, III. PQ: Polish 203 or equivalent. Students write in Polish and read selected important texts of Polish literature. Attention is also given to problems of Polish syntax and to improving students' spoken Polish. Work is adjusted to each student's level of preparation. J. K.-Mlynarczyk. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

207-208-209. Third-Year Polish I, II, III. PQ: Polish 206 or equivalent, and consent of instructor. The course develops students' Polish vocabulary based on readings of Polish literary texts and journals. Various lexical and syntax exercises increase the flexibility of students' spoken Polish. Students write compositions on selected topics. The curriculum is also enriched by a variety of cultural experiences, such as meetings with guest speakers, watching Polish movies, listening to poetry recitations and songs, and taking a trip to a Polish bookstore. J. K.-Mlynarczyk. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

277/377. Interwar Polish Literature and Culture. This seminar explores Polish literature, mass culture, the press from literary journals to movie magazines, and radio and film from 1919 to 1939. We discuss experimental prose, drama, and poetry (Witkacy and Tuwim); the contributions of women (Kuncewiczowa, Nalkowska, and Dabrowska) and Jewish writers (Schulz) to the literary life of the period; and an epilogue in Argentine exile (Gombrowicz, Piñera, and Piglia). C. Larkosh. Autumn.

278/378. Polish Cultural Studies: Satellite Culture in Poland, 1970-1989. This seminar focuses on Polish literature, mass media, popular music, and film in the final decades of the Communist era, within the comparative context of cultural production from other satellite states (East Germany, Cuba, etc.). Main topics we explore include differences in cultural production in satellite states based on the particularities of national cultures; hybrid cultural activity resulting from official support for international cultural contacts (translation, cultural exchange, coproduction, and travel narrative); and the emergence of critical responses on the part of authors, artists, intellectuals, and those involved in popular protest movements to the directives of totalitarian cultural politics. C. Larkosh. Spring.

297. Independent Reading and Research. PQ: Consent of instructor and Departmental Adviser. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

299. B.A. Paper. PQ: Consent of instructor and Departmental Adviser. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Open to concentrators in Polish and other Slavic languages with fourth-year standing. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

101-102-103. First-Year Russian I, II, III. This course introduces basic grammar and practice in the elements of spoken and written modern Russian. All four aspects of language skill (reading, writing, listening comprehension, and speaking) are included. The course is designed to introduce students to using Russian both as a means of communication and as a tool for reading and research. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

104-105-106. Russian through Pushkin I, II, III. An experimental linguistic and literary approach to first-year Russian in which classic Russian poetic texts, such as Pushkin's The Bronze Horseman, are used to teach first-year grammar. Oral and reading skills are equally emphasized. Activization drills meet twice a week. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

201-202-203. Second-Year Russian I, II, III. PQ: Russ 103 or 106, or consent of instructor. This course continues Russ 101-102-103; it includes review and amplification of grammar, practice in reading, elementary composition, and speaking and comprehension. Systematic study of word formation and other strategies are taught to help free students from excessive dependence on the dictionary and develop confidence in reading rather than translating. Readings are selected to help provide historical and cultural background. Conversational practice in small groups with a native speaker is held during two of the five class hours a week. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

204-205-206. Third-Year Russian I, II, III. PQ: Russ 212 or 203, or equivalent. This course has three major objectives: (1) a thorough study of Russian syntax; (2) vocabulary building based on a study of Russian roots, prefixes, and suffixes; and (3) improvement of reading and communication skills. Classes conducted in Russian. Conversational practice with a native speaker is held two hours a week. I. Zauber. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

207-208-209. Fourth-Year Russian I, II, III. PQ: Russ 206 or equivalent. This course treats difficult grammar problems, as well as questions of syntax and stylistics. It includes extensive readings representative of different periods of Russian literature and various literary styles. These texts are discussed in class and analyzed by the students in written compositions. Vocabulary building and oral expression are also emphasized. Classes conducted in Russian. Conversation practice is held twice a week. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

210-211-212. Russian through Literary Readings: Second Year I, II, III. PQ: Russ 103 or 106. A continuation of Russian through Pushkin. Second-year grammar, and oral and reading skills are strengthened through intensive reading of important poetic and prose texts from the Russian classics. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

301-302-303. Advanced Russian I, II, III. PQ: Russ 209 and consent of instructor. I. Zauber. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

221/321. History of Russian II: Morphology. PQ: GnSlav 201/301 and 220/320. B. Darden. Spring.

231/331. Structure of Russian II: Morphology. PQ: GnSlav 201 or equivalent, and at least three years of Russian or equivalent. A structuralist linguistic analysis of the grammatical categories of the Russian verbal and nominal systems. H. Aronson. Winter.

240/340. Vladimir Nabokov (=GS Hum 293/393, Russ 240/340). This course examines selected novels of Vladimir Nabokov with particular concentration on the novels of the 1950s. The novels we examine range from those written originally in Russian, such as The Gift (Dar') and Invitation to a Beheading (Priglashenie na kazn'), to the later "American" novels (Lolita, Pale Fire, Pnin, and Look at the Harlequins!). We discuss these works in the context of the author's thematic concerns, modern narrative theory, and recent critical positions on Nabokov. We may also draw on Nabokov's literary criticism to contribute to and underpin our analysis. Knowledge of Russian not required. Texts in English and the original. M. Sternstein. Spring.

243. The Brothers Karamazov (=Fndmtl 270, Hum 233, Russ 243). PQ: Knowledge of Russian not required. Close reading and discussion of the primary text: Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov in English translation (Norton Critical Edition). Students are asked to prepare one background reading in advance: Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground. Emphasis is on moral, intellectual, and religious issues and, to a lesser extent, on novelistic technique. Discussion, oral reports, papers. Text in English. N. Ingham. Winter.

244. Russian Culture. This course takes a detailed look at aspects of twentieth-century Russian culture from the fin de siecle to the end of the millenium. Specific focus is on nonliterary aspects of culture not normally covered in other courses: visual arts, dance, theater, architecture, music, film, and contemporary manifestations of culture. Use of the Internet is encouraged. Texts in English. Weekly screenings required. Staff. Spring.

246. Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita (=Fndmtl 241, Russ 246). Russian writer Mikhail Bulgakov's Modernist masterpiece, written at the height of the Stalinist terror in the 1930s, is much more than a satire or exposé of the absurdity and brutality of that era. It is also a dramatic love story, a comic fantasy, and a highly idiosyncratic work of theology. In interprojecting Jerusalem at the time of Jesus' death and Stalin's Moscow, the novel probes questions of truth, morality, and responsibility on every conceivable level: from the most mundane actions in our everyday lives to politics, metaphysics, the roles of Jesus and Satan in the cosmos (even the ethics of writing novels themselves). The Master and Margarita presents itself as a latter-day Gospel, even as it mocks its own pretensions. D. Powelstock. Autumn.

247/347. Love in Russian Literature, 1790 to 1930 (=GendSt 247, Russ 247/347). Anyone who has read a Russian novel recognizes the particular fervency Russian writers bring to the topic of love, not only as a source of emotional drama and plot construction, but as a theoretical and theological problem of apocalyptic proportions. Russian narratives tend not only to revolve around Romantic love, but to question it, critique it, and reenvision it in religious and/or revolutionary Utopian terms. This course examine a number of the very best literary and philosophical texts from modern Russia that grapple with topics of love (and death), agape and eros, and their problematic intersection with the boundary between personal and public concerns. Texts in English. D. Powelstock. Winter.

256/356. Introduction to Russian Literature II: 1850 to 1900 (=Hum 240, Russ 256/356). This is a survey covering the second half of the nineteenth century. Major figures studied are Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Leskov, Saltykov-Shchedrin, and Chekhov. Representative works are read for their literary value and against their historical, cultural, and intellectual background. Texts in English. Class discussion is encouraged. N. Ingham. Winter.

257/357. Introduction to Russian Literature III: Twentieth-Century Russian Literature. Course topics include Symbolism, the avant-garde of the 1920s, socialist realism, contemporary trends, and émigré literature. We read works by Sologub, Bely, Mayakovsky, Pasternak, Akhmatova, Mandelstam, Solzhenitsyn, Nabokov, and others. Texts in English and the original. D. Powelstock. Spring.

277/377. Chekhov. Close readings and discussion of selected stories and plays. One paper. M. Ehre. Autumn.

280/380. Styles of Performance and Expression from Stage to Screen (=ArtH 293/392, CMS 282/382, COVA 259, ComLit 227/327, Russ 280/380). PQ: Any 100-level ArtH or COVA course, or consent of instructor. This course focuses on the history of acting styles in silent film (1895 to 1930), mapping "national" styles of acting that emerged during the 1910s (American, Danish, Italian, and Russian) and various "acting schools" that proliferated during the 1920s (Expressionist acting and Kuleshov's Workshop). We discuss film acting in the context of various systems of stage acting (Delsarte, Stanislavsky, and Meyerhold) and the visual arts. Y. Tsivian. Spring.

295/395. Introduction to Russian Folklore. PQ: Russ 208 or consent of instructor. An introduction to oral folk literature of the Russians against the background of traditional folk culture and popular belief. Among the genres studied are folktale, epic song, lyric song, lament, incantation, and riddle. Discussion is encouraged. Texts in Russian. N. Ingham. Spring.

297. Independent Reading and Research. PQ: Consent of instructor and Departmental Adviser. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

298/398. Russian Poetry from Pushkin to Blok. PQ: Three years of Russian or equivalent. An introduction to Russian poetry of the nineteenth century. Close readings and discussion of selected poems by Pushkin, Lermontov, Tiutchev, Fet, Nekrasov, and Blok. M. Ehre. Spring.

299. B.A. Paper. PQ: Consent of instructor and Departmental Adviser. Students are required to submit the College Reading and Research Course Form. Open to concentrators in Russian and other Slavic languages with fourth-year standing. Staff. Autumn, Winter, Spring.

217/317. Intensive Structure of Macedonian (=LngLing 243/343, SoSlav 217/317). An introduction to the standard language of the Republic of Macedonia. Macedonian is often described as the most Balkan of the Balkan languages. The course begins with a brief introduction to Macedonian linguistic history followed by an outline of Macedonian grammar and readings of authentic texts. There is also discussion of questions of grammar, standardization, and Macedonian language in society. Issues of Balkan and Slavic linguistics are also touched upon. Knowlege of another Slavic langauge recommended but not required. V. Friedman. Spring.