Courses
2007 - 2008
Courses
Not Offered This Academic Year
151
What It Feels Like for a (Russian) Girl
(Writing-intensive course; first-year seminar) To pose the question
a bit differently than in Madonna's song, what challenges face contemporary
Russian women - young, old, urban, provincial - and how do these
women cope with the stresses of everyday personal and professional
life? In an attempt to arrive to an answer, we will listen to female
Russian pop singers and read Susan Downing's interviews with them,
read interviews with Russian women, short women's fiction, Russian
feminist essays and watch two films, Little Vera (1988) and Adam's
Rib (1992). Writers include Baranskaya, Voznesenskaya, Kozhevnikova,
Katerli, Mamonova, Tolstaya, and Sadur. Pop singers include Alsou,
Chicherina, Tatu, Zemfira, Gliukoza, Propaganda, Iulia Savicheva,
Katya Lel' and The Shining Ones.
Meets Humanities I-A requirement; 2 meetings (75 minutes); 4
credits; enrollment limited to 15
S. Downing
205
Russia under the Tsars
(Taught in English; same as History 205) Russian came into being
and achieved maturity under a monarchial rule. The age of the Romanovs,
1613-1917, has been particularly important in shaping Russia's social
fabric, culture, national myth, and mindset. We will concentrate
on a number of outstanding reigns, from Peter the Great, who created
the Russian Empire, to Nicholas II, under whom the old regime collapsed.
What signal events and extraordinary individuals contributed to
the spectacular successes and horrific blunders that make Russian
history? How did Russian society and culture evolve during the age
of the Romanovs?
Meets Humanities I-B requirement; 2 meetings (75 minutes); 4
credits
C. Pleshakov
206 Women, Life and Politics in Modern Russia (1860-2000)
(Speaking intensive course) The case of Russia offers a compelling
example of history's failure to account for women's contributions
in shaping a nation's political, social and cultural identity. We
will study Russia's past from the perspective of the women whose
courage and sacrifice helped to change the course of history. Topics
include the "lady" terrorist revolutionaries of the 1870s,
the aborted liberation of women in the new Soviet state, the fighter
pilots of World War II, and post-Soviet cultural icons. Texts include
fiction, memoirs, film and contemporary documents. Emphasis on strategies
of oral presenation.
Meets Social Science III-A requirement; 2 meetings (75 minutes);
4 credits
E. Cruise
207
Small Gems of Russian Literature
(Taught in English;writing-intensive) Not all great works of Russian
literature can double as paperweights. In this course, we'll study
the gems of short Russian fiction. Nineteenth century readings will
include Pushkin's Bronze Horseman, Gogol's Overcoat
and Chekov's play Three Sisters. From the twentieth century
we'll read Mayakovsky's play The Bedbug, Olesha's Envy
and short stories by repressed Soviet-era writer Xarms. Assignments
will include response writings, formal essays and in-class writing.
Does not meet a distribution requirement; 2 meetings (75 minutes);
2 credits; enrollment limited to 15; this course meets for the first
half of the semester only
S. Downing
208 From Page to Screen: Russian Literature on Film
(Taught in English) Russian film has earned a central place in the
history of cinema. In this course, we will study the connections
between important Russian films and the literary works of art that
have inspired them. We will focus on the choices directors have
made in translating original texts to the screen. Films include
Gogol's Overcoat (Dir. Batalov), Tolstoy's Kreutzer Sonata
(Schwetzer), Pushkin's Queen of Spades (Protazanov),
and Xarms's The Old Woman.
Does not meet a distribution requirement; 2 meetings (75 minutes);
2 credits; this course meets for the first half of the semester
only
S. Downing
208s Pushkin Worksheet
215 Transgression and Transcendence: An Introduction to the Work
of Fyodor Dostoevsky
(Taught in English) Perhaps no other writer has delved as deeply
into the social, political, and psychological dimensions of transgressive
behavior as the great Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky. This course
will explore the dynamics of transgression and transcendence in
a sampling of Dostoevsky's work, including Poor Folk, Notes
from the Underground, and The Brothers Karamazov.
Meets Humanities I-A requirement; 2 meetings (75 minutes); 4
credits; enrollment limited to 20
P. Scotto
220 Dostoevsky and France: The Influence of Anxiety
(Same as French 220, taught in translation) Dostoevsky as a
transformative moment in European literature. French literature
exerted a profound influence on Dostoevsky and was in turn inspired
by him in the twentieth century. We will read Dostoevsky, his French
sources, and his French followers. Themes examined will include:
the human propensity for violence, cruelty, and rebellion; the possibility
or impossibility of redemption; the renewal of French realism by
Dostoevsky and the reappropriation of Dostoevsky by the French existentialists,
and Dostoevsky' contribution to the French roman policier.
Readins may include Voltaire, Balzac, George Sand, and the Marquis
de Sade; Dostoevsky's Notes From the Underground, The
Idiot, and The Gambler, and works by Camus, Gide, and
Simenon. Students may receive 300-level credit for extra reading
and written work in French or Russian.
Meets Humanities I-A requirement; 4 credits; enrollment limited
to 20
P. Scotto
235
Evenings on a Funny Farm Near Dikanka: The Creation of Nikolai
Gogol
(Taught in English) "Gogol was a strange creature, but
genius is always strange" - Vladimir Nabokov. Nikolai Gogol
is one of Russian's greatest and most enigmatic writers. Revered
by Dostoevsky, he created an idiosyncratic literary universe that
has lost none of its original power with the passage of time. This
course will trace the development of Gogol's genius from his early
Ukrainian stories, through his tales of Saint Petersburg, to his
comic masterpiece, Dead Souls. Special attention to Gogol's
deployment of the comic, the fantastic, and the grotesque to confront
the reality of tsarist Russia.
Meets Humanities I-A requirement; 4 credits; enrollment limited
to 15
P. Scotto
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240
Russia: From Communism to Capitalism
(Taught in English; same as Politics 209) Russia was transformed
by communist revolution into a global superpower which challenged
the dominant ideologies of liberalism and nationalism. It became
a powerful alternative to capitalism. In 1991, this imperial state
collapsed and underwent an economic, political, and cultural revolution.
What explains the Soviet Union's success for seventy years and its
demise in 1991? What sort of country is Russia as it enters the
twenty-first century? Is it a democracy? How has Russia's transformation
affected ordinary people and Russia's relationship to the West?
Meets Social Sciences III-A requirement; 2 meetings (75 minutes);
4 credits ; enrollment limited to 25
S. Jones
243
Terrorism: Russia and Its Cradle
(Taught in English; same as Politics 243s) Russia was the first
nation in the world to face political terrorism. In Russian, the
era of terrorism lasted from the 1860s, when the People's Will group
launched the hunt on the tsar Alexander II, until 1918, when the
Socialist Revolutionary Part attempted to assassinate Lenin. A case
study of terrorism in Russia will help us to answer a number of
questions highly relevant today. What are the causes of terrorism?
What are its goals and methods? What can governments do to cope
with it? What is the impact on society?
Meets Social Sciences III-A requirement; 2 meetings (75 minutes);
4 credits
C. Pleshakov
244
Red Star over Russia: The Totalitarian Regime of Lenin and Stalin,
1917-1953
(Taught in English; same as History 260s) The Bolshevik Revolution
of 1917 marked the coming of totalitarianism to Russia. Led first
by Lenin and then by Stalin, the country went through the most brutal
civil wars, purges, World War II, and the first stages of cold war.
This period also saw immense social change and sweeping economic
transformation. What were the causes of totalitarianism in Russia?
How did the regime function? What were the major landmarks of Russian
history in the period 1917-1953?
Meets Humanities I-B requirement; 2 meetings (75 minutes); 4
credits
C. Pleshakov
315 Utopia and Anti-Utopia
(Taught in English) The twentieth century has been largely shaped
by several nations' ambitions to build utopian societies. Russia
and China have attempted to realize the vast promises of communism
while Nazi Germany aimed to construct a perfect racist world. Beyond
political struggle, wars, and revolutions, recent extraordinary
achievements in technology have contributed to the utopian mindset.
Are political utopias dead in the new millennium? How do cyberspace
and the global village contribute to utopian thinking? What will
be the role of utopia in the twenty-first century?
Meets Social Sciences III-A requirement; Prereq. 8 credits in
politics, international relations, or Russian and Eurasian Studies;
1 meeting (3 hours); 4 credits ; enrollment limited to 15
C. Pleshakov
330
Nationalism
(Taught in English; same as Politics 308) Nationalism is one
of the greatest challenges to multiethnic states. They have had
to create new strategies to deal with the demands of national minorities.
Taking the four states of Spain, Canada, Russian, and the former
Yugoslavia as examples, we will focus on nationalist movements within
these states and the central governments' responses. What has been
the effect of the Communist legacy? Are there alternatives to federalism
as a way of managing national claims? What socioeconomic policies
have governments used to control ethnic tensions? What role can
international organizations play in finding solutions to ethnic
conflict?
Meets Social Sciences III-A requirement; Prereq. 8 credits in
politics, international relations, or Russian and Eurasian studies;
1 meetings (3 hours); 4 credits; enrollment limited to 15
S. Jones
331
Impacts of War
(Taught in English; same as International Relations 331f) Russian
history traditionally has been war plagued. Sometimes the object
of aggression, sometimes itself the aggressor, Russia has been party
to all the major military conflicts of the last two centuries -
Napoleonic Wars, Crimean War, World War I, and World War II. Russia's
army has also fought in several regional wars, notably in Afghanistan
in 1979-1989 and currently in Chechnya. We will study the impacts
of war on society. What generates support for a government's decision
to go to war? When does war make a nation stronger, when weaker?
How does the notion of "acceptable losses" change over
time? How do "victory" and "defeat" affect a
nation?
Meets Humanities III-A requirement; 1 meetings (2 hours, 50 minutes);
4 credits; enrollment limited to 15
C. Pleshakov
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