Course Descriptions

Russian Language and Literature

RUSS 501 - (3) (Y)
Readings in Russian Social Sciences
Prerequisites: RUSS 302 and permission of instructor
Based on careful analysis of the social science texts in Patrick's Advanced Russian Reader, students will be introduced to advanced topics in Russian morphology and syntax. Successful completion of the course will enable students to read nineteenth and twentieth century Russian non-fiction with minimal difficulty.

RUSS 502 - (3) (IR)
Advanced Proficiency Russian
Prerequisites: RUSS 402 and permission of instructor
Development of advanced level proficiency in the four skills: reading, writing, speaking and listening. May be repeated for credit.

RUSS 503 - (3) (Y)
Advanced Russian
Prerequisites: RUSS 301, 302, and permission of instructor; RUSS 401, 402 strongly recommended
Graduate-level grammar and translation.

RUSS 505 - (1) (S)
Advanced Conversation
Prerequisites: RUSS 302 and permission of instructor
Two hours of conversation practice per week. May be repeated more than once for credit.

RUSS 507, 508 - (3) (IR)
Problems and Methods of Teaching Russian
Prerequisites: RUSS 302 and permission of instructor
Recommended for all students who intend to teach, either at the secondary school or college level.

RUSS 509 - (3) (IR)
Russian for Reading Knowledge
A rapid, comprehensive introduction to the grammar of modern Russian necessary for reading texts in the original. Especially recommended for graduate students who need Russian for scholarly purposes.

RUSS 521 - (3) (IR)
The Structure of Modern Russian: Phonology and Morphology
Prerequisites: RUSS 202, LNGS 325, and permission of instructor
A study of linguistic approaches to the phonology and morphology of standard Russian.

RUSS 522 - (3) (IR)
Structure of Modern Russian: Syntax and Semantics
Prerequisites: RUSS 202 and permission of instructor; LNGS 325 strongly recommended
Study of linguistic approaches to the syntax and semantics of contemporary standard Russian.

RUSS 523 - (3) (IR)
History of Russian Literary Language
Prerequisites: RUSS 202 and permission of instructor
History of literary (standard) Russian from its formation to the present day. Includes problems of vocabulary, syntax and stylistics.

RUSS 524 - (3) (IR)
History of the Russian Language
Prerequisites: RUSS 202, LNGS 325
Diachronic linguistic analysis of the Russian language.

RUSS 550 - (3) (IR)
Russian Satire
Study of the theory and praxis of Russian literary satire. Several examples of Russian satire from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries are examined; the main focus is on twentieth-century works. Students become familiar with the forms and functions of satire in Russian, Soviet, and emigre literary culture.

RUSS 551 - (3) (SI)
Russian Drama and Theatre
Study of works from Fonvizin to Shvarts with emphasis on the major plays of Gogol, Chekhov, and Gorky. Includes production theories of Stanislavsky, Meyerhold, and other important Russian directors.

RUSS 552 - (3) (O)
The Rise of the Russian Novel, 1795-1850
Study of the development of the Russian novel in the first half of the nineteenth century. Focuses on the major contributions of Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Dostoevskii, and Turgenev, and examines the social and literary forces which contributed to the evolution of the Russian novel, including the rise of a literary marketplace, influences from West European literature, etc.

RUSS 553 - (3) (E)
The Golden Age of Russian Poetry
Study of works by Zhukovsky, Pushkin, Baratynsky, Batyushkov, Lermontov and others.

RUSS 554 - (3) (E)
Age of Realism, 1851-1881
Study of the works of Russia's most celebrated writers during the middle of the nineteenth century. Explores the many forms which the concept of "realism" assumed in Russia at this time, and investigates how Russian writers responded to the calls of their contemporary critics to use literature to promote socially progressive ends.

RUSS 555 - (3) (E)
The Silver Age of Russian Poetry
Study of the poetry of Blok, Akhmatova, Mandelshtam, Pasternak, Tsvetaeva, Mayakovsky and others.

RUSS 556 - (3) (E)
Russian Modernism
Examination of selected works by the leading writers of the early part of the twentieth century. Explores the concepts of symbolism, acmeism, and futurism, and focuses on the competing conceptions of literature that evolved in the1920s until the establishment of the hegemony of Socialist Realism in the 1930s. Works written by Russian writers living in emigration are considered.

RUSS 557 - (3) (IR)
Russian Formalism and Structuralist Poetics
A study of the theory and practice of literary critics. Focuses on the Russian Formalists and the relationship of their theories to those of later critics in America (New Criticism) and the current European Structuralists.

RUSS 558 - (3) (O)
Contemporary Russian Literature
Study of the evolution of Russian literature from the "Thaw" period until the present. Examines how Russia's writers tried to accommodate, evade, or challenge the prevailing norms of Soviet literature during the 1960s. Analyzes the forces shaping the development of contemporary Russian literature.

RUSS 565 - (3) (SI)
Stylistics
Prerequisites: RUSS 302 and permission of instructor
Study of the styles of modern Russian prose--literary, journalistic, scientific, etc. Stylistic nuances in contemporary speech.

RUSS 573 - (3) (SI)
Dostoevsky
Reading of major long and short works with attention to important criticism.

RUSS 574 - (3) (O)
Tolstoy
Reading of major long and short works with attention to important criticism.

RUSS 575 - (3) (IR)
Russian Poetry
Study of Russian poetics and selected poets from Pushkin to the present.

RUSS 585, 586 - (3) (SI)
Selected Topics in Comparative Literature
May be repeated more than once for credit.

RUSS 591 - (3) (Y)
Selected Topics in Russian Literature
May be repeated more than once for credit.

RUSS 701 - (3) (E)
Proseminar in Russian Literature
Required of all candidates for the M.A. degree.

RUSS 702 - (3) (SI)
The Theory and Practice of Criticism
Study of the major critical theories and their applicability in the Russian context.

RUSS 729 - (3) (SI)
Old Russian Literature
A close reading of texts from the Kievan period to the reign of Peter the Great.

RUSS 730 - (3) (SI)
Russian Literature of the Eighteenth Century
Study of the development of literature in the post-Petrine period. Emphasizes the works of Lomonosov, Derzhavin, and Karamzin; and the interaction between Russian cultural life and that of Western Europe.

RUSS 731 - (3) (SI)
Pushkin
Close reading and analysis of major works. Emphasizes the narrative poems and lyrics.

RUSS 732 - (3) (IR)
Gogol
Close reading and analysis of the major works.

RUSS 735 - (3) (IR)
Turgenev
Study of the major works.

RUSS 736 - (3) (SI)
Tolstoy
Study of the major works.

RUSS 738 - (3) (SI)
Chekhov
Study of major works. Analysis of Chekhov's art as a short story writer and playwright.

RUSS 773 - (3) (SI)
Graduate Seminar on Dostoevsky
Study of major and minor works.

RUSS 785, 786 - (3) (E)
The Russian West European Novel: 1790-1880
Study of the formation and development of the great Russian realistic novel. Emphasizes internal processes and West European influences.

RUSS 791, 792 - (3) (SI)
Seminar in Russian Studies
Advanced work on selected topics. A recent topic was "utopian vision." May be taken more than once for credit.

RUSS 793 - (1-4) (Y)
Independent Study in Russian Literature
May be taken more than once for credit.

RUSS 821 - (3) (SI)
Advanced Structure of Russian: Phonology and Morphology
Prerequisites: LNGS 325, LING 506, and permission of instructor

RUSS 822 - (3) (SI)
Advanced Structure of Russian: Syntax and Semantics
Prerequisites: LNGS 325, LING 506, and permission of instructor

RUSS 895 - (3) (S)
Master's Thesis
Research for and final preparation of M.A. thesis.

Other Slavic Languages and Literatures

SLAV 511 - (3) (O)
Slavic Folktale
Study of the folktale traditions of the Eastern Slavs, primarily the Russians and Ukrainians. Examines the history of Russian and Ukrainian tale collection, classification, publication and scholarship, related genres, and Russian and Soviet theories of the origin and function of the tale and the role of tales in socialization.

SLAV 512 - (3) (O)
Slavic Life Cycle Ritual
Study of the rituals of birth, marriage, and death as practiced by the Russians and other Slavs and the oral literature associated with these rituals. Emphasizes Russian and other Slavic ethnographic materials, theories of collecting and scholarship, theories of ritual and family life. Ethnographic materials and Slavic theoretical works are read in the original.

SLAV 513 - (3) (E)
Slavic Heroic Epic
Study of the epic poetry of the Russians and Ukrainians. Examines the epic among the Slavic peoples and related poetic forms, namely historical songs, ballads, religious songs, and beggars chants; prose narratives which are believed to be "true;" legends, fabulates and memorates; and performers, their social position, relationship to the church, and their learning and transmission techniques.

SLAV 514 - (3) (E)
Agrarian Ritual and Material Culture
Examines Russian and Ukrainian lower mythology; the spirits of the house, the barn, the field, the stream and the forest. Explores East Slavic ethnography, including house and village layout, folk decorative arts, clothing types, foodway, the relation of farming and the agricultural calendar year to agrarian magic, festival, and ritual.

SLAV 525 - (3) (SI)
Introduction to Slavic Linguistics
Prerequisites: RUSS 202, LNGS 325 and permission of instructor General introduction to the phonology, morphology, and grammatical structure of Russian and other Slavic languages.

SLAV 531 - (3) (IR)
Slavic Folklore in America
May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Topics include the various genres of Slavic oral literature as found in North and South America.

SLAV 533 - (3) (IR)
Topics in West Slavic Literatures
May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Topics include Polish, Czech, or Slovak fiction, poetry, or drama.

SLAV 536 - (3) (E)
Slavic Mythology
A survey of Slavic pre-Christian and Christian beliefs and customs, emphasizing their role in folklore.

SLAV 537 - (3) (E)
South Slavic Folklore
A survey of South Slavic ethnography and folklore, emphasizing the Bulgarians and the Serbs.

SLAV 543 - (3) (IR)
Topics in South Slavic Literatures
May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Topics include Serbo-Croatian, Slovenian, Bulgarian, or Macedonian fiction, poetry, or drama.

SLAV 555 - (3) (IR)
Topics in Ukrainian Literature
May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Topics include Ukrainian fiction, poetry, or drama.

SLAV 592 - (3) (SI)
Selected Topics in Slavic Linguistics
Prerequisites: LNGS 325 and permission of instructor
May be repeated more than once for credit.

SLAV 710 - (3) (IR)
Topics in Slavic Civilization
May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Topics include specialized aspects of Slavic culture and society.

SLAV 711 - (3) (IR)
Balkan Studies
May be repeated for credit when the topics vary. Study of Balkan languages and literatures other than Slavic, emphasizing linguistic and literary ties with the South Slavs.

SLAV 742 - (3) (IR)
Common Slavic
Prerequisites: LNGS 325, LING 502, and permission of instructor
Study of the historical phonology and morphology of Common Slavic.

SLAV 743, 744 - (3) (O)
Old Church Slavonic
Prerequisites: RUSS 102, LING 502, and permission of instructor
Study of the history and structure of Old Church Slavonic. Reading of selected texts.

SLAV 793 - (3) (IR)
Independent Study in Slavic Linguistics
Prerequisites: LNGS 325, RUSS 302, and permission of instructor
May be taken more than once for credit.

SLAV 851 - (3) (IR)
History and Structure of the East Slavic Languages
Prerequisites: LNGS 325, LING 502, and permission of instructor
Study of the diachrony, dialectology, and synchrony of the East Slavic languages.

SLAV 853 - (3) (IR)
History and Structure of the South Slavic Languages
Prerequisites: LNGS 325, LING 502, and permission of instructor
Study of the diachrony, dialectology, and synchrony of the South Slavic languages.

SLAV 854 - (3) (IR)
History and Structure of the West Slavic Languages
Prerequisites: LNGS 325, LING 502, and permission of instructor
Study of the diachrony, dialectology, and synchrony of the West Slavic languages.

SLAV 861, 862 - (3) (IR)
Seminar in Slavic Linguistics
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor

SLAV 897 - (3-12) (S)
Non-Topical Research, Preparation for Research
For master's research, taken before a thesis director has been selected.

SLAV 898 - (3-12) (S)
Non-Topical Research
For master's thesis, taken under the supervision of a thesis director.

SLAV 997 - (3-12) (S)
Non-Topical Research, Preparation for Doctoral Research
For doctoral research, taken before a dissertation director has been selected.

SLAV 999 - (3-12) (S)
Non-Topical Research
For doctoral dissertation, taken under the supervision of a dissertation director.

Continue to: Departmental Degree Requirements
Return to: Chapter 5 Index