Course Descriptions

Enrollment in all language courses (including RUSS 304 and 305) is subject to confirmation by placement exam at the discretion of the instructor, normally during the first week of the semester.

Russian Language, Literature, Folklore, and Linguistics

RUSS 101, 102 - (4) (Y)
First-Year Russian
Introduction to Russian grammar with emphasis on reading and speaking. Class meets five days per week plus work in the language laboratory. To be followed by RUSS 201, 202. A grade of C- or better in RUSS 101 is a prerequisite for 102.

SLAV 170, 171 - (1-2-3) (IR)
Liberal Arts Seminar
Seminar on selected topics in the field of Slavic studies designed primarily for first- and second-year students. Recent topics have included "the arts in revolution," "war and peace," and "poetry writing: American and Russian perspectives."

RUSS 201, 202 - (4) (Y)
Second-Year Russian
Prerequisite: RUSS 102 (with grade of C- or better), or equivalent
Continuation of Russian grammar. Grade of C- or better in RUSS 201 is prerequisite for 202. Includes practice in speaking and writing Russian and introduction to Russian prose and poetry. Class meets four days per week, plus work in the language laboratory.

SLFK 211 - (3) (O)
Tale and Legend
Prerequisite: None. Open to students with no knowledge of Russian.
Study of the folktale traditions of the Eastern Slavs, primarily the Russians and the Ukrainians. Covers theories of folk prose narrative and discusses the relationship between folktales and society, and folktales and child development. Topics include related prose narrative forms, such as legend, and related forms of child socialization, such as folk children's games.

SLFK 212 - (3) (E)
Ritual and Family Life
Prerequisite: None. Open to students with no knowledge of Russian.
Study of the rituals of birth, marriage, and death as practiced in 19th-century peasant Russia and in Russia today and the oral literature associated with these rituals. Topics include family patterns, child socialization and child rearing practices, gender issues, and problems of the elderly in their 19th century and current manifestations.

SLFK 213 - (3) (E)
Story and Healing
Prerequisite: None. Open to students with no knowledge of Russian.
Study of Russian epic poetry and its related forms. Discusses the Russian heroic epic (byliny) and related epic songs and other historical narratives, including Ukrainian dumy, Russian and other Slavic historical songs, religious songs, ballads, and legends.

SLFK 214 - (3) (E)
Ritual and Demonology
Prerequisite: None. Open to students with no knowledge of Russian
Study of Russian and Ukrainian folk belief as it manifests itself in daily life. Examines how Russian and Ukrainian peasants lived in the 19th century, and how this effects both living patterns and attitudes today. Includes farming techniques, house and clothing types, foodways and food beliefs. Covers the agrarian calendar and its rituals such as Christmas and Easter, the manipulation of ritual in the Soviet era, and the resurgence of ritual today.

SLAV 236 - (3) (Y)
Dracula
Prerequisite: None. Open to students with no knowledge of any Slavic languages
Survey of Slavic life and thought from the earliest times, with stress on the role played by the languages, religious beliefs, folklore, and social organization of the different Slavic peoples. Emphasis in recent years has been on Slavic primitive religion and belief in vampires. May be repeated for credit under different topic.

RUTR 236 - (3) (Y)
Russian Culture of the Twentieth Century
Prerequisite: None. Open to students with no knowledge of Russian
Exploration of the literature, art, music, architecture, and film of Russia and the Soviet Union in the twentieth century. Examines various art forms, investigating the relationships of modern Russian culture to earlier Russian culture and to Western cultures. Movements treated include symbolism, futurism, acmeism, socialism, realism, and postmodernism.

RUTR 246 - (3) (Y)
Civilization and Culture of Russia
Prerequisite: None. Open to students with no knowledge of Russian
Survey of Russian civilization from the earliest times, with emphasis on literature, thought, and the arts.

RUTR 247 - (3) (Y)
Modern Russian Culture
Exploration of patterns in Russian literature, music, and art from 1900 to the present. Topics include the decline of the Old Regime, impact of revolution on the arts of Russia, modernism of the 1920s in literature, music, art, and film, and the arts today.

RUTR 256 - (3) (IR)
Russian Masterpieces
Prerequisite: None. Open to students with no knowledge of Russian
Study of selected great works of nineteenth- and twentieth-century prose fiction.

RUTR 273 - (3) (Y)
Dostoevsky and the Modern Novel
Prerequisite: None. Open to students with no knowledge of Russian
A study of the major works of Dostoevsky.

RUTR 274 - (3) (IR)
Tolstoy in Translation
Prerequisite: None. Open to students with no knowledge of Russian
Study of the major works of Tolstoy.

RUSS 301, 302 - (3) (Y)
Third-Year Russian
Prerequisite: RUSS 202, 203 or equivalent with a grade of C or above
Continuation of Russian grammar. Includes intensive oral practice through reports, dialogues, guided discussions; composition of written reports and essays; readings in literary and non-literary texts. Class meets three hours per week, plus work in the language laboratory.

RUSS 303 - (1) (S)
Intermediate Conversation
Prerequisite: RUSS 202, 203 or equivalent
Two hours of conversation practice per week. May be repeated for credit.

RUSS 304 - (1) (IR)
Russian Phonetics
Prerequisite: RUSS 102
An examination of the sound system of the Russian language with special attention to palatalization, vowel reduction, sounds in combination, and the relationship of sound to spelling.

RUSS 305 - (1) (IR)
Russian Word Formation
Prerequisite: RUSS 102
An examination of the sound system, lexicon, and word formative processes of the Russian literary language.

RUSS 306 - (3) (Y)
Russian for Business
Prerequisite: RUSS 202
Acquisition of Russian for oral and written communication in business situations.

RUTR 335 - (3) (Y)
Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature
Prerequisite: None. Open to students with no knowledge of Russian
Study of the major works of Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Turgenev, Goncharov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and others. Emphasizes prose fiction. This course is a prerequisite for 500-level literature courses.

RUTR 337, 338 - (3) (IR)
Fictional Worlds
All readings in English
Recent topics have included a comparative study of Jane Austen and Alexander Pushkin.

RUTR 358 - (3) (IR)
Russian Prose From 1881-1917
Prerequisite: None. Open to students with no knowledge of Russian
Study of late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century Russian prose. Concentrates on evolution of Russian realism and rise of symbolist and ornamentalist fiction.

RUTR 368 - (3) (IR)
The Russian Novel in European Perspective
Prerequisite: None. Open to students with no knowledge of Russian
Study of the evolution of the Russian novel, its thematic and structural features, from the early nineteenth century to the present.

RUTR 391, 392 - (3) (IR)
Topics in Russian Literature
Study in English translation of selected authors, works, or themes in Russian literature. Topics in recent years were Solzhenitsyn, Nabokov. Students offering this course for major credit will be required to do assigned readings in Russian. May be repeated for credit under different topics.

RUTR 393 - (3) (IR)
Case Studies in Russian Literature
Prerequisite: None. Open to students with no knowledge of Russian
One great novel such as War and Peace or The Brothers Karamazov is studied in detail along with some related works and a considerable sampling of critical studies.

RUTR 395 - (3) (Y)
Nabokov
Prerequisite: None. Open to students with no knowledge of Russian
A study of the evolution of Nabokov's art, from his early Russian language tales to the major novels written in English.

RUSS 401, 402 - (3) (Y)
Fourth-Year Russian
Prerequisites: RUSS 301, 302 with a grade of C or above
Continuation of Russian grammar. Includes oral practice, extensive reading, active and passive work in Russian stylistics.

RUSS 491, 492 - (3) (S)
Senior Thesis in Russian Studies
Required for majors in Russian studies, normally taken in the fourth year.

RUSS 493 - (3) (S)
Independent Study
May be repeated for credit.

RUSS 495, 496 - (3) (S)
Senior Honors Thesis
For honors majors in Russian language and literature and Russian studies.

RUSS 500 - (3) (SI)
Reading Techniques for Russian Newspapers and Periodicals
Prerequisite: RUSS 202 or the equivalent
Training in the translation of Russian newspapers and journal articles.

RUSS 501 - (3) (Y)
Readings in the Social Sciences
Prerequisite: RUSS 302
Based on careful analysis of the social science texts in Patrick's Advanced Russian Reader, this course introduces advanced topics in Russian morphology and syntax. Successful completion of the course enables students to read 19th- and 20th-century Russian non-fiction with minimal difficulty.

RUSS 502 - (3) (IR)
Advanced Proficiency Russian
Prerequisite: RUSS 402
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
Prerequisite: RUSS 401, 402

RUSS 505 - (1) (S)
Advanced Conversation
Prerequisite: RUSS 302
Two hours of conversation practice per week. May be repeated for credit.

Note   The following courses all require a reading knowledge of Russian, unless otherwise stated.

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

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

RUSS 523 - (3) (IR)
History of the Russian Literary Language
Prerequisites: RUSS 301, 302, and permission of instructor
Study of the history of literary (standard) Russian from its formation to the present day, including problems of vocabulary, syntax, and stylistics.

RUSS 524 - (3) (IR)
History of the Russian Language
Prerequisite: LNGS 502, RUSS 202, and permission of instructor
Diachronic linguistic analysis of the Russian language.

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

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

RUSS 550 - (3) (IR)
Russian Satire
Analysis 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 of the course is on twentieth-century works. Students become familiar with the forms and functions of satire in Russian, Soviet, and émigré literary culture.

RUSS 551 - (3) (SI)
Russian Drama and Theatre
Prerequisite: None. Open to students with no knowledge of Russian
Works by authors from Fonvizin to Shvarts with emphasis on the major plays of Gogol, Chekhov, and Gorky. Study of production theories of Stanislavsky, Meyerhold, and other important Russian directors.

RUSS 552 - (3) (O)
The Rise of the Russian Novel, 1795-1850
Traces 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) (IR)
The Golden Age of Russian Poetry
A survey of the work of Zhukovskii, Batiushkov, Pushkin, Lermontov, Baratynskii, Tiutchev, and others.

RUSS 554 - (3) (E)
Age of Realism, 1851-1881
Examination of the accomplishments 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 Works by Blok, Akhmatova, Mandelstam, Mayakovsky, Tsvetaeva, and Pasternak; Topics include Russian symbolism, acmeism, and futurism.

RUSS 556 - (3) (E)
Russian Modernism
Examination of selected works by the leading writers of the early part of the twentieth century. Explores concepts of symbolism, acmeism, and futurism. Focuses on competing conceptions of literature that evolved in the 1920s 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 groups of literary critics. No foreign language is required, but a reading knowledge of French, German or Russian would be helpful.

RUSS 558 - (3) (O)
Contemporary Russian Literature
Traces the evolution of Russian literature from the "Thaw" period until the present. Examines the diverse ways in which Russia's writers tried to accommodate, evade, or challenge the prevailing norms of Soviet literature during the 1960s, and concludes with an analysis of the conflicting forces shaping the development of Russian literature at the present moment.

RUSS 565 - (3) (SI)
Stylistics
Prerequisites: RUSS 301, 302
Study of the syntactic, lexical, and other stylistic features of literary Russian in various contexts.

RUSS 573 - (3) (SI)
Dostoevsky and the Modern Novel
A study of the major works of Dostoevsky. Emphasizes the various critical approaches employed in the study of Dostoevsky. Open to students from other departments with no knowledge of Russian.

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

RUSS 585, 586 - (3) (SI)
Topics in Comparative Literature
Study of various literary themes, movements, genres in an attempt to relate Russian literature to the literatures of other countries. The course is open to students from other departments with no knowledge of Russian, and may be taken more than once for credit.

RUSS 591 - (3) (Y)
Selected Topics in Literature
Typical topics in various years include "Tolstoy," "Russian literary journalism," and the "mid-nineteenth century Russian novel." In some years open to students from other departments with no knowledge of Russian. May be repeated for credit.

SLAV 592 - (3) (SI)
Selected Topics in Russian Linguistics
May be repeated for credit.

Slavic Linguistics and Other Slavic Languages and Literatures

Note   Prerequisites for courses listed below: permission of instructor; some knowledge of Russian recommended.

BULG 121, 122 - (3) (IR)
Introduction to Bulgarian Language and Literature
An introduction to the language and literature of Bulgaria. Readings from selected authors.

CZ 121, 122 - (3) (IR)
Introduction to Czech Language and Literature
An introduction to the language and literature of the Czech Republic. Readings from selected authors.

LNGS 495, 496 - (1-6) (Y)
Independent Study in General Linguistics
For students who wish to pursue linguistic theory and the application of linguistic methodology to data beyond the introductory level.

POL 121, 122 - (3) (O)
Introduction to Polish Language and Literature
An introduction to the language and literature of Poland. Readings from selected authors.

SRBC 121, 122 - (3) (E)
Introduction to Serbian or Croatian Language and Literature
An introduction to the language and literature of Serbia or Croatia. Readings from selected authors.

UKR 121, 122 - (3) (IR)
Introduction to Ukrainian Language and Literature
An introduction to the language and literature of the Ukraine. Readings from selected authors.

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

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

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

General Linguistics

LNGS 200 - (3) (Y)
Grammatical Concepts in Foreign Language Learning
Prerequisite: Some foreign language experience strongly recommended
Intended for all students interested in language. Treats the grammatical concepts traditionally considered relevant in the teaching and study of foreign languages, including the study of English as a second language.

LNGS 222 - (3) (Y)
Black English
Introduction to the history and structure of what has been termed Black English Vernacular or Black Street English. Emphasizes the sociolinguistic factors which led to the emergence of this variety of English, as well as its present role in the black community and its relevance in education, racial stereotypes, etc.

LNGS 325 - (3) (Y)
Introduction to Linguistics Theory and Analysis
An introduction to sign systems, language as a sign system, and approaches to linguistic description. Emphasizes the application of descriptive techniques to data.

LNGS 495/496 - (1-6) (Y)
Independent Study in General Linguistics

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