CRN

94181

Distribution

D  / * (FLLC)

Course No.

RUS 101

Title

Beginning Russian

Professor

Jennifer Day

Schedule

Mon Tu Wed Th   10:00 am - 11:00 am     LC 206

A course for students with little or no previous knowledge of Russian that introduces the fundamentals of the spoken and written language as well as Russian culture.  We will emphasize conversation, reading, and written proficiency and encourage creative expression in autobiographical and fictional compositions.  Audio-visual materials will be an integral part of the learning process.  In addition to regular class meetings, students are required to attend a one-hour-per-week tutorial.  Beginning Russian will be followed by an intensive 8-credit course in the spring semester and a 4-credit summer language and culture program in St. Petersburg, Russia.  For more information on this opportunity see instructor.

 

CRN

94182

Distribution

D   / * (FLLC)

Course No.

RUS 206

Title

Continuing Russian

Professor

Marina Kostalevsky

Schedule

Tu Wed Th    3:00 pm -  4:00 pm       LC 206

Increasing oral proficiency is a primary aim of this course as well as developing reading and viewing strategies appropriate to the widest variety of written texts and  Russian television and film. We will proceed to expand vocabulary and study the syntax of the complex Russian sentence and grammatical nuances. Students will be expected to keep a weekly diary and to write short essays on a variety of topics. The class will be conducted only in Russian.

 

CRN

94184

Distribution

B / * (Lit in English)

Course No.

RUS / LIT  3021

Title

An Appointment with Dr. Chekhov

Professor

Marina Kostalevsky

Schedule

Tu Th            1:30 pm -  2:50 pm       OLIN 101

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov began writing simply to earn much needed money while studying to become a doctor at Moscow University.  His connection to the medical profession, and the natural sciences, is not mere biographical fact.  As Chekhov himself later admitted, "there is no doubt that my study of medicine strongly affected my work in literature." Moreover, he claimed that "the writer must be as objective as the chemist."  This course will give students the opportunity to analyse how Dr. Chekhov's "general theory of objectivity" impacted his writing and how his "treatment" of human nature and social issues, of love and family, all the big and “little things in life,” has brought an entirely new dimension to Russian literature and culture.  Readings include Chekhov's prose, plays, and letters.  Also, attention will be given to contemporary interpretations of his work, new biographical research, and productions of his plays on stage and screen. Conducted in English

 

CRN

94180

Distribution

B/D  / * (Lit in English)

Course No.

RUS / LIT 312

Title

Nabokov: Puzzle, Pattern, Game

Professor

Jennifer Day

Schedule

Mon Wed       1:30 pm -  2:50 pm       OLIN 309

As poet, master fiction writer, translator, chess enthusiast, and lepidopterist, Vladimir Nabokov made it his life’s work to cultivate a creative understanding able to recognize hidden patterns and sleights-of-hand, and to play along in his own art.  In this course, structured as a seminar, we will approach our selection of Nabokov’s works as “players” and treasure-seekers, training our senses to discern what has been so carefully and lovingly hidden.  As we search, we will consider such major interpretive strategies as: life as design and variants on (auto)biography; memory and its role in art; varieties of translation; aesthetic and ethical implications of patterns and their manipulation; and the usefulness of categories such as modern and postmodern in reading Nabokov.  Significant attention will be given to the Russian cultural and literary context that underlies Nabokov’s sense of design in both his life and art.  Students will read, in addition to poems, short stories, and critical articles, The Defense, Invitation to a Beheading, The Gift, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Pnin, and Pale Fire, as well as Nabokov’s autobiography, Speak, Memory.  Conducted in English.

 

CRN

94183

Distribution

D

Course No.

RUS 390

Title

Translation: Russian to English

Professor

Marina Kostalevsky

Schedule

Wed    10:30 am - 12:50 pm     LIBRARY 202

A practical and theoretical course consisting of regular weekly reading and translation of a variety of literary texts. Students will also work on an independent project throughout the semester. Texts include short stories and poems by Bunun, Chekhov, Babel, Tolstaya, Dovlatov, Akhmatova, Pasternak, and others.