Fall 2020 Class Schedule
- Fall 2020 Class Schedule
- Fall 2020 Course Descriptions
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fall 2020 class Schedule
fall 2020 course descriptions
Polish 108-1: Elementary Polish
This course is the first in a three-quarter sequence designed to introduce students to Polish language and culture. We learn the basic Polish grammar and vocabulary, focusing on speaking, reading, writing, and listening.
POLISH 208-1 – Intermediate Polish: Language and Culture
The primary goal of Intermediate Polish is to expand the student's speaking, reading and writing skills by building on grammar and vocabulary learned during the first year of study. As a complement to the linguistic side of the course, the student will gain a greater familiarity with Polish history and culture through varied means including readings of literary works, articles from contemporary Polish newspapers and movies.
Russian 101-1
Elementary Russian 101-1 is the first in a three-quarter sequence designed to introduce students to the Russian language and contemporary Russian culture. In this course, students will continue to develop the fundamentals of speaking, listening, writing, and reading. Emphasis will be placed on practical communication so that students can function at a basic level in several authentic situations by the end of the year.
Russian 102-1
Intermediate Russian 102-1 is the first in a three-quarter sequence designed to continue exploring the Russian language and contemporary Russian culture. In this course, students will develop the skills of speaking, listening, writing, and reading through a variety of activities. They will be able to function in many authentic situations at an intermediate level by the end of the year.
RUSSIAN 303-1 – Advanced Russian Language and Culture
This course is the first part of a three-quarter sequence focusing on communication, cultural understanding, connections of Russian language and culture with other disciplines (such as history and sociology), and comparisons of Russian and American culture and language. It is a combined third- and fourth-year all skills language and culture class. This course includes topics in grammar, a focus on developing discussion and conversational skills and writing, and readings from a range of contemporary Russian writers. It is taught in Russian and is intended for students who have completed the SLAVIC 302 series and/or the SLAVIC 102 series.
SLAVIC 105-6 – First-Year Seminar
In this course we will explore some of the sociolinguistic issues in Slavic speaking countries and areas (the Russian Federation, the former Soviet Union, the former Czechoslovakia, etc.) and in Central Europe (specifically, Turkish in Germany). We will look at contemporary issues in Russia and the Ukraine, especially the annexation of the Crimea, anti-gay laws in Russia, and censorship of Pussy Riot. We will explore language policies, minority language rights, language vs. dialect, language planning, language and identity, and language and nationalism.
SLAVIC 210-2 – Introduction to Russian Literature
In this course, we will examine two of the greatest works of world literature, The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoevsky, and Anna Karenina by Tolstoy, in depth. These two novels raise profound questions and offer challenging answers to the most important issues of life: What gives life meaning, how to understand evil, the nature and kinds of love, the significance of death, faith and despair, how to make ourselves and the world around us better, and the way human minds work. We will see why Tolstoy and Dostoevsky are often considered the greatest psychologists who ever lived and why Russian literature conveys a sense of urgency perhaps unmatched anywhere else in human culture. Students will also learn skills for understanding novels that will make it easier and more rewarding to read great fiction generally.
SLAVIC 211-1 – 20th Century Russian Literature
(Co-listed with CLS 202) This course focuses on interconnections between new ideas in literature, culture and politics in the early 20th century. Texts include great Modernist novels Peterburg (1913) by Andrei Bely, Master and Margarita (1940) by Mikhail Bulgakov, and Evgeny Zamiatin's We (1921); poetry by Aleksandr Blok, Vladimir Mayakovsky, and Osip Mandelstam. These major works are discussed in the broad Russian and European cultural and historical context
SLAVIC 341-0 – Structure of Modern Russian
Theories and methods of linguistics as applied to the description of modern Russian. Phonetics, morphology, and other topics.
SLAVIC 368-0 – Andrei Tarkovsky’s Aesthetics and World Cinema
(Co-listed with RTVF 321-0-20) In this course, we will review major films of Tarkovsky and of Russian and non- Russian directors whose work is related to his (Eisenstein, Wenders, Bergman, Kurosawa).
SLAVIC 390 – Controlling the Russian Narrative from Stalin to Putin
(Co-listed with Intl. Studies 390) We examine the relationship of the Russian writer to the State. While the Tsars sought to place limits on Tolstoy, Pushkin, and others, they had a privileged place in society. But Stalin’s regime expected the writer not just to enlighten the masses, but to mobilize them to accomplish the goals of the State. Repressive measures continued until the 1980s, when Gorbachev allowed more free debate (“glasnost”). Under Putin, repression returns, rewarding those who support the State, and intimidating or silencing those who don’t.
SLAVIC 434-0 – Studies in 18th-Century Russian Literature
This course offers a survey of Russian 18th-century culture in its major literary genres and generic trends. Students will be introduced to European classicism in literature as a bigger screen to project and compare with the Russian one, noting major theoretical and practical similarities and differences. We focus on works by Lomonosov, Trediakovsky, Sumarokov, Derzhavin, Bogdanovich, Knyazhnin, Fonvizin, and Karamzin, in comparison with Dryden and Pope (England), Boileau, Racine and Corneille (France).