Just over a century ago, Russian revolutionaries promised to turn the capitalist world upside down and replace it with a modern socialist order based on the equality and dignity of all working people. Explores socialism in practice between 1917 and 1932, with an emphasis on both the utopian imagination and 'lived' experience. Discussions and assignments will draw heavily on visual sources (art, posters, film, photography) to examine the radical transformation of Soviet culture and society. Topics include labor practices, education, family and gender roles, religious culture, science and technology, healthcare, housing and urban planning, and fashion and the arts. No previous knowledge of Russian history is necessary. Note: This course is part of the following field(s) of study: Europe. This course originates in History and is crosslisted with: Russian. (Same as: HIST 1013)

Terms offered: 2023 Fall Semester

Introduction to the Cyrillic writing system and to the fundamentals of the Russian language. Emphasis on the gradual acquisition of active language skills: speaking, understanding, reading and writing. Students will learn to introduce family members and explain what they do for a living; describe their room, possessions, city, and culinary preferences; discuss their daily activities and travels; talk about their studies and what languages they speak; ask simple questions, voice opinions, make invitations, and engage in basic everyday conversations. Authentic multimedia cultural materials (cartoons, songs, poems, videos) supplement the textbook and serve as a window onto the vibrant reality of Russian culture today. Conversation hour with native speaker.

Terms offered: 2021 Fall Semester; 2022 Fall Semester; 2023 Fall Semester; 2024 Fall Semester; 2025 Fall Semester

Continuation of REEES 1101. Introduction to the case and verbal systems of Russian. Emphasis on the acquisition of language skills through imitation and repetition of basic language patterns and through interactive dialogues. The course includes multimedia (video and audio) materials. Conversation hour with native speaker.

Terms offered: 2022 Spring Semester; 2023 Spring Semester; 2024 Spring Semester; 2025 Spring Semester

This intensive introductory course covers the equivalent of two semesters of elementary Russian in a single semester. You will learn the Cyrillic alphabet and build a strong foundation in Russian language and grammar, including an introduction to the case system and verbal aspect. Emphasizing active language skills—speaking, listening, reading, and writing—the course employs a communicative approach to foster practical proficiency. Authentic multimedia materials (video and audio) supplement the textbook, offering insight into contemporary Russian culture. A weekly conversation hour with a native speaker provides additional language practice. Beyond developing language proficiency, this course aims to cultivate strong language-learning strategies and an appreciation for Russian and Slavic cultures.

Explores the history of Imperial Russia under the Tsars, from Peter the Great’s declaration of empire in 1721 through the demise of the tsarist regime during the Revolutions of 1905 and 1917. Key themes include Russia’s evolving relationship with the West, the shifting dynamics between rulers and the ruled as the empire modernized, and the experiences of both Russians and non-Russians in the context of a vast, multiethnic empire. Through a rich array of primary sources—including novels, letters, memoirs, petitions, official proclamations, visual texts and ethnographic accounts—we will examine Russian society, culture, and politics from multiple perspectives. Designed for students of all backgrounds, this course assumes no prior knowledge and provides essential historical context for understanding Russia and Russian identity today. It also fulfills the non-Euro requirement for History majors and minors. This course originates in History and is crosslisted with: Russian. (Same as: HIST 2108)

Terms offered: 2024 Spring Semester

The Russian Revolution ushered in the world's first socialist society. This course explores the origins, evolution, and eventual collapse of the Soviet experiment. Topics include: the Russian Revolutions of 1917 and Civil War; the “building of socialism” under Lenin and Stalin; the origins of the Terror and Gulag system; the Great Patriotic War (WWII); the Soviet Union’s influence in Eastern Europe and the Cold War; the unraveling of the Soviet system under Gorbachev; the challenges of post-Soviet society in the 1990s; and the Soviet past in Russian memory today. By engaging closely with visual and written texts produced by and for the peoples of Russia and the Soviet Union, the course seeks to understand the experience of lived socialism from diverse perspectives. It is designed for all students; no background is necessary. This course originates in History and is crosslisted with: Russian. (Same as: HIST 2109)

Terms offered: 2021 Fall Semester; 2024 Fall Semester

Introduces students to two giants of Russian literature, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, and explores their significance to Russian cultural history and European thought. The course surveys the aesthetic contributions, literary styles, and artistic innovation of both authors through the close reading of their early and mature works. Themes of religion, philosophy, modernity, and art are examined through the complex lens of gender dynamics in nineteenth-century Russian literature. Special emphasis is placed on each novelist’s approach to questions of gender roles, masculinity, femininity, sexuality, prostitution, motherhood, free will, and social and familial duty. Sexual violence, suffering, spirituality, and redemption are further topics of interest. Studied texts include Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment and Notes from Underground, as well as Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, The Cossacks, and “The Kreutzer Sonata,” among others. Class is conducted in English. . This course originates in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and is crosslisted with: Gender Sexuality and Women St. (Same as: GSWS 2217)

Continuation of Elementary Russian. Emphasis on the continuing acquisition of active language skills: speaking, understanding, reading and writing. Students will improve their facility in speaking and understanding normal conversational Russian and will read increasingly sophisticated texts on a variety of topics. Authentic multimedia cultural materials (cartoons, songs, poems, videos, websites, short stories, newspaper articles) supplement the textbook and serve as a window onto the vibrant reality of Russian culture today. Conversation hour with native speaker.

Terms offered: 2021 Fall Semester; 2022 Fall Semester; 2023 Fall Semester; 2024 Fall Semester; 2025 Fall Semester

Continuation of REEES 2203. Emphasis on developing proficiencies in listening, speaking, reading, and writing and on vocabulary development. Builds upon the basic grammatical competencies acquired in first-year Russian and completes a thorough introduction to the case and verbal systems of the language. The course includes multimedia (video and audio) materials. Conversation hour with native speaker.

Terms offered: 2022 Spring Semester; 2023 Spring Semester; 2024 Spring Semester; 2025 Spring Semester

Surveys modernistic theater and performance through the study of visual and dramatic developments in twentieth- and twenty-first-century Russia and the Soviet Union. Students investigate a range of theatrical innovations and conventions. Topics studied include the genesis and practices of the Russian modernist theater, the dramatic text and its translation into performance, the role of theatrical convention and the actor’s art, history of classic productions (set design and the use of theatrical space), and the theater as political activism. Authors read include Chekhov, Blok, Mayakovsky, Bulgakov, Kharms, Petrushevskaya, and Pussy Riot; critical texts by Meyerhold, Stanislavsky, and Evreinov. This course originates in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and is crosslisted with: Theater. (Same as: THTR 2868)

Traces the development of Russian realism and the Russian novel in the context of contemporary intellectual history. Specific topics include the Russian response to Romanticism; the rejection of Romanticism in favor of the “realistic” exposure of Russia’s social ills; Russian nationalism and literary Orientalism; the portrayal of women and their role in Russian society; the reflection of contemporary political controversies in Russian writing. Authors include Pushkin, Gogol’, Lermontov, Belinsky, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy. All reading materials are in English translation. Lectures, class discussions, presentations, and written assignments are all in English.

Since Lenin declared cinema the most important art, Russian film often walks in the shadows of political change. Despite or because of this tension, Russian directors have created some of the finest cinema in the world. l Investigates Russia’s innovations in film technique and ideological questions that result from rewriting history or representing Soviet reality in film; attention to film construction balanced with trends in Russia’s cinematic tradition. Directors studied include Eisenstein, Tarkovsky, and Vertov. Topics covered include film genre (documentary, comedy, western) and gender and sexuality in a changing sociopolitical landscape. All course content in English. Note: Fulfills the non-US cinema requirement for cinema studies minors. This course originates in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and is crosslisted with: Cinema Studies. (Same as: CINE 2601)

Examines Fyodor Dostoevsky’s later novels. Studies the author’s unique brand of realism (fantastic realism, realism of a higher order), which explores the depths of human psychology and spirituality. Emphasis on the anti-Western, anti-materialist bias of Dostoevsky’s quest for meaning in a world growing increasingly unstable, violent, and cynical. Special attention given to the author’s treatment of urban poverty and the place of women in Russian society. This course originates in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and is crosslisted with: Gender Sexuality and Women St. (Same as: GSWS 2221)

Introduces the important works of Lev Tolstoy. Focuses on the artistic, moral, and philosophical concerns of the author within the context of a selection of his short stories and novels, as well as theoretical, religious, and political texts. By focusing on autobiographical themes traced from his fictionalized autobiography “Childhood” through “A Confession,” develops an understanding of the interconnectedness of the life and art of one of the greatest novelists in Russian literary canon. All course content is in English.

Explores fundamentals of narrative construction through reading short masterworks of Russian literature alongside a variety of creative writing assignments. What makes a story compelling—or, for that matter, what makes it a story at all? This course focuses on the complex machinery producing what John Gardner called the “vivid and continuous dream” of fiction, moving from what a story means to how it means. Our guides in this process will be the Russian writers who helped innovate and fine-tune the modern short story, from Pushkin to Turgenev to Chekhov, and whose legacies continue to hold sway over the form. In response to readings, students write short creative or analytical assignments on the narrative techniques under study. This course is meant for writers and literature students alike; no previous creative writing experience required. All course materials are in English. Note: Fulfills the creative writing concentration requirement for English majors. This course originates in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and is crosslisted with: English. (Same as: ENGL 2865)

Terms offered: 2021 Fall Semester

Examines the complex and dynamic relationship between the US and the Soviet Union/Eastern Bloc through the lens of espionage-themed literature and film from the early 20th century to the present day, with a special focus on the Cold War period. Using a comparative approach, the course explores the role of literature and film in shaping ideas and depictions of the threatening 'other' and the ramifications of such depictions in the US and Soviet contexts. Major themes of discussion include national and cultural identity, constructed images and stereotypes of the other and enemy in the popular imagination in the States and Eastern Bloc, deviations from such depictions (specifically in the case of double agents), and changing gender roles and prominent women in espionage. Conducted in English. No previous background in Russian or Soviet history required. IP.

Terms offered: 2023 Spring Semester

Images of dandies, fops, and rebels have resurfaced in Russian art and literature during periods of major political and cultural change creating a striking counter-narrative to established social norms and shaping new currents of thought. Examines the development of the figure of the outsider in Russian literature, film, visual art, and music from Romanticism to the present. Focus on this ambiguous, counter-cultural “hipster” in turn maps out the imperial, totalitarian, and capitalist mainstreams. Texts include some of the great Russian classics by authors such as Dostoevsky, Pushkin, and Turgenev in conversation with cinematic works from the late twentieth century. Taught in English.

Although the Russian cultural tradition has long been male-dominated, this paradigm began to shift with the advent of brilliant women writers and artists prior to the Russian Revolution. Since the collapse of the USSR, women have again emerged as leaders in the tumultuous post-Soviet cultural scene, even overshadowing their male counterparts. Explores the work of female Russian writers, artists, and filmmakers against a backdrop of revolutionary change, from the turn of the twentieth century to the present. Themes include representations of masculinity and femininity in extremis; artistic responses to social, political, and moral questions; and women’s artistry as cultural subversion. This course originates in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and is crosslisted with: Gender Sexuality and Women St. (Same as: GSWS 2249)

Overview of Russian and Eastern European utopian, dystopian and post-apocalyptic literature and film set in imaginary futures, from the late nineteenth century to the present. In this course, we will examine science fiction as a form of creative thought experiment, allowing writers and readers to consider sweeping questions about our place in a changing world. What does Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We, which presaged the rise of twentieth-century totalitarianism, say about social organization? What does Karel Capek’s R.U.R.—a work that gave us the word “robot” from the Czech—say about technological progress? What does Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris and its renowned Soviet film adaptation by Andrei Tarkovsky tell us about what it means to be human? We will explore these and other questions through a mix of analytical and creative assignments. All course readings and other materials in English; no previous experience in the language or region required.

Terms offered: 2023 Fall Semester

An enigma to outsiders, Russia has its own enigma. Siberia, a region stretching almost 3,000 miles to the Pacific, is both a heaven and a hell, a place of wild loveliness and prison camps. Grapples with Siberia’s contradictions through an interdisciplinary look at fiction, autobiography, ethnography, and film. Begins with Siberia’s diverse history before turning to classics on the Siberian theme (Chekhov, Dostoevsky, and Solzhenitsyn)and to analysis of modern-day, non-Russian glimpses of Siberia from Werner Herzog and ethnic Siberians. All course content in English.

Examines the lived experience of the Soviet Union's underrepresented ethnic groups through film and literature, including works by indigenous Siberian peoples, Central Asians, and Eastern Europeans (specifically in Ukraine and Belarus) from the early 20th century to the present. Using a postcolonial lens, the course investigates how the complex interactions between power, privilege, policy, colonizer, and colonized shaped the experience of Soviet 'others' (who did not identify as ethnic Russians) and encourages reflection on difference, diversity, and inclusion in the US and Russian contexts. Themes include the Soviet multiethnic project and its shifting policies on indigenization, affirmative action, and ethnic cleansing, the history of contact and conflict between individual ethnic groups and Russians, changing gender dynamics, and the diverse sociogeographic and experiential reality of being the 'other” in the Soviet Union. Conducted in English. No previous background in Russian or Soviet history required.

Terms offered: 2022 Spring Semester; 2024 Spring Semester

Restless corpses, forest demons, and giant talking black cats: Russian and Eastern European storytelling is suffused with the uncanny light of black magic, from popular superstitions to vampires at the modern-day multiplex. In this course, we’ll investigate this abiding interest in the demonic, starting with Slavic folk beliefs and tracing how these traditions were transformed by nineteenth-century writers like Dostoevsky and Gogol in their explorations of the darker recesses of the human heart. We’ll also look at how fictional portrayals of Satan in twentieth-century Soviet works convey the existential terror of life in Stalin’s Moscow and how contemporary horror reflects cultural anxieties around nation and self in the region today. Course themes include fears of otherness and gendered depictions of supernatural evil, the dread of death and the undead, the seductiveness of sin, and the complex mechanisms of redemption.

Terms offered: 2024 Fall Semester

Russian culture is rich with depictions of the fundamental human experiences of love, sex, and desire. And while these depictions have often been subject to various forms of censorship, they have just as often served as expressions of dissent against rigid social, political, and artistic norms. This course explores the ideological and aesthetic significance of such themes as romance, lust, yearning, sexual violence, adultery, prostitution, religious passion, poetic inspiration, unrequited love, celibacy, gender identity, sexuality, masturbation, pornography, body image, sexual frustration, castration, and witchcraft in Russian literature and the arts from medieval times to the present day. Not only do the works studied inscribe “difference” on the bodies of their subjects, but Russia also functions as a social “other” against which students examine their own cultural assumptions. Authors may include Avvakum, Bulgakov, Chekhov, Dostoevsky, Gogol, Nabokov, Pushkin, Tolstoy, Tsvetaeva, Turgenev, and Zamyatin. Taught in English. This course originates in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and is crosslisted with: Gender Sexuality and Women St. (Same as: GSWS 2315)

Terms offered: 2025 Spring Semester

Newly freed from censorship, Russian filmmakers in the quarter-century between 1990 and 2015 created compelling portraits of a society in transition. Their films reassess traumatic periods in Soviet history; grapple with formerly taboo social problems such as alcoholism, anti-Semitism, and sexual violence; explore the breakdown of the Soviet system; and critique the darker aspects of today’s Russia, often through the lens of gender or sexuality—specifically addressing subjects such as machismo, absent fathers, rape, cross-dressing, and birthing. Central are the rapid evolution of post-Soviet Russian society, the emergence of new types of social differences and disparities and the reinvention of old ones, and the changing nature of social roles within the post-Soviet social fabric. Taught in English. This course originates in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and is crosslisted with: Cinema Studies; Gender Sexuality and Women St. (Same as: CINE 2602, GSWS 2410)

Examines the subject of collective memory and reconstructions of the past in post-socialist Eastern European cinema, focusing primarily on Russian-language films. How does this area of the world, with its fraught histories of wars, revolutions and other social upheavals, describe or inscribe the past in recent films, from the historical blockbuster to more intimate contemporary narratives haunted by past events? And how do these films about the darkest episodes of the region’s history shed light on the ways in which we either commemorate or repress historical traumas in our own culture(s) today? Scholarship on nostalgia, cultural taboos, repressed memory, reconciliation, and collective memory will help us to form a complex understanding of how filmmakers not only represent the past in their work, but also recreate it anew on the screen in order to fit the needs of the current moment. This course originates in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and is crosslisted with: Cinema Studies. (Same as: CINE 2603)

Terms offered: 2022 Fall Semester; 2025 Fall Semester

Explores the most dramatic political event of the twentieth century: the collapse of Soviet communism and Russia’s subsequent political development. Begins by examining the Soviet system and the political and social upheaval of the late Soviet period. Proceeds to investigate the challenges of contemporary Russian politics, including the semi-authoritarian regime, the challenges of sustainable economic growth and modernization, the demographic crisis, the loss of superpower status, and the search for a role in international politics. Comparisons made with other countries in the post-Communist region. This course originates in Government and Legal Studies and is crosslisted with: Russian. (Same as: GOV 2410)

Terms offered: 2022 Fall Semester; 2025 Fall Semester

For most of the last two and a half centuries, Russia and America have served as mirror images to each other—frenemies or dark twins that used the image of the other country for domestic political purposes. The main content of this course is the study of Russian-American encounters, not merely as diplomatic relations, but as a complex interplay of political imagination, technological transfers, ideological rivalry, and military alliances. We will examine the role of slavery and serfdom and their abolition, continental expansions, Russian emigration, and American technologies in the construction of the American view of Russia and Russian attitudes towards the U.S. We will address cycles of relations from world war military alliances to Cold War enmity and bring the story to the end of the Cold War and its consequences for the current relationship between the two societies. Open to all students.

Terms offered: 2024 Fall Semester

Introduces students to major works of Russian/Soviet/post-Soviet literature (by authors such as Pushkin, Turgenev, Chekhov, Solzhenitsyn, Alexievich, and others), supplemented by films and visual art, within the thematic context of a focus on nature and the environment in the Russian geographic and cultural space. Topics include the role of nature in the Russian Romantic sublime; artistic constructions of the exotic in Russia’s borderlands (Georgia, Mongolia); representations of the peasant village; feminization of the land and related metaphors of violent conquest; testaments to the instrumentalization of nature (St. Petersburg, Belomor Canal, Gulag); and the cultural legacy of environmental decay and disaster (pollution, Chernobyl). This course originates in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies and is crosslisted with: Environmental Studies. (Same as: ENVS 2460)

The Arctic looms in our political imagination as the region most directly affected by a changing global climate that threatens the displacement of northern communities and cultures. It is also a site of fierce competition for state control and economic development. This course investigates the Arctic as a political space that encapsulates elements of comparative politics and international relations. It examines cross-national variation in policies toward Arctic regions in states such as the United States, Canada, Russia, Iceland, and Norway. It also explores dynamic international engagement around the Arctic by state officials, corporations, indigenous communities, and activists. The course will address governance issues such as indigenous rights, economic development and natural resource exploitation, environmental issues and climate change, the potential militarization of the region, international law, and the role of the Arctic Council. This course originates in Government and Legal Studies and is crosslisted with: Environmental Studies. (Same as: GOV 2577, ENVS 2377)

Terms offered: 2023 Spring Semester; 2024 Fall Semester

Building on the language skills developed in the Intermediate Russian I and II sequence, this course allows students to move beyond everyday language use to develop advanced lexical, grammatical and cultural knowledge on a variety of topics relevant to Russian speakers today. Within the context of a four-skills approach to language acquisition (writing, speaking, listening, reading), students engage with a wide variety of course materials in the target language, including Russian mass media, film, music, and literature. Individual units focus on specific issues or problems in modern Russian society, such as politics, art, health, identity and belonging, youth culture, economic development, technology and society. By the end of the course, students will be able to summarize and analyze different viewpoints on complex issues and articulate their own arguments both orally and in written Russian, from formulating clear theses to providing logical reasoning and evidence for their ideas.

Terms offered: 2021 Fall Semester; 2022 Fall Semester; 2023 Fall Semester; 2024 Fall Semester; 2025 Fall Semester

Continuation of Advanced Russian Language and Society I. This course allows students to move beyond everyday language use to develop advanced lexical, grammatical and cultural knowledge on a variety of topics relevant to Russian speakers today. Within the context of a four-skills approach to language acquisition (writing, speaking, listening, reading), students engage with a wide variety of course materials in the target language, including Russian mass media, film, music, and literature. Individual units focus on specific issues or problems in modern Russian society, such as politics, art, health, identity and belonging, youth culture, economic development, technology and society. By the end of the course, students will be able to summarize and analyze different viewpoints on complex issues and articulate their own arguments both orally and in written Russian, from formulating clear theses to providing logical reasoning and evidence for their ideas.

Terms offered: 2022 Spring Semester; 2023 Spring Semester; 2024 Spring Semester; 2025 Spring Semester

The nineteenth century is referred to as the golden age of Russian literature with good cause. During this period figures such as Dostoevsky, Gogol, Pushkin, and Tolstoy laid the foundation of the modern Russian literary canon and brought Russian literature to the world stage. These writers fomented rebellion, challenged the status quo, and dared to tell the truth in a repressive and conformist society. As a result, many of them became prophets, pariahs, or both. Students read and analyze important works of poetry and short prose from this era, paying attention to the texts' social and cultural context, the specifics of their construction as works of verbal art, and the nuances conveyed by their creators' linguistic choices. All primary texts, discussions, and presentations in Russian, as are the majority of writing assignments. Emphasis on vocabulary development, stylistics, and the ability to articulate sophisticated arguments in both oral and written Russian.

Russia has experienced a number of staggering transformations since the close of the nineteenth century, and these dramatic upheavals are mirrored in its national literature. This course will serve as an introduction to the evolution of Russian literature from the turn of the twentieth century, through the Revolution and the Soviet decades, to the contemporary post-Soviet period. Students will read and analyze important works of poetry and short prose from this era of radical change and experimentation, paying attention to the texts' social and cultural context, the specifics of their construction as works of verbal art, and the nuances conveyed by their creators' linguistic choices. All primary texts, discussions, and presentations will be in Russian, as will the majority of writing assignments. Emphasis on vocabulary development, stylistics, and the ability to articulate sophisticated arguments in both oral and written Russian.

Terms offered: 2022 Fall Semester; 2023 Fall Semester; 2024 Fall Semester; 2025 Fall Semester

Russia is a massive country, and it is no surprise that its novels are equally as large. The masterpieces of nineteenth-century Russian literature not only attempted to represent the vastness of the nation, but also strove to capture what Nikolai Gogol called “the wide, ranging sweep of the Russian character.” Novelists even hoped their works would elevate, enlighten, and transform the country's soul, for, in the words of one of Dostoevsky’s protagonists, “beauty will save the world.” Interrogates the tension between the majesty of the Russian novel and the rise of Russian nationalism by analyzing the literary masterpieces of Nikolai Gogol, Leo Tolstoy, and Fyodor Dostoevsky. Taught concurrently with Russian 2224.

Although the Russian cultural tradition has long been male-dominated, this paradigm began to shift with the advent of brilliant women writers and artists prior to the Russian Revolution. Since the collapse of the USSR, women have again emerged as leaders in the tumultuous post-Soviet cultural scene, even overshadowing their male counterparts. This course explores the work of female Russian writers, artists, and filmmakers against a backdrop of revolutionary change, from the turn of the 20th century to the present. Themes include representations of masculinity and femininity in extremis; artistic responses to social, political and moral questions; and women's artistry as cultural subversion.

Explores growing political, economic, and cultural diversity within the post-communist region after the enforced homogeneity of the Communist era. Considers the essential features of Communism and asks why these systems collapsed, before examining more recent developments. What are the factors promoting growing variation in the region? Why have some post-communist states joined the European Union, while others appear mired in authoritarianism? Do the institutional and cultural legacies of Communism influence contemporary politics? More than twenty years after the collapse of Communist regimes in East Central Europe and the Soviet Union, is “post-communism” still a useful concept for social scientists? Examines contemporary scholarship on the sources of change and continuity in the region and offers students the opportunity to undertake individual research projects This course originates in Government and Legal Studies and is crosslisted with: Russian. (Same as: GOV 3510)

Terms offered: 2025 Spring Semester