Russian
Language Courses
Advanced
Russian Language
Courses
for Russian-Speaking Students
Introductory
and Survey Courses
Intermediate
and Seminar Courses
Graduate
Level Courses
Slavic
Courses
Eastern
European
CGS
Courses
RUSS001 Elementary Russian I
MTWRF 2-3PM OLEINICHENKO L
This course develops elementary skills in reading, speaking, understanding and writing the Russian language. We will work with an exciting range of authentic written materials, videos and recordings relating to the dynamic scene of Russia today. At the end of the course students will be comfortable with the Russian alphabet and will be able to read basic texts (signs, menus, news headlines) and participate in elementary conversations about daily life (who you are, what you do every day, where you are from, likes and dislikes).
RUSS002 Intermediate Russian II
Prior language requirement required
MWF 10-11AM, TR 10:30-11:30AM KRUIDENIER J
MWF 2-3PM, TR 12:30-1:30PM SHARDAKOVA M
A continuation of RUSS 001. Further work developing basic language skills using exciting authentic materials about life in present-day Russia. At the conclusion of the course, students will be prepared to negotiate most basic communication needs in Russia (getting around town, ordering a meal, buying goods and services, polite conversation about topics of interest) and to comprehend most texts and spoken material at a basic level.
RUSS004
Intermediate Russian II
Prior language requirement required. Prerequisite(s):
RUSS 003 or placement exam.
MW 10-11AM, TR 10:30-11:30AM KORSHUNOVA
MTWR 5-6PM OLEINICHENKO L
Continuation of RUSS 003. This course will further develop your ability to use the Russian language in the context of everyday situations (including relationships, travel and geography, leisure activities) and also through reading and discussion of elementary facts about Russian history, excerpts from classic literature and the contemporary press, film excerpts. At the end of the course you will be able to negotiate most daily situations, to comprehend most spoken and written Russian, to state and defend your point of view. Successful completion of the course prepares students to satisfy the language competency requirement.
RUSS312
Advanced Conv/Composition II
Prior language experience required. Prerequisite:
RUSS311
MWF 1-2PM SHARDAKOVA M
Primary emphasis on speaking, writing, and listening. Development of advanced conversational skills needed to carry a discussion or to deliver a complex narrative. This course will be based on a wide variety of topics from everyday life to the discussion of political and cultural events. Russian culture and history surveyed briefly. Materials include Russian TV broadcast, newspapers, Internet, selected short stories by contemporary Russian writers. Offered each spring.
RUSS361 Literacy in Russian II
MWF 9-10AM KORSHUNOVA S
Prior language experience required. RUSS 361 is for students who have (i) successfully completed RUSS 360, (ii) speak Russian more or less fluently and have some basic reading and writing skills, or (iii) spent no more than six years in Russian school and wish to improve their reading and writing skills. Fulfulls Language Requirement.
RUSS508
Advanced Russian for Business
Prior language experience required. Instructor's
permission required. Prerequisites: at least one 400-level class.
TR 3-4:30PM BOURLATSKAYA M
This advanced language course focuses on developing effective oral and written communication skills for working in a Russian-speaking business environment. Students will discuss major aspects of Russian business today and learn about various Russian companies on the material of the current Russian business press. In addition, students will be engaged in a number of creative projects, such as business negotiation simulations, and simulation of creating a company in Russia.
Courses for Russian-Speaking Students
RUSS469
Russian Utopia in Literature, Film, and Politics
Class prerequisites: Russian 360
or at least five years of Russian formal schooling, or consent
of instructor). Conducted in Russian. Distribution Requirement
III: Arts & Letters
TR 1:30-3PM KORSHUNOVA S
In
this course we will undertake a fascinating journey to the Dreamland
of
Russian culture. Students will read and discuss Russian utopian
imagination as presented in a variety of literary texts, paintings,
musical works, films, as well as philosophical texts and economical
theories. Topics for discussion will include Russian fairy tales
and legends, religious prophesies and communist projects, history
and imagination, technological and patriarchal utopias.
Introductory and Survey Courses
RUSS107
Russian Outside the Classroom
Previous language experience required
TBA, please stand by for updates. YAKUBOVA
The goal of RUSS 107 is to provide students of Russian language and Russian heritage speakers with formalized opportunities to improve their conversation and comprehension skills while experiencing various aspects of Slavic culture. There will be no weekly assignments or readings, but all students will be expected to contribute at a level equivalent to their Russian-speaking abilities both in class and on the newsletter final project. The course consists of attending 2 out of 3 hrs/week of lunch-time conversation (W/Th 12-1:30) in addition to a tea-drinking hour in the department (F 4-5pm), film viewings, and a single outside cultural event (e.g., concert of Russian music at the Kimmel Center).
RUSS155
Russian Literature after 1870
All readings and lectures in English
Gen Req III: Arts & Letters
TR 3-4:30PM STEINER P
Major Russian writers in English translation: Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Pasternak, Babel, Solzhenitsyn, and others.
RUSS165
Russian and East European Film
All readings and lectures in English
Distribution III: Arts & Letters
Cross-listed with FILM265.401 and SLAV165
MW 2-3:30PM TODOROV V
The
purpose of this course is to present the Russian and East European
contribution to world cinema in terms of film theory, experimentation
with the cinematic language, and social and political reflex.
We discuss major themes and issues such as: the invention of
montage, the means of visual propaganda and the cinematic component
to the communist cultural revolutions, party ideology and practices
of social-engineering, cinematic response to the emergence of
the totalitarian state in Russia and its subsequent installation
in Eastern Europe after World War II; repression, resistance
and conformity under such a system; legal and illegal desires;
the nature of the authoritarian personality, the mind and the
body of the homo sovieticos; sexual
and political transgression; treason and disgrace; public degradation
and individual redemption; the profane and the sublime ends
of human suffering and humiliation; the unmasking of the official
"truth" as a general lie.
Intermediate
and Seminar Courses
RUSS201
Dostoevsky
All readings and lectures in English
Distribution III: Arts & Letters
Benjamin Franklin Seminars
MW 3:30-5PM VINITSKY I
This course explores Dostoevsky's opus and his legacy to 20th century writers, principally Franz Kafka, William Faulkner and Saul Bellow.
RUSS220
Russia and the West
All readings and lectures in English
Distribution II: History & Tradition
Cross-listed with HIST220 and COML220
MW 2-3:30PM VINITSKY I
This course will explore the representations of the West in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth- century Russian literature and philosophy. We will consider the Russian visions of various events and aspects of Western political and social life - Revolutions, educational system, public executions, resorts, etc. - within the context of Russian intellectual history. We will examine how the images of the West reflect Russia's own cultural concerns, anticipations, and biases, as well as aesthetic preoccupations and interests of Russian writers. The discussion will include literary works by Karamzin, Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Leskov, and Tolstoy, as well as non-fictional documents, such as travelers' letters, diaries, and historiosophical treatises of Russian Freemasons, Romantic and Positivist thinkers, and Russian social philosophers of the late Nineteenth century. A basic knowledge of Nineteenth- century European history is desirable. The class will consist of lecture, discussion, short writing assignments, and two in-class tests.
RUSS234
Medieval Rus': Literature and Culture
All readings and lectures in English
Distribution II: History & Tradition
Cross-listed with HIST219, SLAV517, and COML235
TR 1:30-3PM VERKHOLANTSEV J
Russian 234 offers an overview of the literary and cultural history of Medieval Rus' from its origins through the Late Middle Ages, a period which laid the foundation for the emergence of the Russian Empire. Three modern-day nation-states – Russia, Ukraine and Belarus – share and dispute the cultural heritage of Medieval Rus’, and their political relationships even today revolve around questions of national and cultural identity. The focus of the course will be on the Kievan and Muscovite traditions but we will also note the differences (and their causes) of the Ukrainian and Belarusian cultural histories. The course takes a comparative and interdisciplinary approach to the evolution of the main cultural paradigms of Russian Orthodoxy viewed in a broader European context. Students will explore the worldview of medieval Orthodox Slavs by delving into such topics as religion, spirituality, art, literature, education, music, ritual and popular culture.
The legacy of the Rus’ Middle Ages has a continuing cultural influence in modern Russia. This legacy is still referenced, often allegorically, in contemporary social and cultural discourse as the society attempts to reconstruct and reinterpret its history. Similarly, the study of the medieval cultural history of Rus’ explains many aspects of modern Russian society, and, in particular, the roots of its Imperial political mentality. Those interested in the intellectual and cultural history of Russia, and Eastern Europe in general, will find that this course greatly enhances their understanding of the region and its people.
RUSS275
Russian History in Film
Distribution III: Arts & Letters
Cross-listed with FILM265.402
MW 3:30-5PM TODOROV V
This course draws on the fictional, drama and cinematic representation of the Russian history based on Russian as well as non Russian sources and interpretations. The analysis targets major modes of imagining, such as narrating, showing and reenacting historical events, personae and epochs justified by different, historically mutating ideological postulates and forms of national self-consciousness. Common stereotypes of picturing Russia from "foreign" perspectives draw special attention. The discussion involves the following themes and outstanding figures: the mighty autocrats Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, and Catherine the Great; the tragic ruler Boris Godunov; the brazen rebel and royal impostor Pugachov; the notorious Rasputin, his uncanny powers, sex-appeal, and court machinations; Lenin and the October Revolution; images of war; the times of construction and the times of collapse of the Soviet Colossus.
RUSS299
Independent Study
See dept. for section numbers, permission
needed from instructor
RUSS399
Supervised Work
See Dept. for section numbers
Permission needed from instructor
RUSS417
Russian Modernism: Literature, Music & Visual Arts
Prerequisite(s): RUSS 312 or placement
exam. Conducted in Russian.
TR 1:30 - 3PM. SHARDAKOVA
This course continues developing students’ advanced skills in Russian, while closely studying a representative selection of texts from the modernist period. The course will explore central issues of the period, such as the relationship between literature and revolution, reconceptualizations of society, history and the self. Of particular interest will be authors’ experimentation in form and language in order to present afresh the experience of life. The textual study is combined with a general overview of the period, including reference to parallel trends in the visual arts, architecture and music, as well as contemporary intellectual movements. Principal writers studied will include Belyi, Sologub, Kuprin, Remizov, Pilnyak, Platonov, Olesha.
RUSS508
Advanced Russian for Business
Prior language experience required. Instructor's
permission required. Prerequisites: at least one 400-level class.
TR 3-4:30PM BOURLATSKAYA M
This advanced language course focuses on developing effective oral and written communication skills for working in a Russian-speaking business environment. Students will discuss major aspects of Russian business today and learn about various Russian companies on the material of the current Russian business press. In addition, students will be engaged in a number of creative projects, such as business negotiation simulations, and simulation of creating a company in Russia.
SLAV100
Slavic Civilization
All readings and lectures in English
Distribution Requirement II: History and Tradition Cross-listed
with HIST231
TR 10:30-12NOON VERKHOLANTSEV J
This introductory course examines selected topics in the cultural and political history of Slavic peoples. Topics include: the origins and pre-history of the Slavs, Slavic languages and literatures, religions of the Slavs (Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Protestantism), the origins of Slavic nationalism and Pan-Slavism, the formation of “ Eastern/Central Europe” and Slavic postmodernism. Nations to be studied: Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belarus, Russia. The course will combine lectures with discussions of literary texts in translation, film, music and art. All lectures and discussions are in English.
SLAV165
Russian and East European Film
All readings and lectures in English
Distribution III: Arts & Letters
Cross-listed with FILM265.401 and RUSS165
SLAV399 Independent Study
SLAV504
Intermediate Polish II
Offered through the Penn Language
Center
MW 6:30-8:30PM SACHS
E
SLAV533 Intermediate Czech II
Offered through Penn Language
Center
TR 6:30-8PM STEJSKAL
J
SLAV591 Elementary Ukrainian II
Offered through Penn Language Center
MR 5-7PM RUDNYTZKY
SLAV593 Intermediate
Ukrainian II
Offered through Penn Language Center
MR 7-9PM RUDNYTZKY
EEUR122 Elementary Hungarian II
TR
6-8PM MIZSEI A
EEUR124 Intermediate Hungarian II
TR 4:30-6PM MIZSEI A
RUSS002 Elementary Russian II
Non-CGS Students need permission from CGS
MW 6:30-9PM OLEINICHENKO
L
RUSS004 Intermediate Russian II
TR 5-7PM OLEINICHENKO L
RUSS126
Soviet Civilization and Its Legacy
Cross-listed
with HIST125.601
TR
5:30 - 7:30 PM KUPOVYKH M
This course will explore major issues of Russian and Soviet
history in the 20th century from a variety of sociological,
ethnographic and artistic perspectives. We will focus on Soviet
society as a particular way of life, a civilization in its own
right. As we read academic essays and short fiction stories,
as well as watch Soviet films, we will analyze Soviet utopian
projects, actual state policies, as well as everyday experiences
of living in the Soviet Union, from coping with the realities
of Stalinist terror to the techniques of procuring goods and
services. This course will also explore the global significance
and contemporary legacies of the Soviet social experiment and
way of life. The ultimate objective of the course is to come
up with a stock of analytical resources for independent critical
appraisal of the ongoing processes in the post-communist world.
RUSS430 Ethnic Conflict
in Film
Distribution II: History &
Tradition
Cross-listed with FILM365.601
M 5:30-8:30PM TODOROV V
This course studies the cinematic representation of civil wars, ethnic conflicts, nationalistic doctrines, and genocidal policies. The focus is on the violent developments that took place in Russia and on the Balkans after the collapse of the Soviet Bloc and were conditioned by the new geopolitical dynamics that the fall of communism had already created. We study media broadcasts, documentaries, feature films representing the Eastern, as well as the Western perspective. The films include masterpieces such as “Time of the Gypsies”, "Underground", "Prisoner of the Mountains", "Before the Rain", "Behind Enemy Lines", and others.
RUSS432
Fate and Chance in Literature and Film
Distribution III: Arts & Letters
Cross-listed with FILM365.602
T 5:30-8:30PM ZUBAREV V
Be a winner - manage all your situations and don’t let a pure chance to govern your life! With a chain of literary characters as a vivid illustration, you will explore a mysterious world of fate and chance and learn about various interpretations of the forces ruling human life. Slavic and Greek mythology, as well as folklore and modern literary works of Russian and Western writers and cinematographers will assist you in your journey to the world of supernatural. Screenings will include Zeffirelli’s and Luhrman’s Romeo and Juliet.
RUSS502
Elementary Russian II
Permission Needed From Department.
Cross-listed with RUSS-002
MW 6:30-9PM OLEINICHENKO L
SLAV220
Poets, Priests and Politicians: An Intellectual History of Modern
Ukraine
Permission Needed From
Department.
Cross-listed with HIST218
W 5:30-8:30PM RUDNYTZKY L
The course is a one-semester survey of literary, philosophical, political and socio-religious issues in Ukraine from the end of the 18 th to the beginning of the 21 st century. Its goal is to introduce students to an understanding of individual and collective thought in Ukrainian history and enable them to determine Ukraine ’s role in the making of contemporary Europe . Interdisciplinary in nature and comparative in methodology, the survey focuses on the principal works of imaginative literature and philosophical writings. Following a theoretical and historical introduction and placing the subject matter within the European context, selected works of Ukrainian classicism and romanticism will be analyzed and interpreted as roots of modern Ukrainian identity.
An attempt will be made to point out the elective affinities of Ukrainian intellectuals with their European counterparts and to demonstrate the organic unity of Ukraine ’s culture with that of Western Europe . The survey will conclude with an analysis of post-modernistic intellectual currents and intellectual life in Ukraine following the “Orange Revolution” of 2004/05.
