Russian Language
Ukrainian Language
Czech Language
Polish Language
Introductory and
Survey Courses, Conducted in English
Intermediate and
Advanced Seminars, Conducted in English
Intermediate and
Advanced Seminars, Conducted in Russian
Courses for Students
Who Speak Russian at Home
Graduate Level Courses
Courses Offered
Through CGS
RUSS002 Elementary Russian II
Prior language study required
Prerequisite: RUSS 001
MWF 10-11AM, TR 10:30-11:30AM SHARDAKOVA M
MTWRF 3- 4PM OLEINICHENKO L
See "Courses Offered Through CGS" below for additional times.
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 study required
Prerequisite: RUSS 003 or placement exam
Fulfills Penn language requirement
MW 11AM-12PM, TR 10:30AM-11:30AM KORSHUNOVA S
MTWR 5-6PM OLEINICHENKO L
See "Courses Offered Through CGS" below for additional times.
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.
RUSS107 Russian Outside the Classroom I
Prior language experience required
Times: TBA (please stand by for updates) YAKUBOVA A
The goal of RUSS 107 is to provide students of Russian language and students who spoke Russian at home 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., a concert of Russian music at the Kimmel Center).
RUSS108 Russian Outside the Classroom II
Prior language experience required, instructor permission required
Times: TBA (please stand by for updates) YAKUBOVA A
RUSS312 Advanced Conversation & Composition II
Prior language study required
Prerequisite: RUSS311
MWF 12-1PM 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
Fulfills Penn language requirement
Prior language experience required
MWF 10-11AM KORSHUNOVA S
This course is a continuation of RUSS360. In some cases, students who did not take RUSS360 but have basic reading and writing skills may be permitted to enroll with the instructor's permission. Students who complete RUSS361 with a passing grade will satisfy the Penn Language Requirement.
RUSS417 Russian Modernism: Literature, Music & Visual Arts
Conducted in Russian
Prerequisite(s): RUSS 312 or placement exam
TR 12-1:30PM SHARDAKOVA M
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, Remizov, Andreev, Artsybashev, Gorky, Zamiatin, Pilnyak, Platonov, Zoschenko, Babel, Olesha, and Kharms.
RUSS470 Russian History in Animation
Prerequisite: Russian 361 or five or more years of Russian schooling,
or consent of instructor
Conducted in Russian
Cross-listed with CINE365
TR 12-1:30PM KORSHUNOVA S
This course is intended for students who have spoken Russian at home and seek to improve their capabilities in formal and professional uses of the Russian language. This course examines the development of Russian animation from 1912 to 2007. We will discuss Russian cartoons as a specific cultural phenomenon which tells us of aesthetic, ideological, social, and psychological issues in the Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. Students will watch and discuss various films, genres, and artistic styles considered within their actual historical context.
RUSS508 Advanced Russian for Business
Prior language study required
Prerequisites: at least one 400-level course or comparable prior language
experience
TR 1:30-3PM 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.
SLAV591 Elementary Ukrainian II
Offered through Penn Language Center
MW 5-7PM RUDNYTZKY
SLAV533 Intermediate Czech II
Offered through Penn Language Center
TR 6:30-8PM STEJSKAL J
SLAV504 Intermediate Polish II
Offered through Penn Language Center
TR 6:30-8PM WARCHOL K
Introductory and Survey Courses, Conducted in English
RUSS100 Once Upon a Fairy Tale: Introduction to Russian Culture
CANCELLED
Cross-Cultural Analysis: Class of '10 and After
All readings and lectures in English
Crosslisted with FOLK107
TR 1:30-3PM VERKHOLANTSEV J
The course provides an introduction to Russian culture
and society through the prism of fairy tale narratives. We will approach
Russian culture by studying how classic tales have been retold in a variety
of contexts: folklore, literature, art, music, opera, ballet, film, political
propaganda, etc. The appeal of fairy tales is universal. Do they seduce
our imagination through magic and the pleasure of escapism, or do they
fulfill some important social function, reflecting the national psyche
and giving it shape? Are they an escape from reality or a fundamental
part of it? The course also provides a general introduction to the study
of folklore, fairy tales and mythology from a variety of theoretical and
comparative perspectives. We will begin with the study of the classic
Russian fairy tales and the examination of the religious background of
Russian culture. We will then study how the Russian classic authors in
the nineteenth century incorporated and enriched these tales and legends.
Finally, we will learn how the genre of fairy tale was used in the twentieth
century, both by the Soviet authorities in their efforts to educate the
masses, and by critical and dissident voices who turned these "innocent"
stories into tools for disguised criticism and satire. Like Russians,
we will "read between the lines" of a thought-provoking history
of fairy tales, fantastic stories, legends and myths as we will learn
about cultural and social
values of the society that created them.
RUSS 125 The Adultery Novel and Film Adaptation
Arts and Letters Sector (All Classes)
All readings and lectures in English
Cross-list: COML 127, GSOC 125, CINE 125
TR 10:30AM - 12PM PLATT
The course examines a series of 19C and 20C novels (and a few short stories)
about adultery, film adaptations of several of these novels, and several
adultery films in their own right. Our reading will teach us about novelistic
traditions of the period in question, about the relationship of Russian
literature to the European models to which it responded. about adaptation
and the implications of filmic vs. literary representation. Course readings
include: Laclos' Dangerous Liaisons, Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Tolstoy's
Anna Karenina, Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, and
other works. Films include: Frears' Dangerous Liaisons, Vadim's Dangerous
Liaisons, Nichols' The Graduate, Mikhalkov's Dark Eyes, and others. Students
will apply various critical approaches in order to place adultery into
its aesthetic, social and cultural context, including: sociological descriptions
of modernity, Marxist examinations of family as a social and economic
institution, Freudian/ Psychoanalytic interpretations of family life and
transgressive sexuality, and Feminist work on the construction of gender.
RUSS 136 Portraits of Russian Society: Art, Fiction, Drama
Humanities and Social Sciences Sector (New Curriculum Only)
All readings and lectures in English
Cross-list: HIST 047
TR 12 - 1:30PM PLATT
This course covers 19C Russian cultural and social history. Each week-long unit is organized around a single medium-length text (novella, play, memoir) which opens up a single "scene" of social history-birth, death, duel, courtship, tsar, and so on. Each of these main texts is accompanied by a set of supplementary materials-paintings, historical readings, cultural-analytical readings, excerpts from other literary works, etc. The object of the course is to understand the social codes and rituals that informed nineteenth-century Russian life, and to apply this knowledge in interpreting literary texts. We will attempt to understand social history and literary interpretation as separate disciplines-yet also as disciplines that can inform one another. In short: we will read the social history through the text, and read the text against the social history.
RUSS155 Russian Literature after 1870
Cross-Cultural Analysis (Class of '10 & and After)
Arts and Letters Sector (All Classes)
All readings and lectures in English
TR 3-4:30PM STEINER P
Major Russian writers in English translation: Tolstoy, Chekhov, Pasternak, Babel, Solzhenitsyn, and others.
RUSS165 Russian and East European Film
Distribution III: Arts & Letters (Class of '09 and Prior)
All readings and lectures in English
Cross-listed with CINE265 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 soveticus; 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 Advanced Seminars, Conducted in English
RUSS201 Dostoevsky
Distribution III: Arts & Letters (Class of '09 and Prior)
Benjamin Franklin Seminar
All readings and lectures in English
MW 3:30-5PM VINITSKY I
This course explores the ways Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) portrays the "inner world(s)" of his characters. Dostoevsky's psychological method will be considered against the historical, ideological, and literary contexts of mid- to late- nineteenth century Russia. The course consists of three parts - External World (the contexts of Dostoevsky), "Inside" Dostoevsky's World (the author's technique and ideas) and The World of Text (close reading of Crime and Punishment and The Brothers Karamazov). Students will write three essays on various aspects of Dostoevsky's "spiritual realism."
RUSS220 Russia and the West
Humanities and Social Sciences Sector (New Curr Only)
Cross-Cultural Analysis - Class of '10 and After
All readings and lectures in English
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 Russia: Origins of Russian Cultural Identity
CANCELLED
Distribution II, History & Tradition (Class of '09 and prior)
Cross-Cultural Analysis (Class of '10 and after)
All readings and lectures in English
Cross-listed with HIST219, SLAV517, and COML235
TR 4:30-6PM 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 (Class of '09 and Prior)
All readings and lectures in English
Cross-listed with CINE265
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.
RUSS430 Ethnic Conflict in Film
Distribution II: History & Tradition (Class of '09 and Prior)
Offered through CGS
Cross-listed with CINE365
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 (Class of '09 and Prior)
All readings and lectures in English
Cross-listed with CINE365.602 and COML196
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.
Intermediate and Advanced Seminars, Conducted in Russian
RUSS402 Pushkin
Distribution III: Arts & Letters (Class of '09 and prior)
Literatures of the World Sector
Cross-cultural Analysis - Class of '10 and After
Prerequisite: RUSS 312 or placement test
Crosslisted with COLL220
TR 10:30AM - 12PM STEINER
The writer's lyrics, narrative poems, and drama.
RUSS417 Russian Modernism: Literature, Music & Visual Arts
Conducted in Russian
Prerequisite(s): RUSS 312 or placement exam
TR 12-1:30PM SHARDAKOVA M
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, Remizov, Andreev, Artsybashev, Gorky, Zamiatin, Pilnyak, Platonov, Zoschenko, Babel, Olesha, and Kharms.
RUSS470 Russian History in Animation
Prerequisite: Russian 361 or five or more years of Russian schooling,
or consent of instructor
Conducted in Russian
Cross-listed with CINE365
TR 12-1:30PM KORSHUNOVA S
This course is intended for students who have spoken Russian at home and seek to improve their capabilities in formal and professional uses of the Russian language. This course examines the developments of Russian animation from 1912 to 2007. We will discuss Russian cartoons as a specific cultural phenomenon which tells us of aesthetic, ideological, social, and psychological issues in the Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. Students will watch and discuss various films, genres, and artistic styles considered within their actual historical context.
RUSS508 Advanced Russian for Business
Prior language study required
Prerequisites: at least one 400-level course or comparable prior language
experience
TR 1:30-3PM 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 Students Who Speak Russian at Home
RUSS361 Literacy in Russian II
Prior language experience required
MWF 10-11AM KORSHUNOVA S
This course is a continuation of RUSS360. In some cases, students who did not take RUSS360 but have basic reading and writing skills may be permitted to enroll with the instructor's permission. Students who complete RUSS361 with a passing grade will satisfy the Penn Language Requirement.
RUSS402 Pushkin
Distribution III: Arts & Letters (Class of '09 and prior)
Literatures of the World Sector
Cross-cultural Analysis - Class of '10 and After
Prerequisite: RUSS 312 or placement test
Crosslisted with COLL220
TR 10:30AM - 12PM STEINER
The writer's lyrics, narrative poems, and drama.
RUSS470 Russian History in Animation
Prerequisite: Russian 361 or five or more years of Russian schooling,
or consent of instructor
Conducted in Russian
Cross-listed with CINE365
TR 12-1:30PM KORSHUNOVA S
This course is intended for students who have spoken Russian at home and seek to improve their capabilities in formal and professional uses of the Russian language. This course examines the developments of Russian animation from 1912 to 2007. We will discuss Russian cartoons as a specific cultural phenomenon which tells us of aesthetic, ideological, social, and psychological issues in the Soviet and post-Soviet Russia. Students will watch and discuss various films, genres, and artistic styles considered within their actual historical context.
RUSS508 Advanced Russian for Business
Prior language study required.
Prerequisites: at least one 400-level course or comparable prior language
experience.
TR 1:30-3PM 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.
RUSS508 Advanced Russian for Business
Prior language study required
Prerequisites: at least one 400-level course or comparable prior language
experience
TR 1:30-3PM 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.
SLAV517 Medieval Russia: Origins of Russian Cultural Identity
CANCELLED
All readings and lectures in English
Cross-listed with HIST219, RUSS234, and COML235
TR 4:30-6PM VERKHOLANTSEV J
Graduate section of RUSS234. Additional readings, assignments and meetings will be arranged for graduate students. The course 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.
RUSS002 Elementary Russian II
Prior language study required
Prerequisite: RUSS 001
Non-CGS Students need permission from CGS
MW 6:30-9PM OLEINICHENKO L
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 study required
Prerequisite: RUSS 003 or placement exam
Fulfills Penn language requirement
TR 5-7PM 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.
RUSS430 Ethnic Conflict in Film
Distribution II: History & Tradition (Class of '09 and Prior)
Cross-listed with CINE365
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 (Class of '09 and Prior)
All readings and lectures in English
Cross-listed with CINE365.602 and COML196
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.
