[German, Russian, and East Asian Languages and Literature]

Cross-listed Courses. Note that unless otherwise specified, when a department/program references a course or unit in the department/program, it includes courses and units cross-listed with the department/program.

Major Requirements. Students may major in either Russian literature and culture or Russian studies. The department expects students in either field of study to have broad exposure to Russian language and culture, and strongly encourages majors to spend some portion of an academic year in Russia by the end of the junior year.

To fulfill the major in Russian literature and culture, students complete any seven courses from the language sequence and four courses from the literature/culture offerings. Majors may substitute one related course in either political science or history for a literature/culture course.

To fulfill the requirements for Russian studies, students complete eleven courses: five from the language sequence, Political Science 232, History 222, any Russian literature/culture course, and three electives from the offerings in Russian literature/culture or History 221.

Students may petition to have appropriate Short Term unit(s) count toward either major. Students in either field of study have the option of writing a senior thesis or taking a comprehensive examination some time during their last semester (comprehensive examinations are based on the student's course work).

Pass/Fail Grading Option. Pass/fail grading may be elected for courses applied toward the major or secondary concentration.

Courses

RUSS 101-102. Elementary Russian I and II. An introduction to Russian language and culture with an emphasis on communicative skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students also experience the variety and richness of modern Russia through authentic texts including music, film and television excerpts, and selected items from recent newspapers. Conducted in Russian. Normally offered every year. D. Browne.

RUSS 105. Fantasy and Realism in Russian Literature. Russian writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries sought to probe human dilemmas and invited self-examination. Their works reveal a disturbing world of the uncanny populated by murderous doubles, bloodthirsty vampires, ghosts, talking animals, and other diabolical creatures existing side by side and interacting with the everyday world around us. These works challenge our imagination and posit the questions: Can the real and the fantastic be defined as two different streams or one? Can fantasy sometimes reveal more about reality than realistic prose? Authors include Gogol, Pushkin, Lermontov, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Nabokov, Bulgakov, Makanin, and Pelevin. Conducted in English; advanced students are expected to do some readings in Russian. Offered with varying frequency. M. Pesenson.

ES/RU 216. "Nature" in Russian Culture. How does a given culture understand and represent its relationship to the specific geography of its place in the world? This course explores the cultural landscape of Russia through a broad range of literary works, visual images, and ethnographic studies. Students examine some of the following issues: the relationship between geography and national identity; the political uses of cultural landscape; the interaction of agriculture, official religion, and traditional belief in peasant culture; and the role of class and revolutionary reimaginings of nature in the Soviet era. Conducted in English. Not open to students who have received credit for Environmental Studies 314 or Russian 314. Normally offered every other year. J. Costlow. Course renumbered from 314 to 216 beginning Fall 2004.

RUSS 125. Modern Russia through Film and Fiction. This course explores Russia in the twentieth century through short fiction, memoir, and film. From avant-garde film explorations of the revolutionary era to the aesthetic and moral quests of post-Stalinist filmmakers; from women's accounts of life in the thirties to post-Soviet writers' attempts to find new foundations for Russia without communism; from the official optimism of the thirties to the tragic heroism of World War II, this course offers students a chance to learn more about the Soviet experiment, its achievements and costs. Conducted in English. Offered with varying frequency. J. Costlow.

RUSS 201-202. Intermediate Russian I and II. A continuation of Russian 101-102 focusing on vocabulary acquisition and greater control of more complex and extended forms of discourse. Greater emphasis is placed on students' creative use of Russian to express themselves orally and in writing. Prerequisite(s): Russian 102. Conducted in Russian. Open to first-year students. Normally offered every year. J. Costlow.

RUSS 240. Women and Russia. How have Russian women left their mark on the twentieth century — and how has it shaped their lives? Why are contemporary Russian women — inheritors of a complicated legacy of Soviet "emancipation" — so resistant to Western feminism? What sources of nourishment and challenge do Russian women find in their own cultural traditions? This course examines some of the great works of twentieth-century Russian writing — autobiography, poetry, novellas, and short fiction — and considers central representations of women in film, in order to understand how women have lived through the upheavals of what Anna Akhmatova called the "true twentieth century." Conducted in English. Open to first-year students. Normally offered every other year. J. Costlow.

RUSS 261. Russian Culture. A topical survey of Russian culture as realized in a number of social institutions including the family, the church, the popular media, and the arts. Particular attention is given to texts emphasizing both the real and imagined role the urban environment plays in shaping Russian identity. Conducted in English. Open to first-year students. Offered with varying frequency. D. Browne.

RUSS 270. Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature. Russia's great prose writers raise "accursed questions" about social justice, religious truth, and the meanings of life. Their critiques of modernity and vividly imagined and often unorthodox characters continue to resonate and challenge. Readings are drawn from such writers as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Gogol, Pushkin and Chekhov. Conducted in English. Open to first-year students. Normally offered every other year. J. Costlow.

RUSS 271. Modern Russian Literature. The Devil comes to Soviet Moscow to do good! A cosmonaut discovers that the Soviet space program is a hoax carried out underground! Jesus Christ leads a march through revolutionary St. Petersburg! Who needs fantastic realism? Russian writers of the twentieth century continued to build on a world-class literary tradition established in the nineteenth century. They did so as their country experienced unparalleled political and social revolutions, and even when they were directly targeted by one of the twentieth century's most powerful and terrifying political regimes. This course looks at ways in which writers have responded to political, social, and cultural upheaval, and how they provide spiritual strength to a beleaguered population. Conducted in English. Open to first-year students. Normally offered every other year. D. Browne.

RUSS 275. Literature and Politics in Russia. Since at least the eighteenth century, literature in Russia has been deeply intertwined with the political. Fiction and poetry have recorded meanings that state censorship outlawed; writers have used memoirs and literary reviews to discuss Russia's "accursed problems" — everything from serfdom and women's rights to anti-Semitism and the war in Afghanistan. This course explores the relationship between writers and politics, focusing on Russia's imperial presence in the Caucasus and Central Asia; the Bolshevik revolution and the inception of socialist realism; and post-Stalinist dissidence. Conducted in English. Open to first-year students. Normally offered every other year. J. Costlow.

RUSS 276. Dostoevsky and the Culture of Crisis. The works of Fyodor Dostoevsky describe a world on the edge of catastrophe or transformation, in which madmen, prostitutes, saints, and seekers lay claim to visions of revolution or redemption. This course introduces students to the work of Dostoevsky within the context of Russian cultural and political history. Reading includes two major novels (one of them being The Brothers Karamazov) and a selection of his shorter prose works, memoirs, and polemical pieces. Conducted in English. Open to first-year students. Normally offered every other year. J. Costlow.

RUSS 301-302. Advanced Russian I and II. This sequence completes the essentials of contemporary colloquial Russian. Students read short unabridged texts in both literary and journalistic styles, and write one- and two-page papers on a variety of topics. Conducted in Russian. Prerequisite(s): Russian 202. Open to first-year students. Normally offered every year. D. Browne.

RUSS 306. Advanced Russian Culture and Language. This course develops oral fluency and aural acuity as well as reading and writing skills through directed and spontaneous classroom activities and individual and collaborative written assignments. Conversations and compositions are based on literary and nonliterary texts, feature films, and documentary films. Prerequisite(s): Russian 202. Open to first-year students. Offered with varying frequency. M. Pesenson.

RUSS 360. Independent Study. Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study per semester. Normally offered every semester. Staff.

RUSS 365. Special Topics. Designed for the small seminar group of students who may have particular interests in areas of study that go beyond the regular course offerings. Periodic conferences and papers are required. Conducted in Russian. Written permission of the instructor is required. Offered with varying frequency. Staff.

RUSS 401-402. Contemporary Russian I and II. The course is designed to perfect students' ability to understand and speak contemporary, idiomatic Russian. Included are readings from Aksyonov, Dovlatov, Shukshin, and Baranskaya and viewings of contemporary Russian films. Conducted in Russian. Prerequisite(s): Russian 302. Normally offered every year. Staff.

RUSS 457, 458. Senior Thesis. Open only to senior majors, with departmental permission. Students register for Russian 457 in the fall semester and for Russian 458 in the winter semester. Before registering for 457 or 458 a student must present to the department an acceptable plan, including an outline and a tentative bibliography, after discussion with a department member. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both Russian 457 and 458. Normally offered every year. Staff.

Short Term Units

ES/RU s20. Environment and Culture in Russia. This unit introduces a broad range of environmental issues in contemporary Russia, and invites students to consider those issues in cultural and historical context. Students spend three and one-half weeks at different locations in European Russia and the Urals, visiting sites ranging from newly privatized farms and peasant markets to industrial centers and conservation areas. A period of intensive preparation at Bates is followed by visits and conversations in Russia that acquaint students with ecologists, activists, governmental officials, and ordinary Russian citizens. Recommended background: one course in Russian studies or environmental studies. Enrollment limited to 12. Written permission of the instructor is required. Offered with varying frequency. J. Costlow.

RUSS s22. Tolstoy's War and Peace. An intensive reading of the novel as fiction and history. Supplementary readings include basic criticism, history, memoirs, letters, and other primary documents. The novel is read in English. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 15. Offered with varying frequency. Staff.

RUSS s24. Rock: The Triumph of Vulgarity. "America has perfected the rites of vulgar Romantic pantheism. It gives them to an astonished world. And the music of its ritual is rock" (Robert Pattison, The Triumph of Vulgarity). Through individual and collaborative work, students in this unit test Pattison's hypothesis that the aesthetic of rock is that of vulgar Romanticism triumphant. They also examine the nature of rock in the non-English-speaking world: is rock the "McMusic" of the early twenty-first century? Materials for the unit include texts, documentaries, fiction films, and ear-splitting rock and roll. Knowledge of a foreign language and culture is desirable, but not a requirement. Open to first-year students. Offered with varying frequency. D. Browne.

RUSS s50. Independent Study. Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study during a Short Term. Normally offered every semester. Staff.

[German, Russian, and East Asian Languages and Literature]

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