Global Arc

The course is primarily about War and Peace, framed by some earlier and later fiction and by Tolstoy's essays on art and religion. Tolstoy's radical ideas on narrative have a counterpart in his radical ideas on history, causation, and the formation of a moral self. Together, these concepts offer an alternative to "The Russian Idea," associated with Dostoevsky and marked by mysticism, apocalypse, and the crisis moment. To refute this idea, Tolstoy redefined the tasks of novelistic prose. Seminar.

A consideration of Dostoevsky's major works with particular emphasis upon their relation to the political, social, religious, and literary currents of his time. Knowledge of Russian not required. One three-hour seminar.

An examination of Nabokov's major accomplishments as a Russian/American novelist in the context of the Russian literary tradition and the cultural climate of emigration. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

An introduction to major Russian poets from Pushkin to the present. No prior knowledge of Russian literature is assumed. The focus of the course will be on close readings of individual poems, but the intention is, by generalization, to reach an understanding of the development of Russian literature as a whole. Readings in Russian, with discussion in English, and an optional hour for discussion in Russian. Prerequisites: RUS 207 (may be taken concurrently) or permission of instructor. Two 90-minute seminars.

Inspired by utopian ideas of equality and universal brotherhood, communism was conceived as an alternative to capitalism's crises. This attempt to build a new world was costly and brutal: equality was quickly transformed into uniformity; brotherhood morphed into the Big Brother. The course provides an in-depth review of these oscillations between utopian motivations and oppressive practices. It will present central players of Soviet Utopia: from Lenin to Malevich; from Stalin to Eisenstein. Major political texts, key cultural documents and films of the period help us trace the emergence and disappearance of commumist modernity.

On the basis of life and work of several prominent Jewish figures, the course will address history, art and politics of 20th century East-Central Europe. The reading list will include, chronologically, Franz Kafka, Rosa Luxemburg, Martin Buber, Hannah Arendt, Walter Benjamin, Michael Sebastian, Paul Celan, Marek Edelman, Marcel Reich-Ranicki, Ilya Ehrenburg, Joseph Brodsky and American intellectual Susan Sontag. The classes will combine the texts of the authors themselves and about them. Hannah Arendt's texts will be running throught the first half of the semester.

Taking as its foundation modern Church Slavonic, whose grammar and orthography will be studied in detail, this course will look back to the development of Old Church Slavonic as the first Slavic literary language, and, further, to Proto-Slavic. As we describe the development of Church Slavonic, we will also consider the historical development of the various Slavic languages, with special emphasis on Russian, and the influence of Church Slavonic forms on literary Russian. We will also touch on such aspects of Eastern Orthodox culture as liturgy, iconography, and music.

Orientation to the systematic study of human groups, institutions, and social interactions. Introduction to theories and research methods used in sociological investigations, and applied to a wide variety of topics, including family, education, work and religion, as well as dynamics of class, gender, race and ethnic inequalities. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

This course will examine the historic moment in which we are living in order to introduce students to the concept of race and discipline of sociology. Students will learn to study systematically how human groups interact with one another and how social networks and a variety of institutions help shape those interactions and outcomes. How are these interactions and outcomes categorized and understood? Where do different people fit into the social categories we use to make sense of our societies, and why? And how are different actors able to transform those spaces in which to fit?

An introduction to changing patterns of family structure, community life, economic relations, voluntary associations, moral beliefs and values, social and political movements, and other aspects of civil society and politics in the United States. Two lectures, one preceptorial.