Global Arc

This course offers an introduction to contemporary Ukrainian literature. The political liberalization after the fall of the Soviet Union brought new freedoms of expression to the region but also an influx of globalization, consumerism, and capitalist modes of artistic production. We will examine how contemporary writers responded to communist and imperial legacies as they experimented with genres and carved out a new, national literature. We will also explore the interplay of regional, national, and linguistic identities. All works will be read in English.

The course will provide an overview of the most significant trends and periods in the development of Russian cinema from the 1960s until the latest blockbusters (2000s). The course will concentrate on the development of main genres and styles, major directors and productions, issues of art, race, gender, war and violence in Soviet, post-Soviet and new Russian cinema. All films will be screened with English subtitles.

What unites the diverse literary-philosophical movement of Existentialism is a focus on concrete human existence. While other schools of art and thought distract one from personal existence, Existentialism forces one to grapple personally with life's big questions. Franz Kafka puts it well: "A book must be the axe for the frozen sea within us." Course topics include desire, grief, deception, anxiety, despair, nihilism, authenticity, guilt, the leap of faith, the absurd, the problem of evil, death, and the meaningful life. With focus on Kierkegaard and Dostoevsky, readings also include Nietzsche, Tolstoy, Heidegger, Sartre, Camus, and Kafka.

Responding to the widespread injustices and social inequalities of their day, Russian writers turned to their literary craft to wrestle with the essential question: "What is to be done?" We will join our authors and the characters they create as they debate competing ideologies, struggle with timeless human questions, imagine more equitable ways of organizing society, and explore the ethical and moral concerns at the root of pressing social and political issues. How do Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and our other captivating writers confront the problems of their era and transform them into literary masterpieces that transcend time and place?

For several centuries, Siberia has enjoyed a reputation that is much worse than the place itself. Since the 17th century, Siberia has been the ultimate place of exile for criminals and dissidents. But Siberia is much more than a detention space. For ages Siberia provided an escape for those who found Russia's ruling regimes unbearable. Remote, severe, yet free, Siberia was Russia's Wild East - with plenty of land, no landlords, no serfdom, no censorship, and -often- with no law. The course explores Siberia's histories, myths, and memories - from the Siberia of nomadic tribes and Russian tsars to the Siberia of post-Soviet oil giants.

In this course we will analyze the culture of resistance in the post-World War II Eastern Europe. We will look through the lens of literature at the main political issues that afflicted Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and other countries in the second part of the 20th century. We will study texts (essays, memoirs, novels, short stories, plays, and poems) which offered various ways to resist moral and political oppression. The authors will include George Orwell, Franz Kafka (as a precursor), Hannah Arendt, Vaclav Havel, Tadeusz Borowski, Bertolt Brecht, Heda Kovaly, and others. All readings will be in English.

The course introduces students to stories that every Russian is exposed to as a child. Seemingly simple, these narratives bear deep cultural significance. We will sample a dozen of Russian fairy tales belonging to the oral tradition. We will also read and discuss two fairy tales by Alexander Pushkin, as well as short excerpts from the works by the foremost Russian scholar of folklore Vladimir Propp. Readings and discussion will be in Russian. This course is envisioned as both a language and literature course.

The course will trace the development of Russian science-fiction, moving chronologically from the early twentieth century through the Soviet period to the present. It will also serve as an introduction to Russian politics (since many of the works are profoundly political) and to Russia's great literary tradition (since science fiction was practiced not only by science fiction specialists, but by the foremost writers).

This course will examine themes that are paramount in our lives as individuals, communities, and societies¿illness and healing, caregiving, epidemics, the distinction between normal and pathological. Our reflections on ethics will feature stories and storytelling as an entry point. Why do doctors and patients need stories? How does storytelling illuminate medicine as a system of representation? What rhetorical devices are embedded in the way we conceive of sickness, well-being, and the medical institutions? We will address these questions and will explore the overlaps between medicine and storytelling within texts from all over the world.

Horror has clawed its way into critical recognition, but continues to challenge our understandings of genre, technique, and the purpose of art. Diverse and often entwined with the sibling genres of science fiction, fantasy, speculative fiction, and magical realism, this paradoxical art form presents us with conundrums. In this course, we will examine the horror genre through works of literature and film, with a focus on Russian-language works in dialogue with key works of the English-language tradition.