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Welcome to Russian at Swarthmore College!

The Russian Federation is a huge and varied country with a long and complex history, unequaled cultural treasures (literature, ballet, folklore, cuisine) and great natural beauty. Study of Russian at Swarthmore offers entry to this culture and place, whose world importance is evolving and continuing over time. The Russian language is particularly satisfying to anyone who loves beautiful and intricate systems, making its study a pleasure on its own terms.

Why Study Russian?

 

FEATURED COURSES Spring 2010

 

RUSS 102. Russian Short Story

Counterpoint to the sprawling Russian novel, the short story in Russia possesses a long and distinguished pedigree. Russian writers have used the genre to create polished and brilliant gems demonstrating the possibilities of character development, voice, plot, and the right exposition of ideas in prose. This seminar will explore a selection of examples from the likes of Pushkin, Chekhov, Zoshchenko, Bulgakov, Nabokov, and others. Conducted in Russian.
2 credits. (Rojavin)

 

 

RUSS 021. Dostoevsky (in translation)

(Cross-listed as LITR 021R)

Writer, gambler, publicist, and visionary Fedor Dostoevsky is one of the great writers of the modern age. His work influenced Nietzsche, Freud, Woolf, and others and continues to exert a profound influence on thought in our own society to the present. Dostoevsky confronts the “accursed questions” of truth, justice, and free will set against the darkest examples of human suffering: murder, suicide, poverty, addiction, and obsession. Students will consider artistic, philosophical, and social questions through texts from throughout Dostoevsky’s career. Students with knowledge of Russian may read some or all of the works in the original.

1 credit. (Johnson)

 

RUSS 047. Russian Fairy Tales

(Cross-listed as LITR 047R)

Folk beliefs are a colorful and enduring part of Russian culture. This course introduces a wide selection of Russian fairy tales in their esthetic, historical, social and psychological context. We will trace the continuing influence of fairy tales and folk beliefs in literature, music, visual arts, and film. The course also provides a general introduction to study and interpretation of folklore and fairy tales, approaching Russian tales against the background of the Western fairytale tradition (the Grimms, Perrault, Disney, etc.). No fluency in Russian is required, though students with adequate language preparation may do some reading in the original.

1 credit. (Johnson)

 

FEATURED COURSES Fall 2009

 

LITR 013R. The Russian Novel

(Cross-listed as RUSS 013, Writing course)

The Russian novel represents Russia’s most fundamental contribution to world culture. This course surveys classic authors and experimental works from the 19th and 20th centuries. Students in the course will deepen their understanding of the context for writers, including Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. They will gain familiarity with literary movements and genres including romanticism, realism, the psychological novel, the picaresque novel, modernism, and the postmodern as they developed in Russia. We will highlight issues including the relationship of Russia to the West, national identity, and the complex relationship of literature and politics.
No prerequisite.
1 credit. Johnson

 

LITR 015R. First Year Seminar: East European Prose in Translation

(Cross-listed as RUSS 015, Writing course)

Novels and stories by the most prominent 20th-century writers of this multifaceted and turbulent region. Analysis of individual works and writers with the purpose of appreciating the religious, linguistic, and historical diversity of Eastern Europe in an era of war, revolution, political dissent, and outstanding cultural and intellectual achievement. Readings, lectures, writing and discussion in English; qualified students may do some readings in the original language(s). Writing-intensive course limited to 15 students.
Writing course.

1 credit. Forrester

 

LITR 025R. The Poet and Power

(Cross-listed as RUSS 025)

This course will explore Russian literature in its cultural and historical contexts. In Russia, a poet has always been a voice, a herald of freedom or non-conformism, if not an envoy of the regime. The poet is also a philosopher and a thinker. Students will read Russian literary texts from the early 18th century through the beginning of the 21st century. The circle will begin with Lomonosov, whose poetry glorified the Tsarinas. We will continue with censored works by Pushkin, Griboedov, Chaadaev, Gogol, Akhmatova, Chukovskaya, Solzhenitsyn and others who underwent political or social censure from the Russian or Soviet state. The circle comes to an end with postmodernist Pelevin, who was neither harassed nor arrested for his prose—we will face a new phenomenon for Russia, where during the last decade literature exists independently from power, in a parallel world. We will also read excerpts from Russian thinkers whose philosophical and literary works shaped the role of the poet: Chaadaev’s First Philosophical Letter, Belinsky’s Letter to Gogol, Dostoyevsky’s Grand Inquisitor, Solovyov’s What is Russia? These texts raise and discuss in particular the problems of Christianity, Russia’s uniqueness and her place in the world, and Russian identity.

1 credit. Rojavin

 

RUSS 025A. The Poet and Power - Attachment

1 credit. Rojavin

 

 

 

FEATURED COURSES

pushkin

LITR 026R. Russian and East European Science Fiction

Science fiction enjoyed surprisingly high status in Russia and Eastern Europe, attracting such prominent mainstream writers as Karel ?apek, Mikhail Bulgakov, and Evgenii Zamiatin. In the post-Stalinist years of stagnation, science fiction provided a refuge from stultifying official Socialist Realism for authors like Stanis?aw Lem and the Strugatsky brothers. This course will concentrate on 20th century science fiction (translated from Czech, Polish, Russian and Serbian) with a glance at earlier influences and attention to more recent works, as well as to Western parallels and contrasts.

No prerequisites.
1 credit. Forrester

 

soviet posterLITR 041R. War and Peace in Russian Literature and Culture

(Cross-listed as RUSS 041)

This exciting course explores Russian literary and cinematic responses to the ravages of war and revolution, heroic and bloody conflicts which repeatedly devastated the country throughout its long and tumultuous history. We will read a variety of texts dealing with wars in the Middle Ages, the Napoleonic invasion, the Revolution of 1917, the Civil War, World War II and the present-day conflict in Chechnya, and explore how individual writers portrayed the calamity of war and its devastating effect on people’s lives, while expressing hope for ever-elusive peace and prosperity. Works to be read include Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Bulgakov’s White Guard, Grossman’s Life and Fate, Babel’s Red Cavalry, and Akhmatova’s Poem Without a Hero. Films to be screened include Alexander Nevsky, Battleship Potemkin, Ballad of a Soldier, My Name is Ivan, and Prisoner of the Mountains. All readings and discussion will be in English. All films will be screened with English subtitles.

1 credit. Staff

 

soviet posterRUSS 104. Dostoevsky.

Students will read the works of this compelling visionary in the original Russian. The course will survey key works from Dostoevsky’s oeuvre, examining Dostoevsky’s use of language and his literary style. Dostoevsky’s art and ideas will be discussed in the context of major critical works by Mikhail Bakhtin and others.

2 credits.
Staff


 

FEATURED COURSES FALL 2009

pushkin

Russian 013: The Russian Novel

(Cross-listed as LITR 013R)
The Russian novel represents Russia's most fundamental contribution to world culture. This course surveys classic authors and experimental works from the 19th and 20th centuries. Students in the course will deepen their understanding of the context for writers, including Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. They will gain familiarity with literary movements and genres including romanticism, realism, the psychological novel, the picaresque novel, modernism, and the postmodern as they developed in Russia. We will highlight issues including the relationship of Russia to the West, national identity, and the complex relationship of literature and politics.

1 credit.
Fall 2009. Johnson.

 

soviet posterRussian 105: Literature of the Soviet Period

This course treats the literature associated with one of the most remarkable social experiments in human history. Students will examine the relation of literature to ideology and social reality based on a selection of works reflecting the avant-garde experimentation of the 1920s, the official doctrine of Socialist Realism, underground and émigré literature, and/or literature addressing the historical situation and the legacy of Stalinism.

2 credits.
Rojavin.

 

soviet posterRussian 70: Translation Workshop

(Cross-listed as LING 070 and LITR 070R)
This workshop in literary translation will concentrate on both theory and practice, working in poetry, prose, and drama as well as editing. Students will participate in an associated series of bilingual readings and will produce a substantial portfolio of work. Students taking the course for linguistics credit will write a final paper supported by a smaller portfolio of translations. No prerequisites exist, but excellent knowledge of a language other than English (equivalent to a 004B course at Swarthmore or higher) is highly recommended or, failing that, access to at least one very patient speaker of a foreign language.

1 credit.
Forrester.