RUSE

Subject

RUSE

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

RUSE

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

RUSE

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

RUSE

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Subject

RUSE

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

CONCENTRATION REQUIREMENTS IN EUROPEAN STUDIES Five courses must be organized around a particular theme that should be chosen in consultation with a European Studies advisor. Students are encouraged to pursue genuinely transnational studies or studies of European institu- tions and ideas across time. But if a student wishes to concentrate on a particular European society, or a particular period in European history, such concentrations can be accommodated. Concentrations ought to be as multidisci- plinary as possible. Within the five courses that make up the concentration, students are required to select courses from at least three different departments.

Subject

RUSE

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

of the world might think? This course explores American culture and identify through readings and films by American and Russian poets, novelists, and directors. From Red scares through the Cold War and Evil Empire all the way to the New Russians, twentieth-and twenty-first-century Americans and Russians have shared a deep mutual fascina- tion, and have often defined themselves via contrast with the forbidding, alluring Other. We will study travelogues, memoirs, novels, stories, and films by artists as diverse as John Steinbeck, Langston Hughes, Gary Shteyngart, Ellen Litman, and Aleksei Balabanov, using these works to refine our own understanding of American culture. All readings and discussions will be in English. Register for either AMST 206 (prerequisite: AMST 100) or RUSE 206 (prerequisite: RUSE 112 or HIST 263) or permission. RUSE 207 Chekhov and His Legacy Anton Chekhov stands not only as one of Russia’s best-known writers, but also as a key figure for our understanding of modernity. His innovations as a short story writer and as a playwright con- tributed significantly to stylistic trends of the twentieth century. Chekhov’s works stem from a modernist sensibility and a uniquely independent spirit, and they allow us to understand his attitude toward the state of Russian society of his day. Moreover, Chekhov’s works continue to influence writers not only in Russia, but also but also in America and in other parts of the English-speaking world. This course will examine Chekhov’s short stories from a number of HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 371 2023 - 2024 CATALOGUE

Subject

RUSE

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Russian culture. During the Soviet push toward modernization, rocket ships and extraterrestrial beings inspired audiences to reach “ever higher.” Yet the tradition first surfaced in Russia much earlier, with the fantastical tales of 19th-century giants Pushkin and Gogol, and it is enjoying a popular resurgence today, in the post-Soviet period. This course presents an overview of Russian science fiction and fantasy literature. Students explore how science fiction and fantasy relate to the Russian cultural and historical context, and how they portray an ideological stance. They will study the genre’s origins in socialist utopian philosophy, its flowering during the early twentieth century, and its recent reawakening since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Key questions include how technological advancement challenges social norms; how science and fantasy relate to spiritual life; how technological utopias come into being; and how technological utopias can become dystopias. Materials include stories, films, and novels from the 19th cen- tury through the present day, with special emphasis on science fiction in the Soviet period. All materials and discus- sions will be in English. There are no prerequisites. RUSE 237 Russian Folklore In this course, students survey the wealth of Russian and Slavic folk tales, epic songs, leg- ends, riddles and other elements of the oral tradition, as well as the later literatures these genres inspired. Students examine characters such as the Firebird, Baba-Yaga the witch, Koshchei the Deathless, and Ilya Muromets. Materials are not restricted to the printed word, and include art and music arising from the Russian folk tradition. There are no prerequisites and no knowledge of Russian language or culture is presumed. RUSE 251 Sexuality, Power and Creativity in Russian Literature In the 20th century, Russia’s “other voices” contin- ued to express the souls and spirit of individual men and women, but now under the profound impact of historical events from revolution and world wars through glasnost, perestroika, and the post-Soviet transition. Witnessing and experiencing great suffering, these heroic writers could neither remain silent under censorship nor write the socialist realist propaganda dictated by the Soviet government. Topics include Russian perceptions of male/female, mascu- linity/femininity; the female voice; the tension between poet and muse; gender bending; understandings of sexuality in the early Soviet period; the breaking of sexual mores during Glasnost; and how current Russian debates on gender and sexuality cite and relate to this cultural heritage. Open to students of all levels. There are no prerequisites. RUSE 351 Sexuality, Power and Creativity in Russian Literature In the 20th century, Russia’s “other voices” contin- ued to express the souls and spirit of individual men and women, but now under the profound impact of historical events from revolution and world wars through glasnost, perestroika, and the post-Soviet transition. Witnessing and experiencing great suffering, these heroic writers could neither remain silent under censorship nor write the socialist realist propaganda dictated by the Soviet government. Topics include Russian perceptions of male/female, mascu- linity/femininity; the female voice; the tension between poet and muse; gender bending; understandings of sexu- ality in the early Soviet period; the breaking of sexual mores during Glasnost; and how current Russian debates on gender and sexuality cite and relate to this cultural heritage. For Russian Area Studies majors; Gender, Sexuality, and Intersectional Justice majors; or by permission of the instructor.

Subject

RUSE

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 294

Subject

RUSE

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

RUSE 353 / AMST 353 Russian-American Writers

Subject

RUSE

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

Debutante’s Handbook (Shteyngart, 2002), a new generation of Russians writing in English arrived on the American literary scene. The course introduces this diverse group of writers and the giants, Nabokov and Brodsky, from whose shadow they emerged. The writers share a first language (Russian), a language of composition (English), and a path through global space (Russia or Soviet Union -> United States). Readings cover a range of literary genres (novel, including the graphic novel; short story; autobiography; memoir) and will be supplemented by author interviews and critical literature. The readings supply multiple models for constructing, or re-constructing, identity (linguistic, na- tional, ethnic). We will consider questions of intertextuality (Reyn, Ulinich, Shteyngart), the diasporic intimacy of the Russian-Jewish-American immigrant community (Litman, Vapnyar, Fishman), the alienation experienced by immigrant characters and writers (Akhtiorskaya, Shteyngart, Gmshin), and the process of telling, retelling, or eliding the Soviet past (Brodsky, Gorokhova, Fishman, Nabokov, Shteyngart). The course is designed to improve students’ critical reading, writing, and literary analysis skills, and introduce them to literature of the Russian diaspora in the U.S. and to one facet of the literature of the American immigrant experience. Pre-requisite: ONE of AMST 101, AMST 206, ENG 152, ENG 170, any RUSE course, or permission of the instructor. HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 372 2023 - 2024 CATALOGUE

Subject

RUSE

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu

minors in Russian Area Studies (both the History & Society and Language & Culture tracks), this seminar provides a capstone experience. The seminar will engage students in current scholarship across the disciplines of Russian Area Studies and enhance student’ approach to research. Each seminar will be based upon fictional (novels, stories, plays, films) and non-fictional (memoirs, speeches, newspapers, journals, documents) works relating to a central theme, which will change from year to year. The seminar will explore a variety of approaches to the theme, with special attention to the sub-fields of greatest interest to class members. Other Russian Area Studies faculty will be invited to lead a session of the seminar, giving participants immediate access to a variety of disciplinary approaches (political science, economics, history, Musicology, literary criticism) to the theme. Students will identify, assign, and lead dis- cussions of critical and contextual sources, and will develop and complete a research paper. In addition to discuss- ing our key texts, we will devote class time to critiquing current scholarship, developing research methods, articu- lating a research project, workshopping/revising the seminar paper, and honing presentation skills. Potential themes include: Soviet culture and society during the Second World War; Russia in transition; Man and nature in Russia; the soldier in the Russian imagination; Petersburg; Moscow; Petersburg vs. Odessa. RUSE 495/496 Honors HWS.EDU/CATALOGUE 373 2023 - 2024 CATALOGUE

Subject

RUSE

Type

course

Edition

2023-2024

Source

www.hws.edu