Dartmouth College has over a dozen professors whose teaching and research relates to Russia and the countries of Eastern Europe. Within the Russian Department you will find the professors who teach Russian language, as well as the courses on literature, linguistics and culture. Students can choose from among two types of Russian majors. The Russian Area Studies program is also supported by the courses taught in a range of other departments. Other faculty members involved in the Area Studies Program conduct research in related disciplines: Russian history, the politics of the Soviet Union, the geography of Russia and the former Soviet Republics, and the sociology of the peoples of Eastern Europe.

Why Study Russian? Whether one's interest are in science, international studies, literature and culture, business, or simply language itself, the study of Russian provides both practical utility and the statisfaction of attaining skill that not many possess.

Russia, Eastern Europe, Eurasia: Culture and Civilization

• Russian 11: Russian Popular Culture
• Russian 13: Slavic Folklore: Vampires, Witches and Firebirds
• Russian 14. Faces of Totalitarianism: A History of a Nation through a History of a Medium (Identical to Film Studies 42)
• Russian 15. Introduction to Russian Civilization
• Russian 19. Understanding the Russians: The Role of Language and Culture in Communication
• Russian 21. Russian Civilization: Study Abroad

Elementary and Intermediate Language

• 1, 2, 3. Introductory Russian
• 22. The Russian Language: Study Abroad
• 23. The Russian Language: Study Abroad
• 27, 28, 29. Intermediate Russian

Advanced Language and Senior Seminar

• 40. Reading in Russian
• 41. Advanced Conversation and Composition
• 42. Advanced Grammar
• 45. Special Topics in Russian Language
• 62. Structure of Modern Russian
• 86. Senior Seminar

Literature

• 31. Russian Literature of the Golden Age in Translation
• 32. Modern Russian Literature in Translation
• 35. Dostoevsky and the Problem of Evil
• 36. Tolstoy and the Problem of Death
• 38. Special Topics in Russian Literature
• 71. Topics in Russian Literature

Offerings in Other Departments

• History:
  54. The Russian Empire
  55. The Russian Revolutions and the New Regime
  56. Introduction to Soviet History
  95.4 (Colloquium) The Mongols
  
• Government:
  40 (Section 2, 11). Democratic Transitions
  42. Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Governments
  52. Russian Foreign Policy
• Geography:
  35. Russia and the Former Soviet Republics
  37. (D.F.S.P.) The Czech Republic in the New Europe

Courses for the non-Major
Each year the department teaches several courses that do not require any previous knowledge of Russian and that will be of value to those with a general interest in Russia.

• 11: Russian Popular Culture
• 13. Slavic Folklore: Witches, Vampires, and Firebirds
• 14. Faces of Totalitarianism: A History of a Nation through a History of a Medium
• 15. Introduction to Russian Civilization
• 19. Understanding the Russians: The Role of Language and Culture in Communication
• 31. Russian Literature of the Golden Age in Translation
• 32. Modern Russian Literature in Translation
• 35. Dostoevsky and the Problem of Evil
• 36. Tolstoy and the Problem of Death

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   An introduction to Russian as a spoken and written language. None of these serves in partial satisfaction of the Distributive or World Culture Requirements.

11. Russian Popular Culture

This course examines the popular culture of Russia in the 19th and 20th centuries: songs, jokes, box-office movie hits, detective and science fiction, posters, sports, and television. We will investigate the production, consumption, and interpretation of popular culture and what entertainment and leisure activities--and the manipulation of popular forms by political elites--reveals about Russian society.

Taught in English. Open to all classes. Dist: SOC, WCult: EU.

    In this course, we will discuss a variety of genres from Russian folklore. As we move from the familiar genre of the riddle to the often mystifying beliefs and rituals of the ancient Slavs and then to the fairy tale, comfortingly familiar from childhood, we will learn to not only recognize the richness and density of texts that may initially seem uncomplicated but also to discern the patterns and meanings behind the apparently exotic narratives and behaviors. Through this process, we will gain knowledge of the theoretical highlights of folkloristics, an academic discipline that strives to understand the remarkable similarity of stories told by people around the world yet, at the same time, to account for the no less fascinating ethnic, cultural, and historical particulars of the tales, songs, jokes, and customs of different people. By thoroughly studying one of the world’s richest oral traditions, Slavic folk life and folk lore, we will acquire the tools and techniques necessary for collecting, documenting, and interpreting folklore -- which is perhaps the most truly international of all arts. Click here to see the course syllabus

Taught in English. Open to all classes.
   Dist: LIT, WCult: EU. Somoff

    Examination of Russia as a cultural, national and historical entity part of and yet apart from both Europe and Asia. Russia is a continental power of vast proportions, whose traditions, character, national myths, and forms of political organization often seem a mirror-image to those of the United States. After a brief survey of Russian history, the course will examine certain determinants of Russian culture, including Christianity, multinationalism, and the status of Russian civilization on the periphery of Europe. The course will then deal with the art, music and popular literature of Russia, and conclude by examining certain contemporary issues, including the complex coexistence of Russian and 'Soviet' culture. Click here to see the course syllabus
   Taught in English.* Open to all classes. Dist:PHR; WCult: EU. Gronas

   With the approach of the next millennium and its promise of global communications networks, we are becoming more and more aware of our world as a 'global village' and of the implications this has, both linguistic and cultural, for communication across national and ethnic boundaries. This course will examine those areas in the study of culture and of language pragmatics with relevance to such communication between Americans and Russians. Readings and class discussions will focus on such phenomena as 'culture' and 'language' shock; the linguistics and cultural evidence for differences in the two countries' views of such phenomena as time and space, as well as for such concepts as public and private 'spheres,' friendship, or of what constitutes a conversation. A variety of sources from literary works, TV documentaries and film, to travel handbooks and the conduct of negotiations will be examined for the cultural and language script they subsume in the two countries.
   Open to all classes. Dist: SOC. Garretson

    This course includes activities associated with the rich cultural life of St. Petersburg: lectures on Russian art, architecture, music, ballet, cinema, theater and literature. Also included are visits to the city's many museums, such as the Hermitage and the Russian Museum, and attendance at live performances at such places as the Mariinsky Theater in Petersburg, or the Bolshoi in Moscow. Credit for this course is awarded to students who have successfully completed the Dartmouth LSA+ in Russia.
    Prerequisite: membership in the Foreign Study Program.Dist: ART, WCult: EU.

   This course represents the course in grammar and other written work done by the students at the University of St. Petersburg. Credit for this course is awarded to students who have successfully completed the LSA+ in Russia.
    Prerequisite: membership in the Foreign Study Program.WCult: EU.

   This course represents the work done in phonetics classes and in the conversation classes at the University of St. Petersburg. Credit for this course is awarded to students who have successfully completed the LSA+ in Russia.
    Prerequisite: membership in the Foreign Study Program.WCult: EU.

27, 28, 29. Intermediate Russian

   This sequence of courses begins with a systematic review of Russian grammar, where special emphasis is placed on such difficult areas as participles, aspects and verbs of motion. As the sequence progresses, an effort is made to build vocabulary through extensive reading and to increase fluency through a series of oral and written reports.

31. Russian Literature of the Golden Age in Translation

   Nineteenth-century Russian prose culminated in the masterpieces of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Chekhov. Through works such as Anna Karenina, Crime and Punishment and The Cherry Orchard, these writers expanded the boundaries of the genres in which they worked, even as they exposed the acute social problems of their time. Their work is distinguished not only by the sharpness of the character analysis but also by the compassion with which the analysis is conducted. This course examines the process by which this literature acquired its unique configuration.
Click here to see the course syllabus

   This course examines the impact which the turbulent history of twentieth-century Russia had on literature and on writers struggling to defend their integrity. The century began with Russian Modernism, out of which came experimental masterpeices in all the arts. This movement was terminated in 1930 by Stalin, who imposed harsh controls under the aegis of Socialist Realism, which dominated the arts until Stalin's death in 1953. Since then, Russian writers have gradually liberated themselves from the demands of the censors to produce a literature as articulate and exciting as the great novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Readings include such novels as Zamyatin's We, Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago and Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.
   Taught in English.* Open to all classes. Dist: LIT; WCult: EU. Gronas

   Dostoevsky laid bare the tragedy of human existence and probed the innermost recesses of the human psyche to show the terrifying isolation of a human being separated from God. Revolted by a world in which innocent children suffer, Dostoevsky tested the meaning to be found in Christianity, personal responsibility and human solidarity. This course examines his major novels, with particular emphasis on the artistic expression of his philosophical views. Those views will be examined in the context of Russian intellectual history. Readings include Notes from the Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons and The Brothers Karamazov.
   Taught in English.* Open to all classes. Dist: LIT; WCult: EU.

   From childhood to the end of his life, Tolstoy struggled to overcome his fear of death. As he himself put the problem, 'Is there any meaning in my life which the inevitable death awaiting me does not destroy?' In his quest for bulwarks against that fear, he studied the great philosophers and he examined closely the value system of the peasants. He found temporary relief in war and in marriage, but the definitive solution always eluded him. The evolution of this theme, and the formal devices by which Tolstoy expressed it in his prose, will be traced in the autobiographical cycle, the Caucasian stories and the Sevastopol tales. Those works will serve as a context in which to scrutinize the major novels, War and Peace and Anna Karenina. This course will conclude with a brief examination of the prose which Tolstoy produced after his conversion. Click here to see the course syllabus [http://www.dartmouth.edu/~russian/courses/russ36.html]
   Taught in English.* Open to all classes. Dist: LIT; WCult: EU. Loseff

38. Special Topics in Russian Literature    Taught in English.* Open to all classes. Dist: LIT; WCult: EU.

40. Reading in Russian

    A broad range of literary and expository readings will be selected from current newspapers, journals and fiction. There will be weekly grammatical topics with emphasis on improving overall knowledge of Russian grammar and on improving reading and writing skills. Students are expected to give oral and written reports. Discussions are conducted in Russian.
    Prerequisite: Russian 29 (22). Dist: Lit; WCult: EU.

    This course, aimed primarily at students returning from foreign study in Russia, concentrates on improving conversation skills, increasing vocabulary, and strengthening knowledge of grammatical constructs. There will be intensive work in both oral and written Russian.
    Prerequisite: Russian 27 or permission of the instructor.

    This course aims to increase and perfect the student's abilities in all areas of Russian language: conversation, composition and reading. In addition to reviewing difficult grammatical points, the course will introduce the student to certain subtleties of language usage accessible only to advanced students.
    Prerequisite: Russian 40 or 41.

   The course is designed as an advanced Russian language course and is organized around a particular topic in Russian grammar. Typical topics include the Russian verb, Russian word formation, or word order and information structure in Russian. Selected readings will serve as the basis for discussions, exercises, and compositions.
    Prerequisite: Russian 29.

    This course will introduce the student to the necessary methodology for analyzing the linguistic structure of Russian, and will examine the theoretical foundations of such analysis. The course will focus on a particular topic in Russian linguistics, such as morphology, aspect or word order. A student may elect the course more than once provided that the topic is not the same as in a previous election.
    Prerequisite: Russian 29. Dist: QDS; WCult: EU. Garretson

   In this seminar students read works of prose and poetry in Russian, study methods of critical analysis, and practice translation. Each offering of the course will be based on a particular theme or period. Students may take the course more than once provided that the topic is not the same as in a previous election.
   Taught in English.* Open to all classes. Loseff

    The content of this seminar will vary from year to year, with topics drawn from the areas of linguistics, language acquisition, literature, and culture.
   This course (or Russian 71) is required of all senior Russian majors, except for those writing honors theses.

   After a brief review of Kievan and Muscovite antecedents, the course surveys the history of Russia from the Time of Troubles to the beginning of the twentieth century. Special emphasis will be placed on the role of the Russian autocrat, on the institution of serfdom, and the development of the 19th-century intelligentsia. Intended to precede, but not prerequisite to, History 55.
    Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors.Dist: PHR; WCult: EU.

   Following an introductory survey of the social and political problems confronting Imperial Russia, the course concentrates on the causes and processes underlying the Revolutions of 1905 and 1917, the development of Marxism-Leninism, and the eventual establishment and consolidation of the new Soviet Regime.
    Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors.Dist: PHR; WCult: EU.

   An examination of the major developments and problems in Soviet history with particular attention to the consequences of the revolution, Leninism, the civil war and its impact, politics and society during the Stalinist period, the Khrushchev era, Brezhnev years of 'stagnation', and Gorbachev's perestroika.
    Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors.Dist: PHR; WCult: EU.

    Primarily centered on the empire of the Great Khans, the Ilkhans in Persia and the Yua dynasty in China, this course analyzes the phenomenon of the Mongolian conquests and state building from the perspective of world economic, cultural, and political development in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Satisfies the non-Western Requirement.
    Open to sophomores, juniors, and seniors.Dist: PHR; WCult: NW.

   This course is intended to introduce students to the general issues that enter into discussions of democratization. What de we mean when we say that a country "is a democracy?" What does "democratization" involve? What values compete with democratic values? What shapes the results of the competition? Since its inception, political science has grappled with some version of each of these questions. Since the 1970s, and especially since the end of the Cold War, questions about democracy and democratization have provided a common point of focus for students of comparative politics across different area specializations.
    Prerequisite: Government 4; preference will be given to students who have taken both Government 4 and Government 6. Dist: SOC or INT.

   An introduction to politics and government among the successor states of the U.S.S.R. Topics covered include the formation and structure of the former Soviet Union, and the subsequent transformation of the Soviet system. Special emphasis will be placed on the legacy of Soviet political institutions for the Russian and other post-Soviet republics, as well as on the structure of these emerging polities.
    Prerequisite: Government 4. Open only to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Dist: SOC; WCult: EU.

   This course is a survey of Russia's relations with the world, and particularly with Europe and the United States, from the Revolution through the Soviet period to the present. Special emphasis will be placed on the politics of the national security process in the USSR and Russia. Although intended as an overview of Russian foreign policy, the course gives primary attention to three areas: the origins and nature of the Soviet-American competition; Russia's political and military relationship with the West; and the future development of Russian-American relations.
    Prerequisite: Government 4 or 5. Government 42 is strongly recommended. Open only to sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Dist: SOC or INT; WCult: EU.

   The disintegration of the former Soviet Union and its replacement by a new system of independent states will be the focus of this course. Issues to be addressed include the following: Why did the Soviet Union collapse so suddenly? What kind of political-economic systems are likely to replace the former Union? And what role will these systems play in the new world order? In the process of exploring these issues, particular attention will be paid to the structure of the former Soviet political-economic system, to Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and glasnost, to relations between Russians and ethnic minorities, to industrial and resource development activities, and to the state of the environment.
    Open to all classes.Dist:INT or SOC; WCult: EU.

   This course seeks to develop an understanding of the physical morphology and cultural landscape of the contemporary Czech Republic. Special attention will be given to the dialectic of transnational integration and decentralist reaction common in Europe today.
    Prerequisites: Geography 1 and 3.Dist: SOC.