Courses

Below is a general overview of the courses that we and our affiliated departments typically offer. For current listings, visit the Macalester Course Catalog.

Language Courses

RUSS 101

Elementary Russian I - A structured introduction to the basics of the Russian sound system and grammar, as well as speaking, reading, writing, and comprehension. Some exposure to Russian culture. For beginning students. No prerequisites. Every fall.

RUSS 102

Elementary Russian II - Continuation of Russian 101; further development of the same skills. Prerequisite: Russian 101 with a grade of C– or better, or consent of instructor. Every spring.

RUSS 203

Intermediate Russian I - In the second year of Russian, students learn to operate in basic social and cultural environments. Conversational skills needed on the telephone, public transport and other daily situations, listening and reading skills such as television, newspapers and movies, and various modes of writing are studied. Prerequisite: Russian 102 with a grade of C– or better, or consent of the instructor. Every fall.

RUSS 204

Intermediate Russian II - Continuation of Russian 203; further development of the same skills; added emphasis on reading and discussing simple texts. Students are usually prepared for study in Russia after they have completed Intermediate Russian II. Prerequisite: Russian 203 with a grade of C– or better, or consent of instructor. Every spring.

Literature and Culture

RUSS 251

Nineteenth Century Russian Literature in Translation - An introduction to the literary tradition that gave the world Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. Readings will include prose, poetry, drama, and literary criticism, and authors representative of the Golden Age of Russian poetry (Pushkin, Lermontov), the Age of the Realistic novel (Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy), as well as the late 19th century masters of the short story. Russian drama is represented by Gogol, Ostrovsky, and Chekhov. Lectures, readings, and discussions in English; Russian majors may read some assignments in Russian. No prerequisites. Offered in alternate years.

RUSS 252

Twentieth Century Russian Literature in Translation - A survey of Russian literary responses to revolution, repression, dissent, and glasnost. Readings and discussions of representative authors from such disparate movements as Symbolism, Socialist Realism, literature of dissent, and fantastic prose, including Bely, Bulgakov, Solzhenitsyn, and Tertz. The great twentieth-century tradition in poetry will also be covered, including Mayakovsky, Akhmatova, Pasternak, and Brodsky. Lectures, readings, and discussions in English; Russian majors may read some assignments in Russian. No prerequisites. Alternate years.

RUSS 255

Russian Culture: Repression, Revolution, and Terror - Survey of Russian culture from the Middle Ages through tsarist Russia up to the twentieth century. Throughout Russian history we can follow an incendiary chain of events: repression followed by revolt, followed by reprisal, followed by revolutionary violence; terror from above answered by terror from below, and so on, ad infinitum. In this course we will trace the roots of the Russian Revolution through three centuries, focusing on moments of repression, dissent, censorship, conspiracy, and violence inflicted by and against the state. Lectures, readings, and discussions in English. Alternate years.

RUSS 256/
HMCS 256

Mass Culture under Communism - The politics and sociology of Soviet Russian culture from the October Revolution to the fall of communism. For each period in Soviet history, changes in the production and consumption of culture will be considered with specific examples to be discussed. Topics dealt with in the course include the role of mass media in society, popular participation in "totalitarian" societies, culture as a political tool. Popular films, newspapers and magazines, songs, radio and TV programs, etc., will serve to analyze the policies that inspired them and the popular reactions (both loyal and dissenting) they evoked. No prerequisites. Taught in English. Alternate years.

RUSS 257

War and Peace - In 1851, a drop-out from the university, Tolstoy volunteered to serve his country in the Caucasian wars, bent on "destroying the predatory and turbulent Asiatics," as he put it in a letter. Later he studied Russia's engagement in the early 19th-century Napoleonic wars intensely, and gradually he gained fame for his polemics against imperialist wars and violence in general. But perhaps his greatest claim to fame came from his pacifist doctrine of non-resistance to evil, which has inspired people from Gandhi to Martin Luther King. Tolstoy's stint in the South launched him as a writer fiction. The Napoleonic wars yielded War and Peace, and while he was most adamantly preaching pacifism, he wrote Hadji Murad, his last literary work, in which he returned to the Caucasian wars of his youth. Our course will focus on War and Peace and conclude with Hadji Murad. Over 1000 pages long, War and Peace has been labeled "not a novel" (Tolstoy), "real Russia" (Ivan Turgenev), a "large loose baggy monster" (Henry James), and it provided sustenance for numerous readers during the WW II 900-day siege of Leningrad (Lidia Ginzburg). We will form our own opinion based on a thorough reading of the entire text, contemporary contextual material (Tolstoy's letters, critical reactions), critical analyses of the novel (formalist, semiotic, Bakhtinian, feminist, psychoanalytical, poststructural, postcolonial), as well as interpretations in other media (Bondarchuk's film, Prokofiev's opera, comic strips).

RUSS 265/
INTL 265

Translation as Cross-Cultural Communication - When communication takes place across language barriers, it raises fundamental questions about meaning, style, power relationships, and traditions. This course treats literary translation as a particularly complex form of cross-cultural interaction. Students will work on their own translations of prose or poetry while considering broader questions of translation, through critiques of existing translations, close comparisons of variant translations, and readings on cultural and theoretical aspects of literary translation. Advanced proficiency in a second language required. Alternate years.

RUSS 268/
ENGL 268

Nabokov - The risk in studying Nabokov is that you may not see the world the same way again. Nabokov’s life is itself remarkable. He was born into Russian nobility, but fled with his family to Europe after the 1917 Revolution. His father took a bullet intended for another. After his education in England, he moved to Berlin, and then to Paris, where advancing German troops triggered another flight, this time to the United States. He was not only an accomplished poet, novelist, and translator, but also a lepidopterist. Nabokov found and conveyed both the precision of poetry and the excitement of discovery in his art, scientific work, and life.In this course, we will read a representative selection of both his Russian (in translation) and English language novels, including Lolita and Pale Fire, two of the finest novels of the 20th century.

RUSS 272/ INTL 272

Post-Nationalism: The Post-Soviet Sphere - The USSR's 1991 dissolution ended one of history's great experiments. Socialism sought to dissolve ethnicity and overcome ethnic conflict with a focus on equality. Instead it exacerbated nationalism and created-separated identities. But how? Topics include ethno-creation, control, and resistance; ethnic animosities and the USSR's destruction; new states after 1991; "diaspora" populations beyond ethnic homelands; local rebellions; new "native" dictatorships; and recent international organizations. Alternate years.

RUSS 363

Orientalism and Empire: Russia's Literary South - Since the 18th century to the recent wars with Chechnya, contradictory views of Russian empire building have been reflected in Russian literature. Students first explore recurring Russian ideas of empire, such as "Moscow the Third Rome," and "Eurasianism," as well as the constructs of East/West as factors in Russian identity thinking. The course focuses on the Caucasus region, Russia's "Oriental" south, starting with a brief history of imperial expansion into the area and concentrating on its literary expression in travelogues, Classicist and Romantic poetry, Oriental tales, short stories, and novels. We will ponder general "orientalist" imagery and stereotyping (the noble savage, the brave tribesman, the free-spirited Cossack, the sensual woman, the imperial nobleman/peasant, the government functionary, and "virgin" territory) together with ideas of nation and identity based on this specific region. We will read classics of Russian literature (Pushkin, Lermontov, Tolstoy, Tsvetaeva), but also lesser known authors, some justly and others unjustly forgotten by the canon (Osnobishin, Elena Gan, Iakubovich, Rostopchina). We will supplement our literary readings with a variety of critical and historical texts, as well as films. In English. Alternate years.

RUSS 364/
INTL 364

Culture and Revolution - This course examines the relationship between cultural and political change during four very different revolutions: in France of 1789, in Russia of 1917, and the more recent events in Iran and South Africa. How do people change when governments are overturned? How do revolutions shape the consciousness of their citizens? Do people understand events as revolutionaries intend them to? To answer these questions, we will examine symbols and political ideologies, mass media outreach, education and enlistment, changing social identities, the culture of violence, popular participation and resistance, as well as other issues. Readings will include such diverse sources as Voltaire and Rousseau, Marx and Lenin, Khomeini and the Koran. We will read contemporary accounts, both sympathetic and antagonistic, and look at popular culture to see how events were understood. Fashion and etiquette, comics and caricatures, movies and plays are among the materials used. Taught in English. Alternate years.

RUSS 367

Dostoevsky and Gogol - Dostoevsky has had a major impact on writers and thinkers from Nietzsche to Coetzee. He himself paid tribute to Gogol's fantastic imagination. Course readings will range from the absurdist ravings of Gogol's madmen to the existential dilemmas of Dostoevsky's murderers. Discussions will cover the haunted and haunting city of Petersburg, saints, prostitutes, and infernal women, holy fools and Russian Orthodoxy, as well as critical views ranging from Russian Formalists to Freud to Bakhtin's ideas of dialogical speech. Students will explore major 19th century philosophical and cultural currents and a variety of literary movements and genres, and we will also see how our authors have been represented in other media, such as film and painting. From Gogol's Ukrainian and Petersburg tales and Dead Souls, the readings move to Dostoevsky's early humorous works, his major novels, and the course concludes with The Brothers Karamazov. In English. Alternate years.

Upper Level Courses

RUSS 488

Senior Seminar (See examples taught by Professors Hammarberg and von Geldern) - Seminars on selected topics in Russian language, literature, or culture, designed to serve as an integrative capstone experience for majors. Recent topics are "Investigating Russian Web and Press and "The Contemporary Short Story." The seminar topic will be announced at the time of registration for the term. Conducted in Russian. Prerequisite: Three years (204, followed by a semester abroad) of Russian or approval of instructor. Since the topic changes from year to year, we recommend that sufficiently advanced students repeat this course. Every spring.

RUSS 604

Tutorial - Prerequisite: permission of the instructor. Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Every semester.

RUSS 614

Independent Project - Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Every semester.

RUSS 624

Internship - Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Every semester.

RUSS 634

Preceptorship - Prerequisite: permission of instructor. Limit to be applied toward the major will be determined in consultation with the department. Every semester.

RUSS 644

Honors Independent - Independent research, writing, or other preparation leading to the culmination of the senior honors project. Every semester.

Special Topics Courses

RUSS 194

The Material World and Why It Matters - We all have a contentious relationship with our material reality. The blankets are tangled, the roads are icy, the colors of the walls are wrong, the sun is too hot, the universe is too big. Once our basic needs are met, why do we continue to adapt, transform, and refine our physical environment? Why and how do human beings invest objects with meaning—and at what cost to others? Drawing upon the insights of scholars from such fields as history, literature, anthropology, visual art, architecture, and material culture studies, we will seek answers to these questions. We will read literary texts and analyze how the authors reflect as well as imagine material reality, and how they deploy concrete objects to create meaning in their work. The course will consist of mini-lectures, class discussion, and oral presentations. We will also have a field trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

RUSS 294/
HIST 294/
HMCS 294

Making History: Russian Cinema as Testimony, Propaganda, and Art - In this course, we will look at written and cinematic representations of Russian history, from medieval times to the post-Soviet era. The films that we will study, by directors including Eisenstein, Vertov, and Tarkovsky, are among the essential Russian contributions to world cinema. One task of the course will be to articulate how storytelling in film differs from historiography and fiction. Another will be to show how cinematic depictions of key historical events were shaped by politics, power relations, technology, and aesthetics. We will use readings in cultural history, film theory, and narratology to create a conceptual framework for analyzing the films as documents of real events, as vehicles of propaganda, and as imaginative, entertaining works of art. No prerequisites. Taught in English.

RUSS 294/
HMCS 294

Wrongdoing in Russian Literature and Beyond - The Russian word for crime literally means “overstepping,” in the sense of crossing a boundary. What happens, however, when that boundary shifts, as it did in the twentieth century with the Bolshevik Revolution? Or what if the society that defines the criminal is itself “wrong”? Throughout its history, Russian literature has returned almost obsessively to the theme of transgression. We will take a cross-cultural approach as we juxtapose Russian texts with those from other literary traditions, bringing out similar and contrasting views of wrongdoing in Russian culture and that of “the West” against which Russia has traditionally defined itself. Primary readings will include Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, Gogol’s “The Nose,” Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Tolstoy’s The Kreutzer Sonata, Kafka’s “In the Penal Colony,” Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange, and Nabokov’s Lolita. Secondary readings (from literary and critical theory to KGB case files) will provide context and introduce provocative ways of thinking about crime and punishment. All readings will be in English.

International and Area Studies Courses

INTL 372

Post-Nationalism: The European Union - The European Union aims to overcome nationality for the common good. Its successes have challenged traditional customs and identities, and it has stumbled over cultural questions, foreign policy, and constitutional foundations. Topics will include genesis of the EU; erosion of national sovereignty and consequent anxieties; European institutions vs. local control; cultural norms confronted with EU economic, political, and human rights; incorporating new member-states, and the very notion of "Europe." Throughout we will ask whether one can get "beyond nationalism." Alternate years. See the International Studies course listings for current listings.

HIST 260

The Rise and Fall of Tsarist Russia - A survey of the development of Russian social and political institutions from Peter the Great (1682–1724) to 1917. The course will explain the growth of the tsar's authority, the origins and outlooks of Russia's major social/gender groups (nobility, peasants, merchants, clergy, women, minorities, Cossacks) and the relations which grew up between the tsar and his society. The course will conclude with an appraisal of the breakdown of the relationship in 1917, and the tsarist legacy for Russia's social and political institutions in the Soviet Union and beyond. Alternate years.

HIST 362

History of the Soviet Union and its Successors - A survey of Russian, Soviet and post-Soviet history from the Russian Revolution to the present. Topics include the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, Bolshevik rule and its tsarist heritage, Soviet "monocratic" society under Lenin and Stalin, dissent in the USSR, the "command economy" in the collapse of Communist political power, and national consciousness as an operative idea in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

ECON 225/ INTL 225

Comparative Economic Systems - This course examines the workings of economic systems from the perspective of the incentives facing the firm and consumer. The course provides an introduction to the economics of information and organization which is used to evaluate resource allocation under the specific institutional environment of different economic systems. Our understanding of the incentive system is then used to evaluate the overall economic system. The focus of the course is primarily on the U.S. economy, Japan and the former Soviet Union/Russia. As time permits the course may examine China, Germany and Central Europe. Prerequisite: Economics 119. See the International Studies course listings for current listings.

ECON 227

Adam Smith and Karl Marx - The objective of this course is to study the lives and the original writings of two of the most important scholars in the history of economic thought. Adam Smith, the patron saint of laissez-faire capitalism, was the founding father of modern economics, as well as the intellectual predecessor of Marx. Marx's historical and political vision embraced an equally large panorama. Prerequisite: Economics 119. Alternate years.

ECON 325/
INTL 325

Economics of the Transition - This course surveys the theoretic and empirical literature on Soviet-style central planning and the transition to a market economy. The economic history of central planning is examined with emphasis on the experience of the Soviet Union and its variants in Eastern Europe and China. The tool of analysis is the branch of economics known as the economics of organization and information, which will be used to analyze the operation, strengths, and limitations of central planning. The legacy of central planning forms the backdrop for an examination of the transition to a market economy. Prerequisites: Economics 119 and one 200s level Economics course; Economics 221 or 225 are recommended. Alternate years. See the International Studies course listings for current listings.

INTL 285

Ethnicity and Nationalism in Central and Eastern Europe - This course explores ethnic nationalism's causes and consequences in Eastern Europe. Drawing on several disciplines, we begin by examining the core concepts and theories in the contemporary study of nationalism. We then explore both the historical roots of Eastern European nationalisms, and their implications for democracy, minority inclusion, regional stability, and European integration. Alternate years. See the International Studies course listings for current listings.

INTL 317

Writers and Power: The European East in the 20th Century - Eastern European writers and filmmakers have long been prominent figures, reflecting their confrontation with the 20th century's three most powerful ideologies: fascism, communism, and democracy. This course explores the interactions between writers and these systems of power in the works of major figures such as Ionesco, Kundera, Havel, Milosz, Forman, and Kusturica. We follow written and cinematic engagements with power at both social and individual levels, and extend to broad questions of history and community. Alternate years. See the International Studies course listings for current listings.

MUSIC 394

Shostakovich