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Course Criteria
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3.00 Credits
Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Vinitsky. This course consists of three parts. The first, How to read Tolstoy deals with Tolstoys artistic stimuli, favorite devices, and narrative strategies. The second, Tolstoy at War, explores the authors provocative visions of war, gender, sex, art, social institutions, death, and religion. The emphasis is placed here on the role of a written word in Tolstoys search for truth and power. The third and the largest section is a close reading of Tolstoys masterwork The War and Peace (1863-68) a quintessence of both his artistic method and philosophical insights.
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3.00 Credits
Vinitsky. This class will be taught for both SAS and Penn Law School students: 12 students from each side. This seminar will focus on the legal, moral, religious, social, psychological, and political dimensions of crime, blame, shame, and punishment as discussed in great works of literature. The first part of the course will compare and contrast visions of justice in Eastern and Western Europe and emphases on divine versus human justice. The second part will move to the psychology of the individual person, the criminal. Part three of the course will focus on the state institutions of criminal justice. Readings include Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, Dickens' Oliver Twist, Tolstoy's Resurrection, Kafka's The Trial, and especially Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment and selection from The Brothers Karamazov.
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3.00 Credits
Arts & Letters Sector. All Classes. Verkholantsev. This course is about Russian literature, which is populated with saints and devils, believers and religious rebels, holy men and sinners. In Russia, where peoples frame of mind had been formed by a mix of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and earlier pagan beliefs, the quest for faith, spirituality and the meaning of life has invariably been connected with religious matters. How can one find the right path in life Is humility the way to salvation Should one live for God or for the people Does God even exist In Saints and Devils, we will examine Russian literature concerning the holy and the demonic as representations of good and evil, and we will learn about the historic trends that have filled Russias national character with religious and supernatural spirit. Nikolai Gogol will teach us how to triumph over the devil. In Alexander Pushkins poetry and Anton Chekhovs stories we will contemplate Russias ambivalent ideal of womanhood: as a poetic Madonna or as a sinful agent of the devil. Immersed in the world of Dostoevskys The Brothers Karamazov, we will follow the characters in their search of truth, belief and active love for people. Leo Tolstoy, who founded his own religion, will teach us his philosophical and moral lessons. Finally, Mikhail Bulgakov will tell us his fantastic and devilish story of the Master and Pontius Pilate and we will see for ourselves that A man will receive his deserts in accordance with his beliefs.
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3.00 Credits
Humanities & Social Science Sector. Class of 2010 & beyond. Vinitsky. All readings and lectures in English. This course will explore the representations of the West in eighteenth- and nineteenth- century Russian literature and philosophy. We will consider the Russian visions of various events and aspects of Western political and social life Revolutions, educational system, public executions, resorts, etc. within the context of Russian intellectual history. We will examine how images of the West reflect Russia's own cultural concerns, anticipations, and biases, as well as aesthetic preoccupations and interests of Russian writers. The discussion will include literary works by Karamzin, Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Leskov, and Tolstoy, as well as non-fictional documents, such as travelers' letters, diaries, and historiosophical treatises of Russian Freemasons, Romantic and Positivist thinkers, and Russian social philosophers of the late Nineteenth century. A basic knowledge of nineteenth-century European history is desirable. The class will consist of lectures, discussion, short writing assignments, and two in-class tests.
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3.00 Credits
Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Verkholantsev. This course offers an overview of the cultural history of Rus' from its origins to the eighteenth century, a period which laid the foundation for the Russian Empire. The course takes an interdisciplinary approach to the evolution of the main cultural paradigms of Russian Orthodoxy viewed in a broader European context. Although this course is historical in content, it is also about modern Russia. The legacy of Medieval Rus' is still referenced, often allegorically, in contemporary social and cultural discourse as the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian societies attempt to reconstruct and reinterpret their histories. In this course, students learn that the study of the medieval cultural and political history explains many aspects of modern Russian society, its culture and mentality. All readings and films are in English.
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3.00 Credits
Distribution Course in Hist & Tradition. Class of 2009 & prior only. Platt & Nathans. How are human behaviors and attitudes shaped in a socialist society What forms do conformity and dissent take under a revolutionary regime This course will explore the cultural history of the Soviet Union from the end of the Second World War to the collapse of communism in 1991. We will investigate a variety of strategies of resistance to state power as well as the sources of communisms enduring legitimacy for millions of Soviet citizens. Above all, we will be concerned with the power of the word and image in Soviet public and private life. Assigned texts will include memoirs, manifestos, underground and officially approved fiction & poetry, films, works of art, and secondary literature.
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3.00 Credits
Distribution Course in Arts & Letters. Class of 2009 & prior only. Todorov. This course draws on fictional, dramatic and cinematic representations of Russian history based on Russian as well as non-Russian sources and interpretations. The analysis targets major modes of imagining, such as narrating, showing and reenacting historical events, personae and epochs justified by different, historically mutating ideological postulates and forms of national self-consciousness. Common stereotypes of picturing Russia from "foreign" perspectives draw special attention. The discussion involves the following themes and outstanding figures: the mighty autocrats Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, and Catherine the Great; the tragic ruler Boris Godunov; the brazen rebel and royal impostor Pugachev; the notorious Rasputin, his uncanny powers, sex-appeal, and court machinations; Lenin and the October Revolution; images of war; times of construction and times of collapse of the Soviet Colossus.
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3.00 Credits
Shardakova. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 004 or placement exam. This course develops students' skills in speaking and writing about topics in Russian literature, contemporary society, politics, and everyday life. Topics include women, work and family; sexuality; the economic situation; environmental problems; and life values. Materials include selected short stories by 19th and 20th century Russian authors, video- clips of interviews, excerpts from films, and articles from the Russian media. Continued work on grammar and vocabulary building.
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3.00 Credits
Shardakova. Prerequisite(s): RUSS 311. Primary emphasis on speaking, writing, and listening. Development of advanced conversational skills needed to carry a discussion or to deliver a complex narrative. This course will be based on a wide variety of topics from everyday life to the discussion of political and cultural events. Russian culture and history surveyed briefly. Materials include Russian TV broadcast, newspapers, Internet, selected short stories by contemporary Russian writers. Offered each spring.
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