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RUSS
RUSSIAN
Note: See beginning of Section H for abbreviations, course numbers and coding.
For a description of an interdisciplinary major/minor program in Russian and Eurasian Studies
see the "Russian and Eurasian Studies" section found in the Faculty of Arts program information
contained in Section G of this calendar.
RUSS
Introductory Russian I
3 ch ( )
1013
Closed to students with any knowledge of Russian. Sound system of Russian and
elementary structures. Emphasis on the four basic skills of listening, speaking,
reading, and writing. Prerequisite: No prerequisite.
RUSS
Introductory Russian II
1023
Continuation of RUSS 1013 . Prerequisite: RUSS 1013 .
3 ch
RUSS
3 ch (3C)
Russian Culture I (Cross Listed: WLCS 1043)
1043
[W]
Significant aspects of Russian culture from the 10th to the end of the 19th century.
Topics include Russian Icon Painting and Architecture, Russian culture between
Europe and Asia; Ivan the Terrible as cultural type; women in Russian culture; serfdom
and slavery; Russia's contribution to the development of terrorism and revolution; the
reforms of Peter the Great; Russian Orthodoxy, etc. Conducted in English. Open to
students of all years.
RUSS
3 ch (3C)
Russian Culture II (Cross Listed: WLCS 1053)
1053
[W]
Significant aspects of Russian and Soviet culture in the 20th century. Topics include
Russian avant garde painting; the Bolshevik Revolution and apocalyptism; class and
corruption; Socialist Realism; Stalin and Stalinism; women's roles under the Soviets;
Eisenstein and Soviet cinema; the artificial famine and the Gulag; literature and
censorship; Soviet sport and society; Glasnost and culture; etc. Conducted in English.
Open to students of all years. No prerequisites.
RUSS
2013
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Intermediate Russian I
3 ch
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More complex grammatical structures and more advanced texts. Prerequisite: RUSS
1023 .
RUSS
Intermediate Russian II
2023
Continuation of RUSS 2013 . Prerequisite: RUSS 2013 .
3 ch
RUSS
Advanced Russian I
3 ch
3013
Through the study of advanced grammar, oral discussion of contemporary topics and
written assignments, the students' competence in Russian is improved and their skills
in idiomatic and written usage are developed. Prerequisite: RUSS 2023 or equivalent.
Offered in alternate years.
RUSS
Advanced Russian II
3023
Continuation of RUSS 3013 . Prerequisite: RUSS 3013 or equivalent. Offered in
alternate years.
3 ch
RUSS
Introduction to 19th-Century Russian Literature in Translation
3 ch (3C)
3051
(Cross Listed: WLCS 3051)
[W]
Includes the Golden Age of Russian Literature (Pushkin, Lermontov); the great realists
(Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev); and the emergence of Russian Drama (Chekhov).
Themes followed include the superfluous man; nihilism and politics in literature; the
Russian female protagonist from Karamzin's Poor Liza to Dostoevsky's prostitute
Sonya; etc. Conducted in English. Open to students who have completed at least 30 ch
of university courses or by permission of instructor.
RUSS
Introduction to 20th Century Russian Literature in Translation
3 ch (3C)
3052
(Cross Listed: WLCS 3052)
[W]
Includes Futurism, Symbolism, Acmeism and Russia's Silver Age; literature and
Revolution; housing and homelessness in Soviet literature; women's writing; Socialist
realism (boy meets girl, boy gets tractor); censorship and oppression; experimental
prose of the ‘20s; aspects of Soviet cinema; Russia's ‘New Wave' meets America's
Beatniks; Bulgakov's magical fable; etc. Conducted in English. Open to students who
have completed at least 30 ch of university courses or by permission of instructor.
RUSS
Seminar I: Genre (Cross Listed: WLCS 3083)
3 ch [W]
3083
The development of a particular genre in Russian literature and an examination of
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various works in that area. Prerequisite: Departmental approval.
RUSS
Topics in Russian and Eurasian Studies (Cross-listed: WLCS
3 ch
4003
4003)
Allows students to pursue special questions in an area of Russian and Eurasian Studies
of particular interest to them.
RUSS
Literature and Religion in 19th and 20th Century Russia and
3 ch (3C)
4043
Spain (O) (Cross Listed: SPAN/WLCS 4043)
[W]
Studies religious works of Spanish and Russian writers such as Unamuno and Tolstoy.
Examines their religious thought and their criticism of the established Spanish Roman
Catholic Church and Russian Orthodox Church respectively. Outlines the situation of
the Eastern Orthodox Church in Russia as well as the situation of the Catholic Church
in Spain in the 19th and the 20th Centuries. Analyzes the position of these writers
towards their respective Churches and the creation of their own moral codes through
the textual analysis of some of their most relevant works. The course will be offered
in English and is open to students who have successfully completed at least 30 credit
hours at university level. Students who take this course to fulfill a Major or Honours
requirement in Spanish will submit required work in Spanish.
RUSS
Seminar II: Author
3 ch [W]
4053
An intensive study of the life and work of a particular author or a number of authors.
Prerequisite: Departmental approval.
RUSS
3 ch (3C)
Russian Women Writers (Cross-listed WLCS 4061)
4061
[W]
Despite their enormous contributions at many historical points, women writers still
struggle for full acceptance in the Russian literary canon, witness special sections even
today in most Russian bookstores for “Feminine Literature”. This course will examine
the work of a range of better and lesser known Russian women writers from the late
18th to the early 21st centuries, in poetry, prose, drama and memoir. Writers to be
studied include Catherine the Great, the “Russian Amazon”, Nadezhda Durova a crossdressing cavalry maiden during the Napoleonic campaign, the giants of the Silver Age
Anna Akhmatova and Marina Tsvetaeva, ostensible socialist-realists like Vera Panova,
Natalia Baranskaia and I. Grekova, dissident figures such as Evgeniia Ginzburg and
Natalia Gorbanevskaia, and older and younger contemporary writers such as Ludmila
Petrushevskaia, Tatiana Tolstaia, and Marina Palei. Works and authors will be studied
in historical and cultural context, and connections to other arts, in particular visual
arts, film and popular music will also be explored. The course and all readings are in
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English. Open to students who have completed at least 30 ch of university courses or
by permission of the instructor. Students with credit for RSST 4003 Russian Women
Writers may not take this course for credit.
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