Foreign Culture Courses

FCUL 139, 239, 339, 439 Special Topics

Credit arr.

FCUL 185 First-year Seminar

4 hours

A variety of seminars for first-year students offered each January Term.

FCUL 241 Russian Culture Through Film

4 hours

This course will cover twentieth-century Russian/Soviet culture and history through the medium of film. We will begin with classics of early Soviet film (including Eisenstein, Vertov, Pudovkin) and then view and discuss classic films of the Stalinist era and WWII (1930s-50s). We will continue with classic films and comedies of the 1960s and '70s (including Ryazanov, Gaidai, Tarkovsky). The later 1980s-90s (glasnot, perstroika, and the post-Soviet era) witnessed the emergence of films that revealed difficult social and historical themes (for example: Little Vera; Burnt by the Sun; Prisoner of the Caucaus; Brother I). The course will conclude with discussion of film and society in present day Russia. Films are in Russian (with English subtitles). Readings and discussions are in English. Offered on a rotating basis. No prerequisite. (HEPT, Hist, Intcl)

FCUL 243 Time of Stalin: Literature and Memoirs

4 hours

This course, through the medium of literature and memoirs, focuses on Russia/Soviet Union in the early years after the Bolshevik Revolution (1917) until Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika. Students will learn about the rise of Stalin, the time of terror and purges at the height of Stalin's regime (mid-1930s), WWII, the "Thaw" after Stalin's death in 1953, and the implications Stalinism has on present-day Russia. We will seek answers to the questions of how Stalin was allowed to rise to power, retain political control, and instigate policies that caused the deaths of approximately 20 million Soviet citizens—many of whom were Bolsheviks and loyal members of the Communist Party. Literary readings include memoirs, poetry, and novels. A significant part of the course concerns the role of women in the Bolshevik Revolution and their fate under Stalinism. This course fulfills requirements of international studies, women's studies, and Russian studies. The course is taught in English and readings are in English. Offered alternate years. No prerequisite. (Same as WGST 243) (HEPT, Hist, Intcl, E, W)

FCUL 341 Russian Life and Culture

4 hours

A study of the cultural, political and social institutions that have shaped Russia from the time of Kievan Rus' to the present period. Key historical and philosophical themes will be discussed in reference to art, literature, architecture, music, and Russian Orthodoxy. The course is taught in English and readings are in English. Offered on a rotating basis. No prerequisite. (HE, Hist, Intcl)

FCUL 451 Masterworks of Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature

4 hours

A survey of nineteenth-century Russian literature (in translation) from Romanticism to Realism. Reading and discussion of selected works of major Russian authors, including Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, Gogol, and Lermontov. The course is taught in English and readings are in English. Prerequisite: RUS 202, or consent of the instructor. (HEPT, Hist, E, W)

FCUL 452 Masterworks of Twentieth-Century Russian/Soviet Literature

4 hours

A survey of twentieth-century Russian/Soviet literature (in translation) from 1900 to the present. Reading and discussion of works by major Russian/Soviet writers, including Gorky, Mayakovsky, Akhmatova, Mandelshtam, Zoshchenko, Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn, and Bulgakov. The course is taught in English and readings are in English. No prerequisite. (HEPT, Hist, E, W)