Catalog of Courses for Slavic
Introduces the history and structure of what has been termed Black English Vernacular or Black Street English. Focuses on the sociolinguistic factors that led to its emergence, its present role in the Black community, and its relevance in education and racial stereotypes.
An examination of the structure, history, and sociolinguistics of the English spoken in the southeastern United States.
Introduces sign systems, language as a sign system, and approaches to linguistics description. Emphasizes the application of descriptive techniques to data.
An introduction to the nature and causation of variation in linguistic systems over time, with attention to the comparative and internal reconstruction of systems no longer attested but assumed to have existed. LNGS 3250 or Instructor Permission
Miscellaneous studies in Linguistics
An introduction to the fundamental assumptions and procedures of theoretical linguistics.
For students who wish to pursue linguistic theory and the application of linguistic methodology to data beyond the introductory level.
Syntax and Semantics
This course introduces students to language as a system and the theoretical underpinnings of the analytic procedures used by linguists. It proceeds from the assumption that the goal of language is to communicate (i.e., to convey meaning via messages), and investigates assumptions relating to the manner in which it accomplishes this goal. This course is required for all Linguistics graduate students.
An introduction to the nature, causation, and theory of variation in linguistic systems over time, with attention to the theoretical underpinnings and implementation of the methods of internal and comparative reconstruction. Prerequisite: LNGS 7010 or instructor permission.
Introduces the history and structure of what has been termed Black English Vernacular or Black Street English. Focuses on the sociolinguistic factors that led to its emergence, its present role in the Black community, and its relevance in education and racial stereotypes.
A discuss of the structure and history of the English spoken in the Southeastern United States. Prerequisites: Instructor Permission.
Miscellaneous topics in Linguistics
Introduces students to the essentials of Polish grammar with emphasis on speaking and reading. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at: http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/slavic/courses.html.
Introduces students to the essentials of Polish grammar with emphasis on speaking and reading. Prerequisite: POL 1210 or instructor permission.
Second-year continuation of POL 1210, 1220. Prerequisite: POL 1210, 1220 and instructor permission.
Introduces Russian grammar with emphasis on reading and speaking. Class meets five days per week plus work in the language laboratory. To be followed by RUSS 2010, 2020.
This intensive course begins with instruction in basic oral expression, listening comprehension, elementary reading and writing, and continues with further development of these four skills at the intermediate level. Part of the Summer Language Institute.
Introduces Russian grammar with emphasis on reading and speaking. Class meets five days per week plus work in the language laboratory. To be followed by RUSS 2010, 2020. Prerequisite: A grade of C or above in RUSS 1010.
This intensive course begins with instruction in basic oral expression, listening comprehension, elementary reading and writing, and continues with further development of these four skills at the intermediate level. Part of the Summer Language Institute. Prerequisites: RUSS 1016 or equivalent.
This is the non-credit option for RUSS 1016.
This is the non-credit option for RUSS 2026.
Continuation of Russian grammar. Includes practice in speaking and writing Russian and introduction to Russian prose and poetry. Class meets four days per week, plus work in the language laboratory. Prerequisite: RUSS 1020 (with grade of C- or better) or equivalent.
This intensive course begins with instruction in intermediate level oral expression, listening comprehension, reading and writing, and continues with further development of these four skills. Part of the Summer Language Institute. Prerequisites: RUSS 1016 & 1026 or equivalent.
Continuation of Russian grammar. Includes practice in speaking and writing Russian and introduction to Russian prose and poetry. Class meets four days per week, plus work in the language laboratory. Prerequisite: grade of C or better in RUSS 2010.
This intensive course begins with instruction in intermediate level oral expression, listening comprehension, reading and writing, and continues with further development of these four skills. Part of the Summer Language Institute. Prerequisites: RUSS 1016 , 1026 & 2016 or equivalent.
This is the non-credit option for RUSS 2016.
This is the non-credit option for RUSS 2026.
Russian House Conversation
Continuation of Russian grammar. Includes intensive oral practice through reports, dialogues, guided discussions; composition of written reports and essays; readings in literary and non-literary texts. Class meets three hours per week, plus work in the language laboratory. Prerequisite: RUSS 2010, 2020 or equivalent with a grade of C or better.
Continuation of Russian grammar. Includes intensive oral practice through reports, dialogues, guided discussions; composition of written reports and essays; readings in literary and non-literary texts. Class meets three hours per week, plus work in the language laboratory. Prerequisite: RUSS 2020 with a grade of C or better.
Two hours of conversation practice per week. Prerequisite: RUSS 1020, or equivalent. RUSS 2020 is strongly recommended.
Examines the sound system, lexicon, and word formative processes of the Russian literary language. Prerequisite: RUSS 1020
Generic course to be used when students are taking non-lecture based independent study with a faculty member. May be repeated for credit
Continuation of Russian grammar. Includes oral practice, extensive reading, and work in Russian stylistics. Prerequisite: RUSS 3010, 3020 with a grade of C or better.
Continuation of Russian grammar. Includes oral practice, extensive reading, and work in Russian stylistics. Prerequisite: RUSS 4010 with a grade of C or better.
Introduction to Russian literary studies. Reading and analysis of literary works in the original. Texts are selected from classical and contemporary literature. Topic varies. All readings and discussion in Russian. Course is open to advanced students of Russian and heritage speakers.
May be repeated for credit.
This course is a formal and systematic analysis of the basic syntactic structures of the contemporary Russian literary language with frequent comparison to English (and other, when possible) structures. The emphasis will be on data, not theoretical principles although the conventional theoretical machinery and language of syntax (phrase structure, complement, anaphora) will be used at all times in class and on assignments.
Two hours of conversation practice per week. May be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: RUSS 3020.
Tolstoy
Examines selected works by the leading writers of the early part of the twentieth century. Explores concepts of symbolism, acmeism, and futurism. Focuses on competing conceptions of literature that evolved in the 1920s until the establishment of the hegemony of socialist realism in the 1930s. Considers works written by Russian writers living in emigration.
Literature in the Soviet era has been compared to a "second government." This course explores Russian literature under Soviet totalitarianism and examines the concept of Socialist Realism and the process of harnessing literary art to serve the state's interests of creating the "new Soviet person." We also treat the all-important development of unofficial "underground" art and writers' strategies for bypassing the strictures of state control.
Studies works by Zhukovsky, Batiushkov, Pushkin, Lermontov, Baratynsky, Tiutchev, and others.
Studies the poetry of Blok, Akhmatova, Mandelshtam, Pasternak, Tsvetaeva, and Mayakovsky. Includes symbolism, acmeism, and futurism.
From the Bolshevik Revolution to the end of the Soviet order, the only evidence of the Gulag available to the outside world, apart from the Soviet propaganda, were the testimonies of witnesses and survivors. Their stories functioned as the only available history, thus shedding an interesting light on the traditional distinctions between literature and history. In this course, students will examine the Gulag's history via lit and film.
Examines the exciting developments in late-20th- and early-21st-century Russian literature and art.
Typical topics in various years include Tolstoy, Russian literary journalism, and the mid-nineteenth century Russian novel. In some years open to students from other departments with no knowledge of Russian. May be repeated for credit.
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in the subject of Russian Language and Literature.
Generic course to be used when students are taking non-lecture based independent study with a faculty member.
For students wishing to pursue independent reading and research in Russian Linguistics. Prerequisite: Instructor Permission
Could include Russian language, fiction, poetry, drama, or culture. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.
Research for and final preparation of M.A. thesis.
For doctoral research taken under the supervision of a dissertation director.
This course is an introduction to and overview of the history of film in Eastern Europe, with a particular focus on Russia, though we will be discussing other countries that were once part of the Soviet Bloc. We will be covering a variety of films, long and short, as well as animation, and how these works of art reflect the time periods in which they were created.
This course considers a medley of tales drawn from various cultural traditions, oral and written, including canonical European fairy tales, traditional Slavic texts, African folk narratives, and oral tales from other cultures collected and recorded more recently. We will sample different thematic groups of tales and analyze them in view of various interpretive methodologies: structuralism, sociology, feminism, and cultural studies. Particular attention will be paid to adaptations of familiar stories for different times and audiences. All readings in English. No prerequisites.
Open to students with no knowledge of Russian. Studies selected great works of nineteenth- and twentieth-century prose fiction.
No knowledge of Russian needed. Investigates 'being Russian' through the works of Russia's great writers, artists, architects, and composers. Focuses on the heroes, heroines, and villains, symbols, legends, and rituals central to Russian creativity.
This course explores different sources of Russian national identity from pre-Christian `Rus' to the present. We will investigate how the occidental and oriental elements blend into a unique Euro-Asian culture, nation, and world power. Our main aim is to provide an orientation to the symbolic world of Russian self-identification. We will employ the tools of the historian, geographer, psychologist, and student of literature and culture.
Studies in English translation of selected authors, works, or themes in Russian literature. Topics in recent years were Solzhenitsyn, Nabokov. May be repeated for credit under different topics.
Open to students with no knowledge of Russian. Studies the major works of Dostoevsky.
Students will grapple in a profound and personal way with timeless human questions: Who am I? Why am I here? How should I live? They will do this, in part, by facilitating discussions about short masterpieces of Russian literature with residents at a juvenile correctional center. This course offers an integrated academic-community engagement curriculum, and provides a unique opportunity for service learning, leadership, and youth mentoring.
Open to students with no knowledge of Russian. Studies the major works of Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Turgenev, Goncharov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and others. Emphasizes prose fiction. This course is a prerequisite for 5000-level literature courses. For more details on this class, please visit the department website at: http://artsandsciences.virginia.edu/slavic/courses.html.
This course surveys Russian literature (prose and poetry) of the twentieth century. Readings include works by Soviet and émigré writers. All works are read in English translation.
Studies in English translation of selected authors, works, or themes in Russian literature. Topics in recent years were Solzhenitsyn, Nabokov. May be repeated for credit under different topics.
Studies in English translation of selected authors, works, or themes in Russian literature. Topics in recent years were Solzhenitsyn, Nabokov. May be repeated for credit under different topics.
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in the subject of Russian Literature in Translation.
Generic course to be used when students are taking non-lecture based independent study with a faculty member. May be repeated for credit.
This course provides the opportunity to offer new topics in the subject of Russian in Translation.
The twentieth century was a period of humanity's unprecedented progress as well as its greatest recorded downfall into barbarity, genocide, and mass oppression. This course enables students to study and reflect on the latter. Some questions will be asked in the course: How do we construct cultural memories of traumatic experiences? Why do we want to remember them? Do we?
An introduction to Slavic folklore with special emphasis on the origins and subsequent manifestations of vampirism. Western perceptions, misperceptions, and adaptations of Slavic culture are explored and explicated. The approach is interdisciplinary: folklore, history, literature, religion, film, disease and a variety of other topics.
Could include Polish, Czech, or Slovak fiction, poetry, drama, or culture. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.
generic course number to be used when students are taking non-lecture based independent study with a faculty member
Generic course to be used when students are taking non-lecture based independent study with a faculty member. May be repeated for credit.
Could include Polish, Czech, or Slovak fiction, poetry, drama, or culture. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.
Introduction to Grammar and Textual attestation of the oldest attested Slavic Language and the relationship between this language, Old Russian Church Slavonic and Contemporary Standard Russian.
Selected Topics in Slavic Language and Literature.
A graduate-level survey of Polish literature from its Medieval beginnings to the contemporary period. Readings include Jan Kochanowski, Adam Mickiewicz, Juliusz Slowacki, Boleslaw Prus, Stefan Zeromski, Bruno Schulz, Witold Gombrowicz, Czeslaw Milosz, Tadeusz Rozewicz, Tadeusz Borowski, Wislawa Szymborska, Slawomir Mrozek, and others. Undergraduate students welcome with the permission by the instructor. All readings in English.
Could include any Slavic languages, fiction, poetry, drama, or culture. May be repeated for credit when topics vary.
For master's research, taken before a thesis director has been selected.
For master's thesis, taken under the supervision of a thesis director.
For doctoral research, taken before a dissertation director has been selected.
For doctoral dissertation, taken under the supervision of a dissertation director.
What is folklore exactly? Further, what is it in the Russian context? This course is a thorough overview of different types of folklore throughout Russian history. We will cover a brief history of Russia from pre-Christian times and continue into a thorough analysis of various examples of Russian folklore. This will include narrative folklore (folktales, fairy tales, songs, etc.), material folklore (house structures and layout, clothing, etc.), and social folklore (weddings, funerals, etc.). Students will also be expected to investigate their own ethnic backgrounds through paper topics based on what is learned in the course.
This course takes students through more than 1000 years of Poland's history and culture. Explorations of literature, art, film, and music, as well as key historic events and biographies, will provide students with unique insight in the main sources of Polish identity, its central values, challenges, myths, symbols, and preoccupations in a larger European context. All materials in English.
The 20th century will most likely remain one of the most puzzling periods in human history, in which amazing progress was coupled with unprecedented barbarity of modern totalitarian regimes. The course helps students untangle this paradox by exploring a series of memoirs by survivors and perpetrators, as well as scholarly essays, films, and other cultural statements.
An investigation of classics of modern Czech fiction and film. Some of the great works include Hasek (The Good Soldier Svejk), Nemcova (The Grandmother), Capek (the inventor of the word "robot"), Seifert's Nobel-winning poetry, Lustig (Children of the Holocaust), Kundera (The Unbearable Lightness of Being), Havel (The Power of the Powerless; The Garden Party), as well as great films like "Closely Watched Trains" and "Firemen's Ball."
An investigation of classics of modern Czech fiction and film. Some of the great works include Hasek (The Good Soldier Svejk), Nemcova (The Grandmother), Capek (the inventor of the word "robot"), Seifert's Nobel-winning poetry, Lustig (Children of the Holocaust), Kundera (The Unbearable Lightness of Being), Havel (The Power of the Powerless; The Garden Party), as well as great films like "Closely Watched Trains" and "Firemen's Ball."
Generic course to be used when students are taking non-lecture based independent study with a faculty member. May be repeated for credit