2017-2018 Academic Year

Fall 2017

FYSM 100 First-Year Seminar
The First-Year Seminar (FYS) introduces students to Dickinson as a "community of inquiry" by developing habits of mind essential to liberal learning. Through the study of a compelling issue or broad topic chosen by their faculty member, students will: - Critically analyze information and ideas - Examine issues from multiple perspectives - Discuss, debate and defend ideas, including one's own views, with clarity and reason - Develop discernment, facility and ethical responsibility in using information, and - Create clear academic writing The small group seminar format of this course promotes discussion and interaction among students and their professor. In addition, the professor serves as students' initial academic advisor. This course does not duplicate in content any other course in the curriculum and may not be used to fulfill any other graduation requirement.

FLST 210 War & Peace Russ Lit & Film
Cross-listed with RUSS 260-01.In this course, students will examine the Russian experience of war through film, short stories, diaries, and poetry. The range of wars and conflicts considered in this course include Russia's 19th century conquest in the Muslim Caucasus, the brutal Civil War immediately after the 1917 Revolution, Russia's war with Finland, the Soviet-Afghan War and the two fairly recent Chechen wars. There will be a special focus on the representations of WWII, in which the Soviet Union triumphed at the cost of 26 million deaths, and which continues to occupy the public consciousness today, through commemoration in personal and state rituals. Based on their analysis of these works, students will discuss and write on issues of heroism and glory, national identity and concepts of the other, conflict and harmony, war and peace. The topic of war will serve as a window onto Russian and Soviet culture. Films and literary works for the course include "Trial on the Road" (German'), "The Cuckoo" (Rogozhkin), "Prisoner of the Mountains" (Bodrov), "The Ninth Company" (Bondarchuk), as well Tolstoy's "Hadji Murat," Babel's "Red Cavalry," Platonov's "The Return," Alexievich's "War's Unwomanly Face" and a selection of poems.

RUSS 260 War & Peace Russ Lit & Film
Cross-listed with FLST 210-03.In this course, students will examine the Russian experience of war through film, short stories, diaries, and poetry. The range of wars and conflicts considered in this course include Russia's 19th century conquest in the Muslim Caucasus, the brutal Civil War immediately after the 1917 Revolution, Russia's war with Finland, the Soviet-Afghan War and the two fairly recent Chechen wars. There will be a special focus on the representations of WWII, in which the Soviet Union triumphed at the cost of 26 million deaths, and which continues to occupy the public consciousness today, through commemoration in personal and state rituals. Based on their analysis of these works, students will discuss and write on issues of heroism and glory, national identity and concepts of the other, conflict and harmony, war and peace. The topic of war will serve as a window onto Russian and Soviet culture. Films and literary works for the course include "Trial on the Road" (German'), "The Cuckoo" (Rogozhkin), "Prisoner of the Mountains" (Bodrov), "The Ninth Company" (Bondarchuk), as well Tolstoy's "Hadji Murat," Babel's "Red Cavalry," Platonov's "The Return," Alexievich's "War's Unwomanly Face" and a selection of poems.

Spring 2018

RUSS 100 Russia and the West
Taught in English

RUSS 232 Russian for Narration & Analys
Reading and discussion of literary works by representative authors from the pre- and post-Revolutionary periods. Prerequisite: 202 or the equivalent.

RUSS 333 Adv Sem in Russ Cult & Lit
Authentic Russian texts in different genres and disciplines present specific sets of challenges, including specialized vocabulary, narrative conventions, and idiosyncratic grammar. This course prepares students for reading, analyzing, and discussing challenging, authentic Russian texts in a variety of disciplines and genres, with an emphasis on close reading and cultural context. The course is taught in Russian and includes a variety of texts or focus on one literary text. May include courses taken in Russia. Prerequisite: 231, 232 or equivalent.