RUSS 319 H10 28067

EngLit, HistoryCiv, Humanities

Masterworks of Russian literature by Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Pushkin, Chekov, and others.

Notes:

**No prerequisites, no knowledge of Russian required**Russia propelled itself onto the map of world literature during the course of the nineteenth century, presenting characters and dramas of universal and enduring significance. Literature, as the best means of relatively free expression within an often reactionary society, became a voice of conscience, dissent, and searing philosophical insight. The literary characters who express these views are uncompromising in their search for truth, and they turn their eyes both outward to the injustices in society and inward to the miracles, horrors, and eternal questions of human existence. Refusing to be bound by constraints of propriety, proportion, or even at times of sanity, these characters are truly rebels, romantics, and visionaries. This semester, as part of the Arts and Sciences theme semester “Climates,” we’ll include some texts that map Russia’s climate onto the mental, moral, and emotional life of its citizens. In Chekhov’s play Uncle Vanya (1898), for example, the doctor proclaims, “when I hear the rustling of my young forest, planted with my own hands, I realize that I have a little power over the climate too, and if a thousand years from now people are happy, then it’s partially my doing….” Another character: “Forests help temper harsh climates. In countries where climate is milder, people struggle with nature less, and that’s why man is milder and gentler there….”