This fall, Rutgers students have the opportunity to enroll in Intermediate Ukrainian through the Big Ten Academic Alliance. Intermediate Ukrainian will be taught at Indiana University, and you may register through CourseShare, using the usual Rutgers web registration process.

01:617:201 Intermediate Ukrainian (through Course Share at Indiana University) 3 credits

The course is designed to develop students’ proficiency in all language skills (speaking, reading, writing, and listening) and to get them acquainted with Ukrainian culture. Emphasis is placed on communicative competence – active use of new speech models and structures from the dialogues in course readings, conversation, and listening comprehension. After successful completion of this course, all students are expected to acquire an ACTFL proficiency level of “Intermediate Low” in listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Some participants may achieve “Intermediate Mid” or better in one or more areas. See https://www.actfl.org/publications/guidelines-and-manuals/actfl-proficiency-guidelines-2012 for details on the ACTFL proficiency rating system.

The class will meet MWF at 9-9:50 am.  The semester starts on 8/22/2022 and runs through 12/16/2022.  Students can join via Zoom.  

To enroll in the class, please write to Program Coordinator Elizabeth deWolfe, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., who will put you in touch with the instructor, for a placement test.

Agnieszka Makles

Open to students with NO prior knowledge of Polish. Students with prior knowledge must take a placement test.

Elementary Polish is an introductory course intended for students with no or minimal prior experience in the language. Students will learn the Polish sound and spelling system. They will develop proficiency in listening, reading, speaking, and writing. The basic of grammar and core vocabulary are introduced. In addition, the course provides an introduction to Polish culture, including geography, history, literature and practices through authentic texts, maps, websites and other supplementary materials.

Agnieszka Makles

Prerequisite: 787:102 or placement.

Intermediate Polish I is intended for students who have completed Elementary Polish or have placed into the course. Students will continue to develop proficiency in four skills: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. Orthography drills reinforce the sound and spelling system. This course will broaden students’ grammatical understanding and vocabulary. Students will read an authentic literary text, view a Polish film, and discuss current events in Poland, which will deepen students' knowledge of Polish history and culture

Only open to students with NO prior knowledge of Russian. Students with prior knowledge must take a placement test.

Elementary Russian is an intensive introductory course in spoken and written contemporary standard Russian, intended for students with no prior experience in the language. It develops proficiency in all four skills: speaking, reading, listening, and writing, as well as the basics of Russian grammar. It also introduces students to Russian life, culture, history, geography, and traditions through authentic target-language texts, websites, various media, and other supplementary materials. It is highly recommended that all 860:101 students also take Elementary Russian Conversation I.

In Summer 2023, our section of Elementary Russian I will meet in the asynchronous remote format, which means that the class does not have regularly scheduled meeting times. Instead, you will complete activities and assignments by the indicated due dates, and attach periodic synchronous (live) class sessions. In addition, you will have flexible opportunities to meet with the instructor and classmates via Zoom.

In Fall 2023, we will offer three sections of Elementary Russian I:

01:860:101:90 will meet in the asynchronous remote format, which means that the class does not have regularly scheduled meeting times. Instead, you will complete activities and assignments by the indicated due dates, and attend periodic synchronous (live) class sessions. In addition, you will have flexible opportunities to meet with the instructor and classmates via Zoom.

01:860:101:01 and 01:860:101:02 will meet in the hybrid format, which means that two class sessions each week will meet in person, and additional work will be completed asynchronously online.

This course helps students improve their pronunciation, intonation, listening, and conversation skills in standard Russian. Students will learn to use a Russian keyboard and to navigate Russian-language websites. Other materials include authentic Russian-language print media and audio-visual materials, such as film clips and cartoons. Only open to students who are currently enrolled in Russian 101.

Professor Cori Anderson

Prerequisite: 01:860:102 or placement. Not for students who have taken 01:860:107.

Intermediate Russian is an intensive intermediate course in spoken and written contemporary standard Russian, intended for students who have completed Russian 102 or placed into the course by exam. This course is not for students who have completed Russian 107 or those who speak Russian at home with their family. The course develops proficiency in all four skills: speaking, reading, listening, and writing. It includes a review and expansion of Russian grammar and vocabulary. It deepens students’ understanding of the life, culture, history, geography, and traditions of the Russian-speaking world through authentic target-language texts, websites, media (including films and music) and other supplementary materials. It is highly recommended that all 860:201 students also take Intermediate Russian Conversation I.

This course continues helping students improve pronunciation, intonation, listening, and conversation skills in standard Russian. Students will master use of a Russian keyboard and to navigate Russian language websites. Other materials include authentic Russian print media and audio-visual materials, such as television clips and cartoons. Only open to students who are currently enrolled in Russian 201 or 207.

Svetlana Bogomolny

Prerequisite: Placement.Credit not given for both this course and 860:201.

Elementary Russian for Russian Speakers is intended for students who learned to speak Russian in the home or from family members, with little or no formal study or experience with reading or writing Russian. Students will master reading and writing in the Russian alphabet, solidify their knowledge of Russian grammar, including case endings and verbal forms, and increase their vocabulary. This course also introduces students to the culture, literature and history of the Russian-speaking world through authentic target-language texts, websites and media (including films and music) and other supplementary materials.

Professor Emily Van Buskirk

In English. No prerequisites.  

Throughout the 19^th century, literature and literary criticism lay right at the heart of the Russian Empire's attempt to forge a modern national, cultural, and political identity. Leading writers were preoccupied with a pressing set of "accursed questions," many of which still remain vital for Russia today:  Are we Western or are we not? What does it mean to be, and not to be, "Russian"? What is freedom and what is progress? What is science and where is God? This course surveys some of the high points of 19^th-century Russian-language realism: novels, stories, and plays by Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Turgenev, Chernyshevsky, N. and S. Khvoshchinskaya, Leskov, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and others. We will use these works both as a window into a crucial period of Russia's cultural history, and an entrypoint into the enduring artistic and philosophical problem of what it means to represent reality. 

All readings in English. Satisfies Core Requirement AHp. 

Svetlana Bogomolny

Prerequisite: 860:202, 860:208, or placement.

This is an advanced course in spoken and written contemporary standard Russian, intended for students who have completed the equivalent of four semesters of college-level Russian, or have placed into the course by exam. The course strengthens grammatical control and develops proficiency in speaking, reading, listening, and writing. Students will learn to summarize, develop narration, and create connected paragraphs in speech and writing. The will also study complex grammatical structures, such as participles and gerunds, and syntactic constructions, such as subordination. They will broaden their vocabulary through the study of word-formation. This course covers many elements of modern life in the Russian-speaking world, such as education, employment, leisure and youth culture, through authentic target-language texts, websites, media (including films and music) and other materials. It is highly recommended that all 860:301 also take Advanced Russian Conversation I.

Advanced Russian Conversation is a one-hour course to supplement Russian 301, providing additional work on conversational skills, pronunciation and intonation, and grammatical control in spoken contemporary standard Russian. This course is only open to students who are currently enrolled in Russian 301. This course also provides students with extra opportunities to engage with authentic Russian materials, such as print media and films. 

Advanced Russian Conversation is a one-hour course to supplement Russian 302, providing additional work on conversational skills, pronunciation and intonation, and grammatical control in spoken contemporary standard Russian. This course is only open to students who are currently enrolled in Russian 302. This course also provides students with extra opportunities to engage with authentic Russian materials, such as print media and films. 

Professor Emily Van Buskirk

Prerequisite: 860:202 or 860:207 

This course is required of all Russian majors and counts as a literature course for minors in Russian Language & Literature and in Russian Language. 

This course introduces students to critical issues involved in reading literary texts in the original Russian. We aim for a refined understanding of how meaning is conveyed by grammar, syntax, stylistic register, and the techniques of Russian versification. We learn about the development and traditions of Russian poetry and prose while encountering some of the most distinctive Russian writers of the 19th and 20th centuries (Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, Mayakovsky, Pasternak, Mandelstam, Bulgakov, Brodsky, and others). The course is useful to all students who wish to improve their reading, language, interpretive, and analytical skills. It is required of all majors and counts as a literature course for minors in Russian Language and Literature and in Russian Language. All readings in Russian. Discussions and written assignments in English. 

Sergei Erofeev

crosslisted with Political Science 01:790:369:02

This course explores the conflict in Ukraine in the context of Slavic history, geography, natural resources, and culture.  We will spend time exploring identity and nationality, as well as the politics of grievance, the struggle for independence, and the realities of cultural ownership.  The course explains what is happening in Ukraine and Russia, with ramifications for all of Europe. This course will be taught in English.

Narratives of Bondage, Narratives of Freedom

No prerequisites. Taught in English.

Dr. Arpi Movsesian

An individual was in captivity and is now free.Is this the only way to define freedom? Does being free equate to feeling free? In this course we will be reading various works about imprisonment, enslavement, exile, and constrictive power structures from Russia, Eurasia, and the United States, focusing on how authors including Fyodor Dostoevsky, Frederick Douglass, and Karolina Pavlova reconfigure the idea of freedom as an evolving notion—not merely in terms of the absence of constraint, but also as something that is contiguous with the search for the meaning of life. Revolutionaries in their own right, these writers courageously offered alternative visions for the future and used their words as “licenses” to speak against inhumanity in challenging times. We will read works of autobiography, memoir, and essay in context, navigating their historical “truthfulness,” voluntary or involuntary memory performance, and oratorial style, while studying the ways these genres actively engage the burden of bondage and the responsibility of freedom. All readings and discussions in English.

Required books:

• Fyodor Dostoevsky, Memoirs from the House of the Dead (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008) ISBN: 978-0-19-954051
• Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American
• Karolina Pavlova, A Double Life(New York: Columbia UP, 2019) ISBN: 978-0231190794

Other readings will be available on Canvas.

Readings and discussion in English. Fulfills Core Requirement WCr.

In English. No prerequisites.

Love and death push at the edges of the human experience, and writers of every era take up the challenge of depicting these ideas afresh. Moreover, these central existential categories provide a lens for writers to reveal the wider social reality around them, often in an intensely personal way. Our class will trace the evolution of love and death within the Russian short story form over almost two centuries, produced by some of the greatest writers of the Russian language, including Alexander Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol, Lev Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov, Zinaida Gippius, Andrei Platonov, Yuri Trifonov, Lyudmila Petrushevskaya and Lyudmila Ulitsakaya, among many others. We will consider how together, “love” and “death” drive storytelling and forge bonds between stories and readers. Why do we ‘believe’ in love or death in a given story? Do we seek to be inspired by stories of ‘ideal love’ or ‘beautiful death’? Do we prefer to follow realistic depictions of human desire, violence, and tragedy? Or might we be drawn to grotesque or surreal renderings of these existential forces? And what cultural-historical situations might lead writers and readers towards preferring one form over another?

All readings and discussion in English. Fulfills SAS core goals AH o, p; WC d.

Chloë Kitzinger / Lauren Goodlad

This course explores serial narrative as a contemporary mode of storytelling, from the emergence of the serialized novel in nineteenth-century Europe up through the multimedia serials of our own digital age. Working across centuries, media, and new technologies for delivery, we will investigate the enduring power of this versatile narrative form — in particular, 1) how serial narratives interweave fiction with familiar events and the shared rhythms of everyday life, and 2) how they address audiences shaped by cultural, social, and geographic differences. In a contemporary moment marked by anxieties about race, nationality, rising inequality, looming environmental crisis, and political partisanship, we will consider the potential of serial narratives, past as well as present, to bring diverse audiences together. We will also reflect actively on seriality in a final course assignment that takes the form of collaboratively created podcasts. Core texts include Wilkie Collins's The Woman in White (1859), Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment (1866) ,and True Detective, Season 1 (HBO, 2014). Occasional critical readings also suggested or assigned.

Cross-listed in English, REELL, and Comparative Literature.

All readings and discussions in English; no prerequisites.

Svetlana Bogomolny

Prerequisite: 01:860:302, or 01:860:306, or placement. May be taken out of sequence with 860:402, 860:403, 860:404, or 860:407.

This course fulfills a literature course requirement for the Russian Language minor.

Taught primarily in Russian, the course fosters advanced language skills of conversational fluency, listening comprehension, writing and composition, expanded vocabulary, recognition of stylistic registers, and advanced syntax. These skills are practiced while exploring the topic of Russian attitudes to America in the course of the last century.

Svetlana Bogomolny

Prerequisite: 01:860:302, or 01:860:306, or placement. May be taken out of sequence with 860:402, 860:403, 860:404, or 860:407.

This course fulfills a literature course requirement for the Russian Language minor.

Taught primarily in Russian, the course fosters advanced language skills of conversational fluency, listening comprehension, writing and composition, expanded vocabulary, recognition of stylistic registers, and advanced syntax. These skills are practiced while exploring the topic of Russian attitudes to America in the course of the last century.

This fall, Rutgers students have the opportunity to enroll in Elementary Ukrainian through the Big Ten Academic Alliance. Elementary Ukrainian will be taught at Indiana University, and you may register through CourseShare, using the usual Rutgers web registration process. The course number is 01:967:101, and it is a 4-credit course. The course schedule is as follows.

MTuWTh 10:20 AM–11:10 AM

The semester starts on 8/22/2022 and runs through 12/16/2022

SLAV-U 101 Course Overview:
This course is the first part of a year-long Elementary Ukrainian. We will learn basic Ukrainian grammar and vocabulary. We will work on our ability to participate in every-day interaction and discuss various topics. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to negotiate some everyday situations, to comprehend spoken and written Ukrainian in a familiar, everyday context. We will use an exciting variety of learning practices including role-plays, skits, short readings from literature, current press headlines, songs, and film excerpts. Successful completion of this course will bring us to Novice mid – Novice high proficiency levels of ACTFL proficiency scale.

Please contact REELL Program Director, Prof. Emily Van Buskirk at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with any questions about this course.

BTAA CourseShare students will be able to join via Zoom.