A number of electives are offered:
• “Russia today”;
• “The Russian world”;
• “Studying Russian through Rhythm & Dynamic Approach”;
• The XIX century Russian Literature;
• The Late XIX and Early XX Centuries Russian Literature;
• The Silver Age of Russian Poetry;
• One writer seminar: Anna Ahmatova;
• Russian Literature: Nobel Prize winners;
• Russian Literature Abroad (Émigré Literature);
• Contemporary Russian Literature;
• A Comprehensive Course on Russian History;
• A Course on the Contemporary History of Russia;
• The History of Russian Culture: Russian Theater & Russian Opera;
• Russian Culture;
• Russian Civilization;
• The Economy of Russia.

A lot of our students learn the Russian language because they are interested in Russian literature and Russian culture. Intermediate and advanced learners in our Center are offered a number of special (elective) courses. The electives facilitate:
• an extended knowledge of authentic vocabulary and realities;
• developing the sense of language;
• concentrating on the topics of your interest;
• deepening into the world of Russian discourse, culture and mentality.

Electives — it is a good chance to put your language into use and thus pursue your professional and intellectual goals!

“Russia Today” (studying Russian language and culture on the material of the Russian mass media), Bogomolov Andrey Nikolaevich, Senior Lecturer, PhD in Russian Studies

The course is designed to provide a comprehensive outlook on contemporary Russia examination of the political, economic and cultural issues, problems and possibilities that now face Russia and the other newly independent states. The major material source for the course is the Russian Mass Media.

Open to all interested students, this course is especially useful for those who are preparing for Certificate examination (upper levels), or engaged in translation and interpreting; for teachers of Russian as a foreign language.

The course’s ultimate goal is to build a diversified set of skills that will enable students to explore various genres of Russian Media independently.

Attention is paid to the three key areas of analysis:
• reading (viewing and listening) strategies;
• vocabulary building;
• cross-cultural interpretation.

Group assignments and independent projects, accomplished with regular discussions with the tutor and groupmates allow students to pursue areas of personal and professional interest on their own.

“Russian World”, Andrey Petrovich Zabrovsky, Senior Lecturer, PhD in philology

The course focuses on the universal and specific features of Russian linguistic pictures of the world; on the origin and development of the national character, culture, everyday life, traditions, beliefs, system of values, ways of thinking. A great attention is paid to the constants of the Russian outlook.

The course is targeted at students of intermediate and advanced levels of studies.

“Studying Russian through Rhythm & Dynamic Approach”

This unique method of teaching Russian as a foreign language is based on a multitouch (multisensoring) approach involving all the 5 channels of perception which proves efficient mastering of the language within a comparatively brief period of time. Classes are stimulating and encouraging and the atmosphere is really relaxed — indeed, learning may be fun!

Electives on Russian culture and history are focused on selected topics and are designed to serve as an integrative capstone experience for intermediate and advanced students of Russian as a foreign language.

These programs can be extended or reduced depending on the level of proficiency in the Russian language and on the students’ objectives. The course is accompanied by watching documentary and study films about Russian writers, theater performances and screen versions based on literary works, such as screen operas “Boris Godunov”, “Evgeni Onegin” and “The Queen of spades”.

Carrying out individual projects and discussions of various issues of the literature, history and culture is possible.

XIX century Russian Literature

The course provides an introduction to the literary tradition that gave the world Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. Readings include prose, poetry, drama, and authors representative of the Golden Age of Russian poetry (Pushkin, Lermontov), the Age of the Realistic novel (Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy), as well as the late XIX century masters of the short story. Russian drama is represented by Gogol and Chekhov. Close analysis of individual authors and works is combined with background survey, including the historical and social context.

Late XIX and Early XX Centuries Russian Literature

The course brings to light distinctive trends and developments of the Russian literature of the period. Readings include representative authors such as Bunin, Gorky, Bulgakov, Sholokhov, and Solzhenitsyn. The works (mostly prose stories and novels) are considered in their historical and cultural context. The course inevitably reflects on the situation of the writer and creative artist under a state-imposed ideology.

The Silver Age of Russian Poetry

The beginning of the 20th century ranks as the Silver Age of Russian poetry. The course features an exploration of this exciting period in Russian literature with focus on major trends (symbolism, futurism, akmeism and imaginism) and writers (Anna Akhmatova, Alexander Blok, Marina Tsvetaeva, Sergei Esenin, Nikolay Gumilyov, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Boris Pasternak, and Maximilian Voloshin).

One writer seminar: Anna Ahmatova

The course focuses on life and works of Anna Ahmatova — one of the greatest Russian poets of the XX century.

Russian Literature: Nobel Prize winners

The course is devoted to the Russian writers who became winners of the Noble Prize in Literature (Ivan Bunin, Boris Pasternak, Mikhail Sholokhov, Joseph Brodsky, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn) — in spite of Sovietization of Russia that affected literature after 1917.

Russian Literature Abroad (Émigré Literature)

Some of the greatest literature by Russian writers of the twentieth century was written outside of Russia, sometimes not even in Russian. It was written by writers who fled abroad after the October Revolution in Russia in 1917 or who were later expelled by the Soviet authorities. This literature — banned in the Soviet Union until a few years before its collapse — constitutes a unique body of fiction that exists on the border between the two cultures: that of the writers’ abandoned Russian homeland and that of their adopted home country. This course will provide a survey of the most prominent authors and works of this literature in exile.

Contemporary Russian Literature, Artemyeva Irina, Senior Lecturer, Cand. Phil. Sci.

The course features a survey of Russian literary responses to revolution, repression, dissent, and glasnost. The turbulent history of twentieth-century Russia had an immense impact on literature and on writers struggling to defend their integrity. The century began with Russian Modernism. This movement was terminated in 1930 by Stalin, who imposed harsh controls under the aegis of Socialist Realism, which dominated the arts until Stalin’s death in 1953. Since then, Russian writers have gradually liberated themselves from the demands of the censors to produce a literature as articulate and exciting as the great novels of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. Readings and discussions include representative authors such as Bunin, Bulgagov, Zamyatin, Erdman, Platonov, Ahmatova, Pasternak, Pelevin, Popov, Sorokin, Vik. Erofeev, Pietsuh; Vladimov, Dovlatov, Petrushevskaya, Kolyada, Sadur, Ven. Erofeev, Grishkovets.

Comprehensive course of Russian history

Beginning with an overview of Kievan Rus’ and the period of the Mongol overlordship, this course seeks to introduce students to the history of Russia from its origins to the beginning of XXI. We will discuss the rise of Muscovy and the “gathering” of the Rus’ lands, the establishment of serfdom and the consolidation of a centralized, absolutist state; secularization and the nature of westernization in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the relations between state and society in the first half of the 19th century. Throughout the course we will examine the nature of social, economic and political change within the parameters of a multi-ethnic, multi-religious empire and patterns of settlement and colonization along a vast frontier. We will also examine the vexed question of Russian national identity. Then we will pass to the reign of Alexander II (1855–1881) and the era of the Great Reforms (1860s) and then proceed to study Imperial Russia’s struggle with “modernity:” the problem of industrialization and the creation of an urban working class; the impact of industrialization on the village; the emergence of “middling classes” which began to demand civil rights; and the problems of maintaining a multi-ethnic empire. Next we examine the revolutionary crisis of 1905 and its aftermath, the descent into World War I and the Revolutions of 1917. The following part of the course studies the Soviet period, with emphasis on the process of state-building and the transformation of society and culture under Stalin; Soviet Russia’s experience in World War II; and the origins of Cold War. The course concludes with an examination of post-Stalinist attempts at reform and suggests some of the reasons for the dramatic collapse of the regime in 1991; aspirations and realities of the edge of centuries.

Course on the contemporary history of Russia, Kastelina Irina, Senior Lecturer, Cand. Phil. Sci.

The course outline covers the following topics:
Russia in 1990s:
• Gorbachev: the crucial results of politics.
• Yeltsin: the way to authority.
• Internal policy.
• Social and economic development.
• Interethnic relations.
• Foreign policy.
• Cultural life.

History of Russian Culture: Russian Theater & Russian Opera

This course surveys the history, contemporary practice and perspectives of Russian theater (including drama, dance, and opera). Special focus is made on Russian opera of the XIX century (Tchaikovsky and Musorgski).

Russian Culture

An introduction to and a survey of Russian culture from its origins (paganism) through tsarist Russia up to the twentieth century acquaints students with the roots of Russian religion, the arts, architecture, music, folklore, and everyday life. Art in Russia has always had social functions, and we will study the interaction of art, society, and politics throughout Russian history.

Russian Civilization

This course provides students with an in-depth understanding of Russian society today and the changes it is going through. It does that by first looking at key events in Russian history (going back over 1000 years) which have come together to shape social and economic structures in critical ways. Although focused on the dynamics of domestic factors (such as natural resources, technology and industry, the class system, Tsarist policies, reform and revolutionary movements), this course situates Russia within Eurasia and the world. Economics, society and culture of today are ultimately surveyed.

Economy of Russia

This course is designed to provide students with a comprehensive framework of Russian economy — its origins, development and perspectives. It introduces the basic factors (geographic, climatic, demographic) which molded the profile of Russian economy, as well as the complex social, political, ethnic, cultural, economic, and environmental issues affected by these factors. Special attention is paid to the transitions that Russian society and Russian politics are undergoing and the resulting effects of these transitions.