Slavic Languages and Literatures

slavic.northwestern.edu

The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures offers a full program of study in Russian language and literature and a range of other courses on the languages, culture, and history of Eastern Europe.

Russian study encompasses a broad discipline that touches on many others. For example, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Chekhov probe philosophical, social, political, and psychological issues that are central to the modern experience and fundamental to Western culture. Courses in Russian literature open up the artistry and ideas of this intellectual tradition. All periods of Russian literature are represented, with emphasis on the 19th through 21st centuries. 

Majors may choose to concentrate in "Russian Language, Literature and Culture" or "Russian and East European Studies." Some students seek a deep knowledge of Russian culture and literary tradition, while others are more interested in acquiring international knowledge and language proficiency for use in such fields as government, law, business, or journalism. The major (or minor) may complement study of history, political science, health, or other disciplines. Minors in "Russian and East European Studies" gain a broad understanding of Slavic literature and culture. They may focus on Czech, Polish, or Russian studies without a language prerequisite.

The department strongly recommends that students study abroad. Programs take place in Almaty, Belgrade, Kraków, Prague, Riga, and Sarajevo.  Students should consult the undergraduate adviser in the department or an adviser in the Global Learning Office to learn more about study abroad options.

Programs of Study

Learning Objectives

The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures provides undergraduates with opportunities to explore the languages, literatures, and cultures of Central and Eastern Europe. We offer diverse courses in a variety of Slavic cultures, as well as language instruction in Russian and Polish. We explore how literature, the arts, politics, and history are interwoven in the complex network of nations that comprise modern Central and Eastern Europe.

Learning Objectives for the Major in Slavic Languages and Literatures with a Concentration in Russian Language, Literature, and Culture

  1. To develop a critically informed understanding of Russian literature, culture, and history
  2. To develop strong linguistic proficiency (speaking, reading, listening, and writing) in the Russian language
  3. To understand major Russian literary and cultural developments
  4. To gain knowledge of the history and culture of the Russian lands and contextualize them into broader global trends and histories
  5. To develop excellent writing and argumentation skills through work with literary and historical primary and secondary sources

Learning Objectives for the Major in Slavic Languages and Literatures with a Concentration in Russian and East European Studies

  1. To develop a critically informed understanding of Central and Eastern European literature, culture, and history
  2. To develop strong linguistic proficiency (speaking, reading, listening, and writing) in a Slavic language
  3. To understand major Central and Eastern European literary and cultural developments
  4. To gain knowledge of the history and culture of the Slavic lands and contextualize them into broader global trends and histories
  5. To develop excellent writing and argumentation skills through work with literary and historical primary and secondary sources

Learning Objectives for the Minor in Russian and East European Studies

  1. To develop a critically informed understanding of Central and Eastern European literature, culture, and history
  2. To understand major Central and Eastern European literary and cultural developments
  3. To develop excellent writing and argumentation skills through work with literary and historical primary and secondary sources
  4. To gain knowledge of the history and culture of the Slavic lands and contextualize them into broader global trends and histories

Slavic Languages and Literatures Courses

See below for Russian Courses and Polish Courses.

SLAVIC 101-7 College Seminar (1 Unit)   Small, writing and discussion-oriented course exploring a specific topic or theme, and introducing skills necessary to thriving at Northwestern. Not eligible to be applied towards a WCAS major or minor except where specifically indicated.

SLAVIC 101-8 First-Year Writing Seminar (1 Unit)   Small, writing and discussion-oriented course exploring a specific topic or theme, and focused on the fundamentals of effective, college-level written communication. Not eligible to be applied towards a WCAS major or minor except where specifically indicated.

SLAVIC 106-SA Elementary Czech (1 Unit)   Czech language and culture. Basic reading, writing, listening, and speaking. No prerequisite.

SLAVIC 210-1 Introduction to Russian Literature (1 Unit)   Comprehensive overview of the central prose works and literary movements in 19th-century Russia. 1. Thematic and formal study of major works by Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Turgenev. 2. Tolstoy, Dostoevsky. 3. Turgenev, the late Tolstoy, Chekhov, Bunin. Literature Fine Arts Distro Area Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline

SLAVIC 210-2 Introduction to Russian Literature (1 Unit)   A close consideration of two great books, Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov and Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina. Questions to be addressed include: What makes literature worth reading? What makes great literature great? How do realist novels work? What can we learn from these two novels about important questions in life? Literature Fine Arts Distro Area Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline

SLAVIC 210-3 Introduction to Russian Literature (1 Unit)   Comprehensive overview of the central prose works and literary movements in 19th-century Russia. 1. Thematic and formal study of major works by Pushkin, Gogol, Lermontov, Turgenev. 2. Tolstoy, Dostoevsky. 3. Turgenev, the late Tolstoy, Chekhov, Bunin. Literature Fine Arts Distro Area

SLAVIC 211-1 20th-Century Russian Literature (1 Unit)   Major works in cultural-historical context, from the revolutions of 1917 through the 1950s. Variable content depending on instructor. Focus on one of the following: Russian modernism in literature, music, film, and visual art; gender; émigré literature; socialist realism in Soviet literature and visual arts. Literature Fine Arts Distro Area Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline

SLAVIC 211-2 20th-Century Russian Literature (1 Unit)   Major works in cultural-historical context, from the 1940s through the present. Variable content depending on instructor. Non-conformist Russian literature, film, and visual art, Russian literature and art in the transition from the Soviet to post-Soviet era. Focus on art and politics and gender representation in culture. Literature Fine Arts Distro Area Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline

SLAVIC 218-0 Introduction to Polish Literature (1 Unit)   Survey of Polish literature from the 19th century to the present. Focus on literary movements such as romanticism, realism, Young Poland, the avant-garde, Holocaust literature, and dissident and queer writings. Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline

SLAVIC 222-0 Language, Politics, & Identity (1 Unit)   Role of language in constructing, preserving, and manipulating political and national identities. Topics include language discrimination, linguistic nationalism, language and religion, alphabet issues, dialect issues. Regional content varies. LING 222-0 and SLAVIC 222-0 are taught together; may not receive credit for both courses. Ethics Values Distro Area Historical Studies Distro Area Interdisciplinary Distro - See Rules

SLAVIC 250-SA Balkan Civilizations (1 Unit)   Culture, history, politics, language, and literature of the Balkans historically and/or in modern periods. Content varies with instructor; may be repeated for credit. Restricted to students participating in NU-sponsored study abroad programs. Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity Historical Studies Distro Area Historical Studies Foundational Discipline

SLAVIC 255-0 Slavic Civilizations (1 Unit)   Culture, history, language, and literature of the Slavs historically and/or in modern periods. Content varies with instructor; may be repeated for credit. Literature Fine Arts Distro Area Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline

SLAVIC 261-0 Heart of Europe: Poland in the Twentieth Century (1 Unit)   Study of key developments in Polish history, literature, and thought by way of texts drawn from literature, history, politics, journalism, memoirs, essays, and film. Poland as a microcosm for recent European history and culture. Historical Studies Distro Area Literature Fine Arts Distro Area Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline

SLAVIC 262-0 Life 101: Literature and Psychology (1 Unit)   A conversation among disciplines, especially psychology and literary studies. Explores how people tell stories to develop a deeper and more multifaceted understanding of life narrative and human life. SLAVIC 262-0 and HDC 262-0 are taught together; may not receive credit for both. Ethical and Evaluative Thinking Foundational Disci Ethics Values Distro Area Literature Fine Arts Distro Area Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline

SLAVIC 267-0 Czech Culture: Film, Visual Arts & Music (1 Unit)   Czech culture represented in film and visual arts. Literature Fine Arts Distro Area

SLAVIC 267-SA Czech Culture (1 Unit)  

SLAVIC 278-1 Visual Art in the Context of Russian Culture (1 Unit)   Major themes related to the history of Russian art from the medieval period to the beginning of the 21st century. General survey of Russian visual art in the dual contexts of Russian culture and European visual art; topics directly related to iconography, particular artistic movements, and the philosophy of art. Variable content depending on instructor. Focus on interconnections among visual arts, literature, religion, and political history. Literature Fine Arts Distro Area

SLAVIC 278-2 Visual Art in the Context of Russian Culture (1 Unit)   Word and Image in the Context of Russian Culture. Introduction to the semiotcics of both textual and visual narratives within the framework of Russian culture; study of the relation of visual representation to language and literature from medieval icons and apocrypha to contemporary artists' books and graphic novels.

SLAVIC 310-0 Tolstoy (1 Unit)  

This course is devoted to a careful consideration of one book, Tolstoy's War and Peace, as we come to appreciate why it is often considered the world's greatest novel.

Literature Fine Arts Distro Area Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline

SLAVIC 311-0 Dostoevsky (1 Unit)  

Introduction to Dostoevsky's life and works: Notes from the Underground, Crime and Punishment, Brothers Karamazov.

Literature Fine Arts Distro Area Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline

SLAVIC 314-0 Chekhov (1 Unit)  

Introduction to the fiction and plays of Anton Chekhov, father of the modern short story. His writing in its Russian cultural context and his influence on English-language drama, fiction, and film. Readings include The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull, Uncle Vania, and short stories.

Literature Fine Arts Distro Area

SLAVIC 318-0 Polish Cinema (1 Unit)   Development of Polish cinema from silent era to contemporary times with focus on major historical and political events in Poland in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Special focus on what it means to study “national cinema.”. Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity Literature Fine Arts Distro Area Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline

SLAVIC 322-0 Making a Dictionary: The Northwestern Project (1 Unit)   Creation of an online dictionary of Northwestern language. Learning about the connection between language, society, and identity; sociolinguistic fieldwork; lexicography; politics of dictionaries. LING 363-0 and SLAVIC 322-0 are taught together; may not receive credit for both courses. Social Behavioral Sciences Distro Area

SLAVIC 328-0 Prague: City of Cultures, City of Conflict (1 Unit)   Examination of the cultural, political, and social transformation of Prague from the 19th century to the present. Cosmopolitan Prague, communist Prague, and capitalist Prague. SLAVIC 328-0 and GERMAN 328-0 are taught together; may not receive credit for both courses. Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity Historical Studies Distro Area Interdisciplinary Distro - See Rules Literature Fine Arts Distro Area Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline

SLAVIC 341-0 Structure of Modern Russian (1 Unit)  

Theories and methods of linguistics as applied to the description of modern Russian. Phonetics, morphology, and other topics.

Formal Studies Distro Area

SLAVIC 360-0 Survey of 19th Century Russian Poetry (1 Unit)  

Introduction to the wealth of Russian 19th century lyric poetry and basic techniques for its study: Pushkin, Baratynsky, Lermontov, Tyutchev, Fet. Course readings in Russian.

Literature Fine Arts Distro Area

SLAVIC 361-0 Survey of 20th Century Russian Poetry (1 Unit)  

Introduction to the major currents of Russian 20th century lyric poetry and basic techniques for its study: Tsvetaeva, Mayakovsky, Khlebnikov, Blok, Akhmatova, Mandelshtam, Pasternak, Brodsky. Course readings in Russian.

Literature Fine Arts Distro Area

SLAVIC 367-1 Russian Film (1 Unit)   Development of Russian film and film theory from the silent era to the 1980s. Golden Age of Russian cinema (Eisenstein, Pudovkin, Vertov, Protazanov, Vasiliev brothers, Dovzhenko, socialist realism). Literature Fine Arts Distro Area Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline

SLAVIC 368-0 Andrei Tarkovsky's Aesthetics and World Cinema (1 Unit)   Major films of Tarkovsky and of Russian and non-Russian directors whose work is related to his (Eisenstein, Wenders, Bergman, Kurosawa). Literature Fine Arts Distro Area

SLAVIC 369-0 Russian Drama (1 Unit)  

Dramatic traditions of Russia from the 19th century through Russian modernism to contemporary theater. Dramas by Gogol, Ostrovsky, Gorky, Chekhov, Blok, Mayakovsky, and others.

Literature Fine Arts Distro Area Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline

SLAVIC 390-0 History and Culture in Central and Eastern Europe (1 Unit)  

Course concerns the interaction of history, politics, and culture in Central and Eastern Europe. Content varies. May be repeated for credit.

Advanced Expression Historical Studies Distro Area Historical Studies Foundational Discipline Interdisciplinary Distro - See Rules

SLAVIC 392-0 East European Literature and Visual Arts (1 Unit)   Course focuses on the intersection of literature, visual arts, film, and politics in Central and Eastern Europe. Content varies; may be repeated for credit. Advanced Expression Literature Fine Arts Distro Area Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline

SLAVIC 396-0 Topics in Literature and Arts (1 Unit)   Content varies. May be repeated for credit. Literature Fine Arts Distro Area

SLAVIC 399-0 Independent Study (1 Unit)   For majors selected as candidates for departmental honors; for other advanced students with consent of instructor.

SLAVIC 399-SA Independent Study (1 Unit)   For majors selected as candidates for departmental honors; for other advanced students with consent of instructor.

Russian Courses

RUSSIAN 101-1 Elementary Russian (1 Unit)   Russian language and culture. Basic reading, writing, listening, and speaking. No prerequisite.

RUSSIAN 101-2 Elementary Russian (1 Unit)   Russian language and culture. Basic reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Prerequisite: RUSSIAN 101-1 (or equivalent).

RUSSIAN 101-3 Elementary Russian (1 Unit)   Russian language and culture. Basic reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Prerequisite: RUSSIAN 101-2 (or equivalent).

RUSSIAN 102-1 Intermediate Russian (1 Unit)   Russian language and culture. Reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Prerequisite: RUSSIAN 101-3 (or equivalent).

RUSSIAN 102-2 Intermediate Russian (1 Unit)   Russian language and culture. Reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Prerequisite: RUSSIAN 102-1 (or equivalent).

RUSSIAN 102-3 Intermediate Russian (1 Unit)   Russian language and culture. Reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Prerequisite: RUSSIAN 102-2 (or equivalent).

RUSSIAN 302-1 Advanced Russian in Conversations (1 Unit)   Conversation, listening comprehension, reading, and composition. Contemporary readings on Russian culture and society. Combined third-and fourth-year multi-skill course. Prerequisite: RUSSIAN 102-3 or consent of language director. Advanced Expression

RUSSIAN 302-2 Advanced Russian in Conversations (1 Unit)   Conversation, listening comprehension, reading, and composition. Contemporary readings on Russian culture and society. Combined third-and fourth-year multi-skill course. Prerequisite: RUSSIAN 102-3 or consent of language director. Advanced Expression

RUSSIAN 302-3 Advanced Russian in Conversations (1 Unit)   Conversation, listening comprehension, reading, and composition. Contemporary readings on Russian culture and society. Combined third-and fourth-year multi-skill course. Prerequisite: RUSSIAN 102-3 or consent of language director. Advanced Expression

RUSSIAN 303-1 Advanced Russian Language and Culture (1 Unit)   Conversation, listening comprehension, reading, and composition. Exploration of modern Russian language and culture through readings, video, and film. Combined third-and fourth-year multi-skill course. Prerequisite: RUSSIAN 102-3 or consent of language director.

RUSSIAN 303-2 Advanced Russian Language and Culture (1 Unit)   Conversation, listening comprehension, reading, and composition. Exploration of modern Russian language and culture through readings, video, and film. Combined third-and fourth-year multi-skill course. Prerequisite: RUSSIAN 102-3 or consent of language director.

RUSSIAN 303-3 Advanced Russian Language and Culture (1 Unit)   Conversation, listening comprehension, reading, and composition. Exploration of modern Russian language and culture through readings, video, and film. Combined third-and fourth-year multi-skill course. Prerequisite: RUSSIAN 102-3 or consent of language director.

RUSSIAN 304-1 Advanced Contemporary Russian (1 Unit)   Russian for advanced speakers, including heritage speakers. Stress on skills in speaking, reading, and writing in professional and formal environments. Taught entirely in Russian. Prerequisite: RUSSIAN 302-3 or RUSSIAN 303-3 (or equivalent).

RUSSIAN 304-2 Advanced Contemporary Russian (1 Unit)   Russian for advanced speakers, including heritage speakers. Stress on skills in speaking, reading, and writing in professional and formal environments. Prerequisite: RUSSIAN 302-3 or RUSSIAN 303-3 (or equivalent).

RUSSIAN 359-0 Russian Prose (1 Unit)  

Selected works of Russian masters. Lecture, readings and discussion in Russian. Russian modernist prose, socialist realism and 1940s to the present. Content varies. May be repeated for credit.

Prerequisite: RUSSIAN 302-3 or RUSSIAN 303-3 (or equivalent).

Literature Fine Arts Distro Area

Polish Courses

POLISH 108-1 Elementary Polish (1 Unit)   First course in a three-quarter sequence in elementary Polish. Communicative approaches to reading, writing, listening, and speaking. No prerequisite.

POLISH 108-2 Elementary Polish (1 Unit)   Second course in a three-quarter sequence in elementary polish. Communicative approaches to reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Prerequisite: POLISH 108-1 (or equivalent).

POLISH 108-3 Elementary Polish (1 Unit)   Third course in a three-quarter sequence in elementary Polish. Communicative approaches to reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Prerequisite: POLISH 108-2 (or equivalent).

POLISH 208-1 Intermediate Polish: Language and Culture (1 Unit)   First course in a three-quarter sequence in intermediate Polish. Further development of reading, writing, speaking and listening proficiency through communicative approaches. Continued focus on Polish culture and society. Prerequisite: POLISH 108-3 (or equivalent).

POLISH 208-2 Intermediate Polish: Language and Culture (1 Unit)   Second course in a three-quarter sequence in intermediate Polish. Further development of reading, writing, speaking, and listening proficiency through communicative approaches. Continued focus on topics in Polish culture and society. Prerequisite: POLISH 208-1 (or equivalent).

POLISH 208-3 Intermediate Polish: Language and Culture (1 Unit)   Third course in a three-quarter sequence in intermediate Polish. Further development of reading, writing, speaking, and listening proficiency through communicative approaches. Continued focus on topics in Polish culture and society. Prerequisite: POLISH 208-2 (or equivalent).

POLISH 358-1 Polish for Advanced and Native Speakers (1 Unit)   Polish for advanced speakers, including heritage speakers. Stress on advanced levels of reading and writing as well as speaking. Taught entirely in Polish. Content varies; may be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: POLISH 208-3 (or equivalent). Advanced Expression Literature Fine Arts Distro Area

POLISH 358-2 Polish for Advanced and Native Speakers (1 Unit)   Polish for advanced speakers, including heritage speakers. Stress on advanced levels of reading and writing as well as speaking. Taught entirely in Polish. Content varies; may be repeated for credit. Prerequisite: POLISH 208-3 (or equivalent). Advanced Expression Literature Fine Arts Distro Area