Russian

Related disciplines

At a time of great crisis in Russia and in Ukraine, the study of Russian remains essential to the understanding of Russian politics, history, and culture. It is also an easy move from Russian to the study of other Slavic languages, including not just Ukrainian but also Belarusian, Czech, Slovak, Polish, Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, etc.  The goal of the Russian language classes at Sarah Lawrence College is to teach students to speak, comprehend, read, and write a language with a logic very different from that of English. Oral proficiency is the focus of the first-year class, culminating in end-of-semester projects where students write and film skits in small groups. In the second-year course, reading is also emphasized. Our texts range from avant-garde plays, children’s literature, and folk tales to poetry and short stories—often paired with filmed and recorded versions. Topics, texts, and authors covered in the advanced class vary widely, and student input is strongly encouraged. Past syllabi have included works by authors such as Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy, Tsvetaeva, Bulgakov, and Pelevin, as well as films. Student work in class and conference is supplemented by weekly meetings with the language assistant and by a variety of extracurricular activities, including a weekly Russian Table, Russian opera at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, and excursions to Brighton Beach.

While students of Russian are strongly encouraged to spend a semester or, ideally, a year abroad, the war in Ukraine has significantly changed the possibilities. Prior to the war, Sarah Lawrence students regularly attended a variety of programs, including: Middlebury College’s School in Russia, with sites in Moscow, Irkutsk, and Yaroslavl; Bard College’s program at the Smolny Institute in St. Petersburg; the Moscow Art Theatre School Semester through Connecticut College; ACTR in Moscow, St. Petersburg, or Vladimir; and CIEE. In the last year, our students have continued their study of Russian in Bishkek, Kyrghyzstan, as well as Daugavapils, Latvia; programs in Georgia, including in both Tbilisi and Batumi, also offer good options.

The Russian program includes courses taught in translation as part of the literature curriculum. Current and recent literature courses include: Double Thoughts and Double-Consciousness: Russian and African-American Literature; Signs of the Material World: Dostoevsky and 19th-Century Science; Dostoevsky and the West; The 19th-Century Russian Novel; and Intertextuality in the 20th-Century Russian Novel.

Students of Russian also pursue their interest in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia in many other areas of the College. While conference work can always be directed toward the student’s field of interest, courses focusing either entirely or in part on Russia and/or other areas in Eastern Europe and Eurasia are regularly offered in a number of disciplines, including history, film history, art history, and politics.