Advanced Russian: Ivan Vasil’evich

This course is intended for students who are beyond the second-year level. While we will continue some work with a textbook, our aim will be to move away from grammar and into active reading, writing, watching, and speaking in Russian. A large part of our course will center on reading Mikhail Bulgakov’s 1936 play, Ivan Vasil’evich, and watching the 1973 film adaptation, Ivan Vasil’evich meniaet professiiu; both play and film tell the story of a somewhat hapless scientist who succeeds in inventing a time machine. Other texts will include historical accounts, Sergei Eisenstein’s film Ivan the Terrible, Mikhail Zoshchenko’s short story Krizis, various films portraying the 1920s and the 1960s/70s, and a short excerpt from Ivan Voinovich’s Ivankiada. Over the course of the semester, we will learn a number of popular and folk songs, along with the basics of Russian word morphology. Weekly conversation classes with the Russian assistant will be required, and attendance at Russian table is strongly encouraged. For students with two years of college Russian or the equivalent.