Russian 3306: Syllabus
Week 1: Sunday 01/19/20 - Saturday 01/25/20 [show/hide]
Tuesday
COME TO THE ORGANIZATIONAL MEETING ON THURSDAY
Thursday
This syllabus has been updated after our organizational meeting on Thursday. See Course Description (the link at the top of the syllabus) to learn how this course works.
Week 2: Sunday 01/26/20 - Saturday 02/01/20 [show/hide]
Tuesday
Slava's class
Watch online Interviews from Russia. Part 1 (less than 50 minutes). (You will watch Part 2 next week.) Our goal for the first three classes is to discuss the film and the ways to write about it, and then to produce a well-written essay. As you watch the part for this class, take notes on what you would like to speak and write about. These notes are for your use only: you will not be asked to submit them. Come to class prepared to discuss your ideas about the film and your plans for the essay.
Thursday
Write a draft essay (less than a page) on Part 1 of Interviews from Russia. You may write about the events, the people, the context (social, cultural, geographic, etc.), your own reaction to the film, your analysis, and perhaps similar stories that you know from your own experience or education... in short, anything that seems interesting or important. In this draft, do not try to make your ideas definitive or categorical because as you watch the second half of the film for the next class, you may decide to expand or slightly change some of them.

In class you will be asked to read all or part of your draft, and we will discuss your ideas and the ways to improve your text.

Week 3: Sunday 02/02/20 - Saturday 02/08/20 [show/hide]
Tuesday
Slava's class
Watch online Interviews from Russia. Part 2. (about 40 minutes).

Write a final version of your essay on Interviews from Russia.
Viktoria's class for the 3-credit students.
Прочитайте и будьте готовы обсуждать: «Глава I. Никогда не разговаривайте с неизвестными». Михаил Булгаков. Мастер и Маргарита.

Thursday
Watch online the first half (Часть 1 - Часть 4, 48 minutes) of the film M & S. Take notes for in-class discussion and your future essay. Come to class prepared to discuss your ideas about the film and your plans for the essay.
Week 4: Sunday 02/09/20 - Saturday 02/15/20 [show/hide]
Tuesday
Slava's class
Write a draft of your essay based on the first half of the film. Use your notes from the previous viewing and from the class. Bring your draft to class. You will be asked to read all or part of your draft, and we will discuss the ways to improve it.
Viktoria's class for the 3-credit students.
Прочитайте и будьте готовы обсуждать: «Глава II. Понтий Пилат; Глава III. Седьмое доказательство.». Михаил Булгаков. Мастер и Маргарита.
Thursday
Watch the rest of M & S (Часть 5 - до конца фильма, 40 минут). Amend your earlier draft to include any new developments in the film as well as your reaction, analysis, perhaps a changed point of view, etc. This should be a final version of your essay. We will discuss it in class, and you will submit it at the end of the class.
Week 5: Sunday 02/16/20 - Saturday 02/22/20 [show/hide]
Tuesday
Slava's class
Watch online Children from Russia (60 minutes).

Take notes for in-class discussion and your future essay. Come to class prepared to discuss your ideas about the film and your plans for the essay.
Viktoria's class for the 3-credit students.
Прочитайте и будьте готовы обсуждать: «Глава IV. Погоня; Глава VI. Шизофрения, как и было сказаною. Читать до слов "Рюхин ничего не понял из слов доктора..."; Глава VII. Нехорошая квартирка». Михаил Булгаков. Мастер и Маргарита.

Thursday
Write a final version of your essay on Children from Russia.

For a relatively recent dramatic twist of this theme you may want to scan these articles: Кудрин просит Путина не подписывать закон об усыновлении and Путин подписал закон, запрещающий усыновление в США (or any other publications you may find).

Week 6: Sunday 02/23/20 - Saturday 02/29/20 [show/hide]
Tuesday
февральские каникулы
Thursday
Rewrite your essay on Children from Russian in a very different style. For example, if the essay you wrote for the previous class was neutral / unemotional / academic, a typical college essay written for a class, then this new version can be written as a letter to a friend, or a story for a young sibling, or a passionate call-to-action for an activist blog, or an informative article for a student or small-town newspaper, etc.
Week 7: Sunday 03/01/20 - Saturday 03/07/20 [show/hide]
Tuesday
Slava's class
Watch online Life on the Atomic River. You will need to log in with the same password you used earlier. (60 minutes).

Take notes for in-class discussion and your future essay. Come to class prepared to discuss your ideas about the film and your plans for the essay.
Viktoria's class for the 3-credit students.
Прочитайте и будьте готовы обсуждать: «Глава IX. Коровьевские штуки; Глава XII. Черная магия и ее разоблачение; ». Михаил Булгаков. Мастер и Маргарита.

Thursday
Write a final version of your essay on Life on the Atomic River.
Week 8: Sunday 03/08/20 - Saturday 03/14/20 [show/hide]
Tuesday
Slava's class
Watch The Anthrax Diaries at http://russian.cornell.edu/bio/cfm/film.cfm?Lang=R (30 minutes).

Take notes for in-class discussion and your future essay. Come to class prepared to discuss your ideas about the film and your plans for the essay.
Viktoria's class for the 3-credit students.
Прочитайте и будьте готовы обсуждать: «Глава XIII. Явление героя». Михаил Булгаков. Мастер и Маргарита.

Thursday
Go to the Anthrax site, click the Interviews tab, and watch any interviews or portions of interviews: http://russian.cornell.edu/bio/cfm/video.cfm?Lang=R&AccessCode=2000300040005000.

Take notes for in-class discussion and your future essay. Come to class prepared to discuss your ideas and your plans for the essay.

Week 9: Sunday 03/15/20 - Saturday 03/21/20 [show/hide]
Tuesday
Slava's class
Watch this 25-minute video called «Война под флагом мира» and write the final version of your essay on The Anthrax Diaries and related interviews.

You may want to look for comments from Russian viewers on that «Война» video and perhaps discuss them in your essay; I found some at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n01grJ8KDm0 and http://maxpark.com/user/4295029450/content/1611629
Viktoria's class for the 3-credit students.
Прочитайте и будьте готовы обсуждать: «Глава XVII. Беспокойный день; Глава XVIII. Неудачливые визитеры». Михаил Булгаков. Мастер и Маргарита.

Thursday
Watch one or more Экскурсии at Коммунальная квартира: Виртуальный музей советского быта and write about коммуналки either in the style of the essays you've written for this course so far or in some new format (e.g. stories from a Russian бабушка, or a letter to a veteran of communal living asking her about it, etc.). Or you may choose to compare the Soviet style коммунальный быт to life in the student dorm, or a religious commune, and raise any related issues.
Week 10: Sunday 03/22/20 - Saturday 03/28/20 [show/hide]
Tuesday
Slava's class
«Воры в законе» at https://youtu.be/NYyHLtuh6HM: watch as much as you have time for.

Take notes for in-class discussion and your future essay. Come to class prepared to discuss your ideas about the film and your plans for the essay.
Viktoria's class for the 3-credit students.
Прочитайте и будьте готовы обсуждать: «Глава XIX: Маргарита; Глава XX: Крем Азазелло; Глава XI. Полет.». Михаил Булгаков. Мастер и Маргарита.

Thursday
Watch the rest of «Воры в законе» and write the final version of your essay on it.
Week 11: Sunday 03/29/20 - Saturday 04/04/20 [show/hide]
Tuesday
весенние каникулы
Thursday
весенние каникулы
Week 12: Sunday 04/05/20 - Saturday 04/11/20 [show/hide]
Tuesday
Slava's class
Алексей Балабанов «Брат». 1997. Кинокомпания СТВ. 100 (96?) минут. Можно смотреть онлайн здесь и здесь (без титров). Есть статья в Википедии. Write about the film in any style and genre you like. Submit your text at the end of the class.
Viktoria's class for the 3-credit students.
Прочитайте и будьте готовы обсуждать: «Глава XXII. При свечах; Глава XXIII. Великий бал у сатаны». Михаил Булгаков. Мастер и Маргарита.
Thursday
Beginning with this class and for the rest of the semester, your goal is to write texts in a variety of genres as your reaction to media articles (no more films). This will require some use of a different kind of vocabulary: the articles are about key political and cultural issues in the XXI century Russia.

Read this article about a forum on the annexation of Crimea: Российская интеллигенция вступилась за Украину. Find one or two other articles, either for or against this move by Russia. Be sure to find out about Крымская речь Путина. Find out about the национал-предатели России: who are they and what do they represent? Another name in Russia's politics you should be familiar with is Гражданская платформа (https://civilplatform.ru/).

Week 13: Sunday 04/12/20 - Saturday 04/18/20 [show/hide]
Tuesday
Slava's class
Read this brief information on the Закон о запрете пропаганды гомосексуализма и педофилии. Note the four links to more information and peruse some of it. Explore any other sources, Including forums and blogs, e.g. in Живой журнал (livejournal.ru). The Russian Wikipedia also has an article on the history of this law.

Find a way to combine the two controversies—Crimea and LGBT—and write an open letter to some official or some governing body, or a manifest, or a position paper as a member of Russian intelligentsia or any opposing group. Explain and argue your views. We will discuss some of your texts, and at the end of the class you will submit yours.
Viktoria's class for the 3-credit students.
Прочитайте и будьте готовы обсуждать: «Глава XXIV.Излечение Мастера. Михаил Булгаков. Мастер и Маргарита.

Thursday
Read as much of this interview as you have time for Борис Дубин: «Молодежь предъявляет запрос на будущее». A relatively wide range of issues is discussed in the interview, but the underlying theme is "young people and politics."

Write a script for a radio broadcast (or podcast) addressed to your contemporaries (Americans or Russians) on the subject of following, and participating in, the political life of your country. We will discuss some of your texts, and at the end of the class you will submit yours.

Week 14: Sunday 04/19/20 - Saturday 04/25/20 [show/hide]
Tuesday
Slava's class
Read this (fairly sophisticated) opinion on власть vs. народ in Russia, Феномен казанского полицейского.

Write a half-page invitation to a rally (акция) against police brutality (in the US or Russia) in the style of a poster or a leaflet to be handed out to pedestrians on a city sidewalk. We will discuss some of your texts, and at the end of the class you will submit yours.
Viktoria's class for the 3-credit students.
Прочитайте и будьте готовы обсуждать: « Глава XXVII. Конец квартиры № 50; Глава XXVIII. Последние похождение Коровьева и Бегемота». Михаил Булгаков. Мастер и Маргарита.

Thursday
Read this interview with Irina Prokhorova, a well-known intellectual, publisher, social critic, and founder of the intellectual opposition party Гражданская платформа (as well as the sister of a Russian billionaire who challenged Putin in the 2012 elections), Пока мы для себя честно не определим, в какой стране хотим жить....

Write the text for a public appearance in which you will argue your position on some aspects of education in today's world (Russian, American, or global). We will discuss some of your speeches, and at the end of the class you will submit yours.

Friday
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Week 15: Sunday 04/26/20 - Saturday 05/02/20 [show/hide]
Tuesday
Slava's class
Find and read (or watch) publications on the anti-corruption rallies that took place in several Russian cities on March 26, 2017, and write about them (in any genre). A good starting point may be this series of video interviews in Vladivostok. Do not overlook readers' and viewers' comments, where available--they are often a good way to see alternative perspectives. A more recent series of events is described here.
Viktoria's class for the 3-credit students.
Прочитайте и будьте готовы обсуждать: «Глава XXIX. Судьба Мастера и Маргариты определена; Глава XXX. Пора! Пора! Глава XXXI. На Воробьевых горах; Глава XXXII. Прощание и вечный приют». Михаил Булгаков. Мастер и Маргарита.
Thursday
Find and read a technical description/manual/user guide for a device (any type, from a pocket watch to a super-light aircraft) and write a similar description/manual for a device that you own or wish to own. We will discuss some of your texts, and at the end of the class you will submit yours.
Week 16: Sunday 05/03/20 - Saturday 05/09/20 [show/hide]
Tuesday
Slava's class
Use any Russian Web site on any subject that interests you and write a text about it in any style that you like.
Viktoria's class for the 3-credit students.
Прочитайте и будьте готовы обсуждать: Эпилог. Михаил Булгаков. Мастер и Маргарита.
Thursday