Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

Syllabus Archive

The following syllabi come from a variety of different terms. They illustrate the evolution of this course over time, and are intended to provide alternate views into the instruction of this course.

Fall 2010, Elizabeth Wood (PDF)

Fall 2008, Elizabeth Wood (PDF)

Fall 2005, Elizabeth Wood (PDF)

Fall 2002, Elizabeth Wood (PDF)

Introduction

At the beginning of the eighteenth century Russia began to come into its own as a major European power. Members of the Russian intellectual classes increasingly compared themselves and their autocratic order to states and societies in the West. This comparison generated both a new sense of national consciousness and intense criticism of the existing order in Russia. In this course we will examine different perspectives on Russian history and literature in order to try to understand the Russian Empire as it changed from the medieval period to the modern.

Assignments

Students are asked to write weekly short papers of approximately 2 pages responding to the readings (7 in all). In addition you will write two 4-5 page papers analyzing documents (due in Ses #8 and Ses #14). Each student will lead one class with questions prepared in advance for everyone to consider. At the end of the course there will be a final examination.

Grading

Participation in the course will be evaluated as follows:

Attendance is mandatory in each class.

Readings

Cracraft, James. Major Problems in the History of Imperial Russia. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath, 1993. ISBN: 9780669214970.

Gibian, George. The Portable Nineteenth-Century Russian Reader. New York, NY: Viking Penguin, 1993. ISBN: 9780140151039.

Gilbert, Martin. The Routledge Atlas of Russian History. New York, NY: Routledge, 2007. ISBN: 9780415394840.

Tolstoy, Leo. Hadji Murad. Translated by Aylmer Maude. Washington, DC: Orchises Press, 1996. ISBN: 9780914061533.