Masterpieces of Russian Literature

Nineteenth century Czarist Russia—a backward and highly repressive country, with immense economic, ethnic and religious disparities—produced some of the finest novels ever created by the human imagination. Authors such as Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevski and Ivan Turgenev, writing during a period of incredible political repression and artistic censorship, left the world a cast of indelible characters and a wealth of powerful themes and revolutionary ideas that continue to intrigue, perplex, entertain and inspire us today. We will explore the psychological and spiritual complexity, and the cultural and political background, of three classic novels: Dostoevski's Crime and Punishment, Tolstoy’s deeply emotional and tragic love story, Anna Karenina, and the underrated, but unforgettable, masterpiece that is Turgenev’s Fathers and Sons.

Course Number: LIT-40067   Credit: 2 units