Course Details

Course offered Winter 2020

HONORS 241 B: Russia's Big Books: Anna Karenina (A&H)

HONORS 241 B: Russia's Big Books: Anna Karenina (A&H)

SLN 22042 (View UW registration info »)

Galya Diment (Slavic Languages and Literatures)
Office: A219 Padelford Hall, Box 354335
Phone: 206-543-6848
Email: galya@uw.edu

Credits: 5
Limit: 15 students

Honors Credit Type

ONE OF THE GREATEST “ROMANCES” EVER WRITTEN, ANNA KARENINA IS JUDGED BY MANY TO BE AN UNPRECEDENTED MASTERPIECE OF NOT ONLY RUSSIAN BUT WORLD LITERATURE. WE WILL EXPLORE THE HISTORICAL TIMES DURING WHICH IT APPEARED AND READ TOLSTOY’S WIFE’S DIARY AND, AMONG OTHER CRITICISM, VLADIMIR NABOKOV’S DELIGHTFUL TAKE ON THE NOVEL. THE COURSE WILL ALSO EXAMINE THE NOVEL’S MORAL AND IDEOLOGICAL ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT FAMILY, MARRIAGE, RELATIONSHIP, WOMEN’S ROLE, AND HOW THESE REFLECTED THE AUTHOR’S (AND, HIS WIFE’S!) VIEWS AS WELL AS THE CULTURE AND SOCIETY AROUND HIM.

The Russia’s Big Books courses study one big/epic novel by the titans of Russian literature per quarter. Includes such novels as Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Anna Karenina, Dostoevsky’s Brothers Karamazov, Goncharov’s Oblomov, Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita, Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago, and Nabokov’s Ada. All readings are in English. 

Honors students will complete an extended midterm and complete additional final write-ups/papers. Reflective reports will also be an optional component for Honors students.