Reading and composition course based on works of Russian and other Slavic writers, either written in English or translated into English. As students develop strategies of writing and interpretation, they will become acquainted with a particular theme in Russian and/or Slavic literatures and their major voices. R5A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement, and R5B satisfies the second half.

Why are we so captivated by narratives of adultery? They can be found in the Bible and splashed across tabloid pages, in operas and in soap operas. As subject matter, adultery effortlessly bridges the high and the low. Is our ceaseless interest primarily prurient or moralistic in character? Do we protest too much in our condemnations of adulterers? Do we secretly admire them, vicariously enjoying their lives of passion and freedom from restraint? In fiction, this moral ambiguity is compounded by an ambiguity in terms of affective response. Adultery is profoundly ambivalent, capable of setting into motion events of tragic gravity on the one hand and comic levity on the other. No matter which aspect of adultery tends to dominate in a given work of art, its opposite is also present, sometimes manifestly, sometimes subtly so. Do we laugh or do we cry—or do we perpetually hesitate between the two? This course will focus on adultery as a theme and conceptual problem in European literature, beginning with one of the paradigmatic novels of adultery, Madame Bovary, before turning to deviations from this established mode of representing adultery: bilious screeds from jealous husbands, tortuous retellings of jumbled memories, and grotesque tableaus of humor and horror. We will pay special attention to the ebb, flow, and uneasy coexistence of tragedy and farce in adultery narratives. The larger aim of this course is to develop skills in critical reading and writing, particularly the art of crafting a college-level essay. Time will be set aside for peer review and revision. Students are expected to do the reading (~50-70 pages per week) and actively participate in class discussions. Required for Purchase: Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary, ed. Margaret Cohen. Norton Critical Editions. ISBN: 978-0393979176 Leo Tolstoy, The Kreutzer Sonata, trans. Isai Kamen. Modern Library Classics. ISBN: 978-0812968231 Vladimir Nabokov, Laughter in the Dark, Vintage. ISBN: 978-0679724506 Additional readings will be made available on bCourses.

Requisites

• Satisfaction of the Entry Level Writing Requirement.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills