REL 285 - Russian Jewish Culture

This course discusses Russian Jewish culture and its extraordinary role in Russian literary and social history. The Jews of Russia created an original culture that combined profound religious piety with extreme secularism, and political and aesthetic conservatism with daring experiments in literature, arts and film. The course will cover the most important issues of Russian-Jewish coexistence and will focus on the cultural, linguistic and ideological transformation of Russian Jews in the late 19th and 20th centuries, from pious Yiddish-speaking shtetl dwellers to secular Russian-speaking urbanites. Literary works of major 19th- and 20th-century Russian writers, and guest lectures on art, religion, history and political history, will provide the primary material for discussion. Taught with the Department of Religion.

Credits 1

Notes
Cross-listed with RUSS 285

Compass Attributes
Global Honors, Structure/Power/Inequality, Taylor and Lane Scholars