RUSS 381 - Fyodor Dostoevsky: Novelist, Nationalist, Prisoner, Prophet

This course examines the life, work, and legacy of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881). Our central focus will be the reading and analysis of his classic works - the novella The Double (1846), and the novels Notes from the House of the Dead (1864), Crime and Punishment (1866), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880), as well as his articles, speeches, and autobiographical documents. We will also study Dostoevsky’s far-reaching influence on movements such as postwar Existentialism, auteur cinema, and contemporary postmodernist and metamodernist fiction. Along the way we will grapple with the complexities of a writer Albert Camus called “the real 19th century prophet,” whose youthful commitment to social justice and personal experiences of poverty, incarceration, addiction, and chronic illness led to transcendent visions of redemptive suffering and universal love, yet whose xenophobic and imperialist articulations of Russia’s identity and destiny continue to fuel nationalist ideology in Russia today. The course workload consists of reading, discussion, presentations, and a variety of writing assignments. All readings and discussions are in English. An additional weekly session will be scheduled for students taking the course for Russian credit.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group I - Arts, Literature, & Philosophy, Distribution Group I - non-English Language
Prerequisite(s): For Russian credit: RUSS 212 or equivalent.
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Cross-listing(s): LIT 381
Not offered: 2026-27
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Understand how arguments can be made, visions presented, or feelings or ideas conveyed through language or other modes of expression (symbols, movement, images, sounds, etc.).
Analyze and interpret texts, whether literary or philosophical or works of the visual or performing arts.
Evaluate arguments made in or about texts (whether literary or philosophical or works of the visual or performing arts).
Use a language other than English to understand and convey meaning in spoken, written, or mediated contexts appropriate to the course level.
Analyze how meaning is constructed and negotiated in a language other than English by examining grammatical structures, discourse conventions, or communicative strategies in spoken and written contexts.