Classics of Russian Literature

Overview

Course No. 2830

This 36-lecture journey through Russian literary masterpieces is guided by an award-winning Professor Emeritus of Slavic Languages. You’ll explore the profound psychological depth and artistic brilliance of works by Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and other giants, from medieval epics to 20th-century dissident literature.

The course uniquely blends English translations with Russian passages read aloud, offering authentic insights into these iconic texts. You’ll examine over 40 works including War and Peace, Crime and Punishment, Eugene Onegin, The Seagull, and Doctor Zhivago, while understanding their historical and cultural contexts.

Video Lectures

01: Origins of Russian Literature (32 min)

Discover how medieval Kiev’s Christian conversion shaped early Russian writing.

02: The Church and the Folk in Old Kiev (31 min)

Analyze The Tale of Prince Igor, a 12th-century epic of doomed valor.

Pushkin Lectures (03-07)

03: Russia’s Greatest Poet (30 min)
04: Eugene Onegin (29 min)
05: Boris Godunov (30 min)
06: Mozart and Salieri (29 min)
07: The Bronze Horseman (30 min)

Gogol Lectures (08-09)

08: Master of Prose (31 min)
09: Dead Souls (30 min)

Dostoevsky Lectures (10-15)

10: Early Life (30 min)
11: Prison Experience (30 min)
12: Crime and Punishment (30 min)
13: Criminal Psychology (30 min)
14: The Brothers Karamazov (30 min)
15: Christ and Satan (30 min)

Tolstoy Lectures (16-21)

16: Early Works (30 min)
17: War and Peace (30 min)
18: War’s Brutality (29 min)
19: Anna Karenina (30 min)
20: Levin’s Parallel (29 min)
21: Late Preaching (30 min)

22-23: Turgenev (60 min total)

Explore Notes of a Hunter and generational conflicts in Fathers and Sons.

24: Chekhov (30 min)

Study The Seagull and short story The Darling.

Soviet Era Writers (25-36)

25: Gorky’s Transition (30 min)
26: Revolution’s Impact (30 min)
27: Maiakovsky’s Poetry (30 min)
28: The Bedbug (30 min)
29-30: Sholokhov’s And Quiet Flows the Don (60 min)
31-32: Zoshchenko’s Satire (60 min)
33-34: Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago (60 min)
35: Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Stories (30 min)
36: Russian Literature’s Legacy (32 min)