Russian 435 Russian and Central European Jewish Literature

In this course we explore how the 20th century literature written in Russian, Polish, Czech, Hungarian, Serbian and Lithuanian by writers of Jewish origin reflects the changing problem of Jewish identity. We make connections between the writings of Jewish writers of different national backgrounds and explore history as represented by Jewish authors. We discuss the tradition of Jewish prose writing/fiction in Russia and Central/Eastern Europe and make connections between Jewish literature in Russia and Eastern Europe and our own lives. The course is conducted in English and assumes no previous knowledge of Russian language, literature or history.