THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST IN MY COURSE!

Welcome Life Long Learners! I am delighted that you are participating in my course. I am looking forward to getting to know you all and being part of this adventure with you. This course examines the great Russian civilization. Our journey will begin with Kievan Rus' and will continue to today's Russia. Intertwined will be discussions of notable authors throughout her history. We will also explore the role of religion, the concept of the Holy Fool and much more. Authors we will explore will include, but not limited to Dostoevsky, Pushkin, Chekhov, Lermontov, Tolstoy and much more! Discussions of these authors will be put in a historical context.

Course Outline

Welcome to The Fairy Tale Mini.

The meeting times for this course will be Fridays from 5:30pm—6:30pm from August 5, — 25, 2024. All meetings will be held via zoom. Study questions will be provided prior to each meeting. MOST reading material will be made available to you via this webpage. Here is a breakdown of what our schedule will be:

Week

1. Introduction. We will begin by looking at some of the beginnings of what we now call Russia. We will explore Kievan Rus with a look at major events such as her Christianization and early beliefs, with a close look at folklore. We will than move towards the early rulers.


2. We begin to transition into early 20th century Russian history with a look at the Russo–Japanese War, WWI, the Bolshevik Revolution, establishment of the Soviet Union. We will begin to explore the key Russian Authors such as Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Lermontov among others with an emphasis on ideas focused on the Mad Man, love, class stratification among other ideas.


3. In closing we will explore the Cold War and major Russian authors during this time and the important themes that can be found in their works. We may also briefly describe the fall of the Soviet Union.