Philosophy, Literature and the Arts
Rotating Spring Courses
THE DIALOGIC RUSSIAN MINDS: MIKHAIL BAKHTIN
Journey through Mikhail Bakhtin's revolutionary literary theories where novels breathe, truth emerges through dialogue, and carnival laughter topples hierarchies—exploring how his concepts of polyphony, unfinalizability, and the grotesque illuminate the profound human quest for meaning across disciplinary boundaries.
The Brothers Karamazov
Wrestle with Dostoevsky's explosive family saga where saintly impulses and demonic urges inhabit the same beating Karamazovian hearts—where parricide and prayer, carnal hunger and spiritual longing, rational atheism and ecstatic faith don't merely coexist but actively feed each other in a visceral exploration of what it means to be inescapably, contradictorily human.
Time Unveiled: Russian and American Apocalypses
When worlds collapse, truth unveils itself: explore how apocalyptic visions in Russian and American traditions break through ordinary reality—from Bulgakov's demonic Moscow to Dylan's acid rain, this course reveals the revolutionary moments when time itself shatters and reforms.