Major program: The major is designed to provide students with an advanced level of fluency in the Russian language, a knowledge of Russian literature (with emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries), and a basic understanding of the historical and cultural context in which it developed. To be accepted into the major, the student must have an average of B in Russian-related courses.

Seven courses in Russian language and literature are required beyond the third-year level of language study. These must include RUSS205 and 206 and one seminar on Russian prose, poetry, or drama (conducted in Russian).

Russian majors are encouraged to spend a summer and/or a semester studying in the FSU after completing at least two years of language study or the equivalent.  Academic credit (under RUSS465/466) will be given for successful completion of Wesleyan-sponsored programs.

Sample Courses:  The 19th-Century Russian Novel; The Real McCoy: Constructing Identity; A Matter of Life and Death: Fiction in the Soviet Era; Pushkin; Gogol and His Legacy: Witches, Con Men, and Runaway Noses

Number of Professors: 4

Russian Building

For more information, visit the Department Homepage .

Title: Faculty Spotlight
Russian Building

Priscilla Meyer

Professor of Russian Language and Literature, Professor of Russian and Eastern European Studies


Research Interests: She is interested in French sources of the 19th-century Russian novel and Vladimir Nabokov.  Recently, she wrote a book titled How the Russians Read the French: Lermontov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, in which she argues that these Russian authors take the French tradition as a thesis, propose an antithesis, and create in their novels a synthesis meant to foster a Russian national tradition.