Russia has never gotten Pasternak’s Dr. Zhivago out of its system. This course will take us deep into the most controversial novel written during the Soviet era. Tolstoyan in its sweep, Dr. Zhivago is a stunning indictment of the system that attempted to engineer human life and an equally stunning meditation on the power of art to survive turbulent times. Pasternak was, above all, a poet. Dr. Zhivago was the only novel he ever wrote, and as such, we will be reading the prose of a poet. We will look at the poetic tradition to which Pasternak belonged, as well as the Zhivago poems that are key to understanding the philosophical core of the novel. Pasternak called it “a novel about us,” yet he could not get Dr. Zhivago published in his own country. The fate of Pasternak’s novel tells us much about how literary dissent functioned in the Soviet Union, but what can Pasternak and his novel speak to the world where Russia finds itself today?
Ted and Shirley Taubeneck Superior Teaching Award
— 2023 Award-Winning Course —
The teaching excellence displayed in this course earned this professor the highest honor that the Humanities Seminars Program has to bestow: the Ted and Shirley Taubeneck Superior Teaching Award. This award is given annually by the Humanities Seminars Program. It is based entirely on student evaluations and seeks to honor the pedagogical skill, depth of expertise, and commitment to students demonstrated by the most outstanding faculty who teach for the Humanities Seminars Program.
We are delighted to re-release this award-winning course during the Summer 2025 season.
- This course is offered as a recording. No live class sessions or meetings are scheduled with the professor or fellow students.
- Access – enrolled students have complete online access to course materials via the HSP Learning Portal from the day of their registration until August 31, 2025. On September 1, 2025, the class video recordings will be removed; however, students will retain access to all other course materials online.
- Price – has been reduced from our regular course tuition rates. Enrollment provides access to all course materials, including the original syllabus, reading materials, and video recordings of all class sessions for a limited time.
