Michael Pesenson
Assistant Professor — Ph.D, Yale University
Assistant Professor, Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies

Contact
- E-mail: mpesenson@utexas.edu
- Phone: 512 232 9132
- Office: BUR 464
Courses
CTI 345 • War/Revolutn In Rus Lit/Cul
33440 • Spring 2018
Meets MWF 1:00PM-2:00PM GEA 127
GC
(also listed as REE 325)
RUS 325 • Third-Year Russian II
44430 • Spring 2018
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM BUR 228
RUS 324 • Third-Year Russian I
44886 • Fall 2017
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM SZB 240
UGS 303 • Russia And The West
63320-63330 • Fall 2017
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM SZB 370
ID
C L 323 • Medieval Russian Lit/Cul
33715 • Spring 2017
Meets MW 1:00PM-2:30PM GEA 127
GC
(also listed as REE 325)
RUS 325 • Third-Year Russian II
44940 • Spring 2017
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM WEL 3.260
RUS 326 • Adv Rus Thru Contemp Media
44870 • Fall 2016
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM WEL 4.224
(also listed as RUS 380E)
UGS 303 • Russia And The West
63505-63515 • Fall 2016
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM SZB 370
ID
RUS 326 • Russian Short Story
44030 • Spring 2016
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM BUR 128
(also listed as RUS 380E)
C L 386 • Apocalypse In Russian Lit/Cul
32895 • Fall 2015
Meets M 3:00PM-6:00PM BUR 228
(also listed as REE 386)
HIS 306N • Intro Rus/E Eur/Eurasn Stds
38180 • Fall 2015
Meets MWF 1:00PM-2:00PM WEL 2.312
GC
(also listed as REE 301)
REE 385 • War/Peace In Rus Lit/Cul
44249 • Spring 2015
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM BUR 228
HIS 306N • Intro Rus/E Eur/Eurasian Stds
39260 • Fall 2014
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM UTC 3.102
GC
(also listed as REE 301)
REE 385 • Madness And Madmen In Rus Lit
45260 • Fall 2014
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM BUR 228
REE F325 • Literature & Dissent In Russia
87410 • Summer 2014
Meets TWTH 10:00AM-12:30PM BUR 128
GCWr
(also listed as RUS F356)
RUS 329 • The Russian Short Story
45835 • Spring 2014
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM GEA 127
UGS 303 • Cont Rus Lit/Film: 1991-2011
64905-64915 • Spring 2014
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM NOA 1.102
ID
C L 323 • Intro Old Russian Lit & Cul
33870 • Spring 2013
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM PAR 301
(also listed as REE 325, REE 385, RUS 330)
RUS 329 • The Russian Short Story
45165 • Spring 2013
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM PAR 310
C L 386 • Madness And Madmen In Rus Lit
33765 • Fall 2012
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM CAL 22
(also listed as REE 385)
REE 301 • Intro Rus/E Eur/Eurasian Stds
44625 • Fall 2012
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM PAR 208
GC
(also listed as SLA 301)
C L 323 • War & Peace In Russian Lit/Cul
33773 • Spring 2012
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM PAR 206
(also listed as REE 325, REE 385, RUS 356, RUS 391)
RUS 329 • The Russian Short Story
44995 • Spring 2012
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM PAR 210
C L 323 • Apocalypse In Russian Lit/Cul
33565 • Fall 2011
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM PAR 201
(also listed as REE 325, REE 385, RUS 330, RUS 391)
C L 323 • The Russian Novel
33620 • Fall 2011
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM PAR 201
GC
(also listed as CTI 345, E 322, REE 325, RUS 356)
MDV 392M • The Icon And The Sword
40991 • Fall 2010
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM GAR 3.116
(also listed as C L 323, REE 325, REE 385, RUS 330)
REE 301 • Intro Rus/E Eur/Eurasian Stds
44515 • Fall 2010
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM PAR 206
GC
(also listed as SLA 301)
REE 325 • War & Peace In Russian Lit/Cul
45510 • Spring 2010
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM CAL 200
REE 325 • Terror In Russia
45613 • Fall 2009
Meets MWF 12:00PM-1:00PM SZB 370
Undergraduate Courses
Fall 2010 REE 301/SLA 301 "Introduction to Russian, E. European, and Eurasian"
Course Description
Introduction to the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe through each of the major disciplines represented in the program: language, literature, anthropology, geography, history, government, sociology, and economics. Core course required for a degree in Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies. Meets with SLA 301 and GRG 309. May not be used to fulfill the foreign language requirement for any Bachelor’s degree. Course number may be repeated for credit when the topics vary.
Fall 2010 REE 330/REE 325/CL 323/REE 385/RUS 391 "The Icon and the Sword: An Introduction to Old Russian Literature and Culture"
Course Description
This course serves as an introduction to the exciting and exotic literature and culture of the medieval and early modern Russia. Over the course of the semester, we will learn about all aspects of medieval Russian life, exploring important literary texts fro Kievan and Muscovite Rus’ that reveal a vibrant and thriving literary and cultural community. These texts include notable examples of historical writing, military tales, saints’ lives, homilies, adventure tales, biographies, polemical treatises, and miracle tales. We will also devote time to the study of art and iconography, examining in particular regional differences in icon painting and other artistic production. In addition, we will watch several well-known Russian films and oeras based on medieval historical subjects, such as Alexander Nevsky, Andrei Rublev, Ivan the Terrible, and Boris Godunov, and discuss how librettists, composers, directors, and screenwriters re-imagined medieval Russian culture in their own times. All readings and discussion will be in English.
Fall 2011 RUS 356/REE 325/E322/CTI345 "The Russian Novel"
The Russian novel represents Russia’s most fundamental contribution to world culture. This course surveys classic authors and experimental works from the 19th and 20th centuries. Students in the course will deepen their understanding of the context for writers, including Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. They will gain familiarity with literary movements and genres including romanticism, realism, modernism, and the postmodern as they developed in Russia. We will highlight issues including the relationship of Russia to the West, national identity, and the complex relationship of literature to politics.
Reading List: (These novels are all available in the bookstore or on Blackboard)
M. Lermontov, A Hero of Our Time
I. Turgenev, Fathers and Son
F. Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
L. Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
M. Bulgakov, Master and Margarita
A. Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
V. Grossman, Everything Flows
V. Sorokin, Day of the Oprichnik
V. Pelevin, Yellow Arrow
Fall 2011 RUS 330/REE 325/REE 385/CL 323/CL 382 "The Apocalypse in Russian Literature and Culture"
The Russians have been famously termed “wanderers in search of God’s truth”. In much of their literature there is a discernable thirst for another life, another world, a clear displeasure at what is. There is an eschatological directedness, an expectation that there will be an end to all that is finite, that a final truth will ultimately be revealed, that in the future an extraordinary event will take place. This new course will explore and analyze apocalyptic consciousness in Russian literature and culture from the Middle Ages to the present. Emphasis will be on such themes as the expectation of the end of the world, identification of the Antichrist, messianic prophecy and visions of an afterlife. Readings will include works of Gogol, Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Bely, Merezhkovsky, Soloviev, Bulgakov, Makanin, and Tolstaya.
The graduate component of this class will involve an additional moderate amount of reading in Russian (for Slavic graduate students) or other apocalyptic traditions (for Comparative Literature graduate students). Slavic graduate students will also be expected to write their response papers in Russian. All graduate students will make brief presentations in class on an agreed upon topic of their choice depending on their individual interests.
Reading List: (These works are all available in the bookstore, on Blackboard or on Google Books)
D. Merezhkovsky, Peter and Alexei
A. Pushkin, Bronze Horseman
F. Dostoevsky, Demons
N. Gogol, Dead Souls
M. Bulgakov, Master and Margarita
V. Soloviev, Third Conversation and Short Story on the Antichrist
A. Bely, Petersburg
M. Bulgakov, Master and Margarita
T. Tolstaya, Slynx
V. Makanin, Escape Hatch
Graduate Courses
Fall 2010 REE 330/REE 325/CL 323/REE 385/RUS 391 "The Icon and the Sword: An Introduction to Old Russian Literature and Culture"
Course Description
This course serves as an introduction to the exciting and exotic literature and culture of the medieval and early modern Russia. Over the course of the semester, we will learn about all aspects of medieval Russian life, exploring important literary texts fro Kievan and Muscovite Rus’ that reveal a vibrant and thriving literary and cultural community. These texts include notable examples of historical writing, military tales, saints’ lives, homilies, adventure tales, biographies, polemical treatises, and miracle tales. We will also devote time to the study of art and iconography, examining in particular regional differences in icon painting and other artistic production. In addition, we will watch several well-known Russian films and oeras based on medieval historical subjects, such as Alexander Nevsky, Andrei Rublev, Ivan the Terrible, and Boris Godunov, and discuss how librettists, composers, directors, and screenwriters re-imagined medieval Russian culture in their own times. All readings and discussion will be in English.
Fall 2011 RUS 330/REE 325/REE 385/CL 323/CL 382 "The Apocalypse in Russian Literature and Culture"
The Russians have been famously termed “wanderers in search of God’s truth”. In much of their literature there is a discernable thirst for another life, another world, a clear displeasure at what is. There is an eschatological directedness, an expectation that there will be an end to all that is finite, that a final truth will ultimately be revealed, that in the future an extraordinary event will take place. This new course will explore and analyze apocalyptic consciousness in Russian literature and culture from the Middle Ages to the present. Emphasis will be on such themes as the expectation of the end of the world, identification of the Antichrist, messianic prophecy and visions of an afterlife. Readings will include works of Gogol, Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Bely, Merezhkovsky, Soloviev, Bulgakov, Makanin, and Tolstaya.
The graduate component of this class will involve an additional moderate amount of reading in Russian (for Slavic graduate students) or other apocalyptic traditions (for Comparative Literature graduate students). Slavic graduate students will also be expected to write their response papers in Russian. All graduate students will make brief presentations in class on an agreed upon topic of their choice depending on their individual interests.
Reading List: (These works are all available in the bookstore, on Blackboard or on Google Books)
D. Merezhkovsky, Peter and Alexei
A. Pushkin, Bronze Horseman
F. Dostoevsky, Demons
N. Gogol, Dead Souls
M. Bulgakov, Master and Margarita
V. Soloviev, Third Conversation and Short Story on the Antichrist
A. Bely, Petersburg
M. Bulgakov, Master and Margarita
T. Tolstaya, Slynx
V. Makanin, Escape Hatch