Russian Language and Literature
Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to the Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were composed. By the Age of Enlightenment, literature had grown in importance, and from the early 1830s, Russian literature underwent an astounding golden age in poetry, prose and drama. Romanticism permitted a flowering of poetic talent: Vasily Zhukovsky and later his protégé Alexander Pushkin came to the fore. Prose was flourishing as well. The first great Russian novelist was Nikolai Gogol. Then came Ivan Turgenev, who mastered both short stories and novels. Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky soon became internationally renowned. In the second half of the century Anton Chekhov excelled in short stories and became a leading dramatist. The beginning of the 20th century ranks as the Silver Age of Russian poetry. The poets most often associated with the "Silver Age" are Konstantin Balmont, Valery Bryusov, Alexander Blok, Anna Akhmatova, Nikolay Gumilyov, Osip Mandelstam, Sergei Yesenin, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Marina Tsvetaeva and Boris Pasternak. This era produced some first-rate novelists and short-story writers, such as Aleksandr Kuprin, Nobel Prize winner Ivan Bunin, Leonid Andreyev, Fyodor Sologub, Aleksey Remizov, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Andrei Bely.
After the Revolution of 1917, Russian literature split into Soviet and white émigré parts. While the Soviet Union assured universal literacy and a highly developed book printing industry, it also enforced ideological censorship. In the 1930s Socialist realism became the predominant trend in Russia. Its leading figure was Maxim Gorky, who laid the foundations of this style. Nikolay Ostrovsky's novel How the Steel Was Tempered has been among the most successful works of Russian literature. Alexander Fadeyev achieved success in Russia. Various émigré writers, such as poets Vladislav Khodasevich, Georgy Ivanov and Vyacheslav Ivanov; novelists such as Mark Aldanov, Gaito Gazdanov and Vladimir Nabokov; and short story Nobel Prize-winning writer Ivan Bunin, continued to write in exile. Some writers dared to oppose Soviet ideology, like Nobel Prize-winning novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who wrote about life in the gulag camps. The Khrushchev Thaw brought some fresh wind to literature and poetry became a mass cultural phenomenon. This "thaw" did not last long; in the 1970s, some of the most prominent authors were banned from publishing and prosecuted for their anti-Soviet sentiments.
The end of the 20th century was a difficult period for Russian literature, with few distinct voices. Among the most discussed authors of this period were Victor Pelevin, who gained popularity with short stories and novels, novelist and playwright Vladimir Sorokin, and the poet Dmitri Prigov. In the 21st century, a new generation of Russian authors appeared, differing greatly from the postmodernist Russian prose of the late 20th century, which lead critics to speak about "new realism".
Russian authors have significantly contributed to numerous literary genres. Russia has five Nobel Prize in literature laureates. As of 2011, Russia was the fourth largest book producer in the world in terms of published titles. A popular folk saying claims Russians are "the world's most reading nation".
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Matching Russian Language and Literature Colleges
Brigham Young University
Four or more years; Private not for profit; $6,120 average out-state tuition; $6,120 average in-state tuition |
University of Arizona
Four or more years; Public; $33,739 average out-state tuition; $10,990 average in-state tuition |
Portland State University
Four or more years; Public; $25,746 average out-state tuition; $8,106 average in-state tuition |
Florida State University
Four or more years; Public; $19,084 average out-state tuition; $4,640 average in-state tuition |
University of Georgia
Four or more years; Public; $28,830 average out-state tuition; $9,790 average in-state tuition |
United States Military Academy
Four or more years; Public |
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus
Four or more years; Public; $32,644 average out-state tuition; $17,416 average in-state tuition |
Scholarships for Russian Language and Literature Majors
Rapoport Service ScholarshipUniversity of Texas, Austin, College of Liberal Arts |
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award Up to $30,000 |
deadline February 01, 2024 |
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U.S. Department of Education Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) FellowshipU.S. Department of Education |
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award Up to $20,000 |
deadline Varies |
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Humanities Scholars Program - University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyUniversity of Maryland, Baltimore County |
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award Up to $22,000 |
deadline January 15, 2024 |
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Steffensen Cannon ScholarshipUniversity of Utah - College of Humanities |
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award Up to $24,000 |
deadline December 17, 2023 |
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D&A Florida ScholarshipCollaboratory |
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award Up to $10,000 |
deadline January 12, 2024 |
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Marjorie Skiff Rose ScholarshipUniversity of Colorado Boulder |
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award $7,000 |
deadline March 15, 2024 |
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ISI Graduate FellowshipIntercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) |
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award Up to $15,000 |
deadline January 19, 2024 |
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CU Boulder Arts & Humanities Achievement ScholarshipUniversity of Colorado Boulder |
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award $4,000 |
deadline January 15, 2024 |
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Shoe-Smith ScholarshipUniversity of Colorado Boulder |
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award $4,000 |
deadline March 15, 2024 |
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Overseas Press Club Foundation ScholarshipOverseas Press Club Foundation |
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award $3,000 |
deadline December 01, 2023 |
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