Slavic Languages and Literatures


Slavic Languages and Literatures: Introduction

Faculty Affiliation

Arts and Science

Degree Programs

Slavic Languages and Literatures

MA and PhD

  • Fields:
    • Slavic Linguistics
      (admissions have been administratively suspended for the MA and PhD);
    • Slavic Literatures
      (admissions have been administratively suspended for the MA One-Year Coursework-Plus-Research-Paper Option)  

Collaborative Specializations

The following collaborative specializations are available to students in participating degree programs as listed below:

Overview

The Graduate Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures offers instruction leading to two degrees — Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy — in one of the broadest ranges of Slavic languages and literatures available in a North American university. Courses are offered in the following areas: Croatian and Serbian Languages and Literatures, Czech and Slovak Languages and Literatures, Polish Language and Literature, Russian Language and Literature, Slavic Linguistics, and Ukrainian Language and Literature.

The department's literature programs are especially strong in nineteenth and twentieth century literary and cultural history, modernism, avant-garde and contemporary movements, literary theory, drama, cinema, and Slavic-Jewish cultural relations.

The department's linguistics unit has particular strengths in language acquisition and pedagogy, and socio-linguistics. Students are advised to consult the list of faculty members and the description of their particular areas of expertise for more details.

Over the last decade, curricula in all the languages, literatures and cultures taught in the department have been rewritten to mirror the dramatic social, cultural and political changes in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe. The department has developed new areas of research and expertise. Due to extensive internal cooperation and interdisciplinary focus, new common ground among disciplines has been found; the study of the interrelations of these cultures is promoted.

Contact and Address

Web: slavic.artsci.utoronto.ca
Email: slavic@utoronto.ca
Telephone: (416) 946-0011
Fax: (416) 978-8226

Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures
University of Toronto
Room 431, 121 St. Joseph Street
Alumni Hall, St. Michael's College
Toronto, Ontario M5S 1J4
Canada


Slavic Languages and Literatures: Graduate Faculty

Full Members

Holland, Kate - MA, PhD
Koznarsky, Taras - MA, PhD
Livak, Leonid - BA, AM, PhD (Chair and Graduate Chair)
Mandusic, Zdenko - BA, MA, PhD
Obradovic, Dragana - MA, PhD (Associate Chair, Graduate)
Orwin, Donna - PhD
Smolyarova, Tatiana - BA, MA, PhD, PhD
Tarnawsky, Maxim - BA, PhD
Trojanowska, Tamara - MA, PhD

Members Emeriti

Bedford, Charles - MA, PhD
Kramer, Christina - BA, MA, PhD
Lindheim, Ralph - BA, MA
Ponomareff, Constantin - BA, MA, PhD
Thomson, Roger - BA, MA, DPhil

Associate Members

Mikhailova, Julia - AB, AM, AM, DPhil
Muhonen, Anu - PhD
Petrov, Ana - PhD


Slavic Languages and Literatures: Slavic Languages and Literatures MA

Master of Arts

Program Description

All applicants complete the same application process. The department's admissions committee then determines each applicant's suitability for the one-year MA or two-year MA option, depending on their level of preparation. Students in the one-year MA program have the option to complete the program by coursework or coursework plus research paper.

 

MA Program (One-Year Coursework Option)

Minimum Admission Requirements

  • Applicants are admitted under the General Regulations of the School of Graduate Studies. Applicants must also satisfy the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures' additional admission requirements stated below.

  • An appropriate bachelor's degree (preferably in a cognate area) with an overall standing equivalent to at least a University of Toronto mid-B in the final year.

  • A minimum A– average in all Slavic subjects taken in the final two years is recommended.

  • Proficiency in a Slavic language equivalent to at least three full years of language training, and broad familiarity with the literary and cultural history of the applicant's proposed disciplinary area(s) of interest (currently, Czech and Slovak, Polish, Russian, South Slavic, Slavic Linguistics, Ukrainian), as evidenced by undergraduate coursework at the 300 or 400 level, are required.

Program Requirements

  • Coursework. Students must complete 4.0 full-course equivalents (FCEs) including:

    • SLA1040H Methods of Teaching Slavic Languages (0.5 FCE)

    • Students who provide evidence of satisfactory completion of an equivalent course to SLA1040H may be exempted from this course.

  • Language. Proficiency in the language of the major field of study must be demonstrated during the first week of the first session in the program. Additional language courses at the undergraduate level may be required. These courses will not count toward the 4.0 FCEs required to complete the program. Successful completion of all coursework in the undergraduate language courses is part of a student's good progress in the MA program.

  • Residence. Normally, students spend a year in residence when they must be on campus and consequently in geographical proximity to be able to participate fully in the University activities associated with the program.

Program Length

2 sessions (typical registration sequence: F/W)

Time Limit

3 years

 

MA Program (One-Year Coursework-Plus-Research-Paper Option)

Admissions to this option have been administratively suspended.

Minimum Admission Requirements

  • Applicants are admitted under the General Regulations of the School of Graduate Studies. Applicants must also satisfy the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures' additional admission requirements stated below.

  • An appropriate bachelor's degree (preferably in a cognate area) with an overall standing equivalent to at least a University of Toronto mid-B in the final year.

  • A minimum A– average in all Slavic subjects taken in the final two years is recommended.

  • Proficiency in a Slavic language equivalent to at least three full years of language training, and broad familiarity with the literary and cultural history of the applicant's proposed disciplinary area(s) of interest (currently, Czech and Slovak, Polish, Russian, South Slavic, Slavic Linguistics, Ukrainian), as evidenced by undergraduate coursework at the 300 or 400 level, are required.

Program Requirements

  • Coursework. Students must complete 3.0 full-course equivalents (FCEs) including:

    • SLA1040H Methods of Teaching Slavic Languages (0.5 FCE).

    • Students who provide evidence of satisfactory completion of an equivalent course to SLA1040H may be exempted from this course.

    • Students who intend to complete the Slavic linguistics field must complete SLA1109H Studies in Old Church Slavonic (0.5 FCE).

  • Language. Proficiency in the language of the major field of study must be demonstrated during the first week of the first session in the program. Additional language courses at the undergraduate level may be required. These courses will not count toward the 3.0 FCEs required to complete the program. Successful completion of all coursework in the undergraduate language courses is part of a student's good progress in the MA program.

  • Research paper written in English.

  • Residence. Normally, students spend a year in residence when they must be on campus and consequently in geographical proximity to be able to participate fully in the University activities associated with the program.

Program Length

2 sessions (typical registration sequence: F/W)

Time Limit

3 years

 

MA Program (Two-Year Coursework Option)

Minimum Admission Requirements

  • Applicants are admitted under the General Regulations of the School of Graduate Studies. Applicants must also satisfy the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures' additional admission requirements stated below.

  • An appropriate bachelor's degree (preferably in a cognate area) with an overall standing equivalent to at least a University of Toronto mid-B in the final year.

  • A minimum A– average in all Slavic subjects taken in the final two years is recommended.

  • Intermediate proficiency in a Slavic language, as evidenced by two full years of language training or equivalent, is required.

Program Requirements

  • Coursework: Students must complete 7.0 full-course equivalents (FCEs) including:

    • SLA1040H Methods of Teaching Slavic Languages (0.5 FCE)

    • Students who provide evidence of satisfactory completion of an equivalent course to SLA1040H may be exempted from this course.

    • Students who intend to complete the Slavic linguistics field must complete SLA1109H Studies in Old Church Slavonic (0.5 FCE).

  • Language. Level of proficiency in the language of the major field of study must be established no later than the first week of the first session in the program to determine the required language courses.

  • Residence. Normally, students spend two years in residence when they must be on campus and consequently in geographical proximity to be able to participate fully in the University activities associated with the program.

Program Length

4 sessions (typical registration sequence: F/W/F/W)

Time Limit

3 years


Slavic Languages and Literatures: Slavic Languages and Literatures PhD

Doctor of Philosophy

Program Description

PhD students may choose to complete a program in one of two fields:

  • Slavic Linguistics

  • Slavic Literatures.

 

Field: Slavic Linguistics

Admissions to this field have been administratively suspended.

Minimum Admission Requirements

  • Applicants are admitted under the General Regulations of the School of Graduate Studies. Applicants must also satisfy the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures' additional admission requirements stated below.

  • An appropriate University of Toronto master's degree with a minimum A– average in graduate courses and demonstrated research competence.

Program Requirements

Students are normally required to:

  • Demonstrate proficiency in the language of the major field of study during the session's first week. Undergraduate language courses may be required. These are not tabulated as part of graduate program course requirements. Successful completion of all coursework in these remedial undergraduate courses is part of a student's good progress in the PhD program.

  • Complete a major field of study and a minor field of study program.

  • Complete 9.0 full-course equivalents (FCEs) including:

    • At least 3.0 FCEs in Slavic linguistics.

    • 2.0 FCEs in theoretical linguistics from cognate disciplines (e.g., linguistics, anthropology).

    • 1.0 FCE in the literature of the major field of study language is strongly advised.

    • At least one course (0.5 FCE) in Slavic languages from each of the three groups: West Slavic, East Slavic, and South Slavic by the end of Year 3 (minimum 1.5 FCEs total).

    • Students may be given a course exemption up to 3.0 FCEs for work completed in the MA.

  • Minor field of study programs should include 2.0 FCEs from any one of:

    • Croatian and Serbian Languages and Literatures.

    • Czech and Slovak Languages and Literatures.

    • Polish Language and Literature.

    • Russian Language and Literature.

    • Slavic Linguistics, and Ukrainian Language and Literature.

    • A cognate discipline, with departmental approval (e.g., cinema studies, comparative literature, drama, history, philosophy).

  • Maintain a minimum annual average of A– to continue in the PhD program. Poor performance in one session (below a B average) may result in the termination of a student's PhD eligibility.

  • Demonstrate a reading knowledge of French or German.

  • After successful completion of coursework and the French or German language requirement, students must pass written comprehensive examinations in the major field of study field and written and oral comprehensive examinations in the special field. The major field of study field exam cannot be taken if students have any outstanding coursework.

  • By the time of their major field of study field exam, students should have chosen their supervisor and the rest of their committee (in consultation with the supervisor).

  • Dissertation.

  • Residence. In Years 1 and 2, students must take courses and be on campus full-time to participate fully in the PhD program's activities.

Program Length

4 years (many students require 5 years to complete the program)

Time Limit

6 years

 

Field: Slavic Literatures

Minimum Admission Requirements

  • Applicants are admitted under the General Regulations of the School of Graduate Studies. Applicants must also satisfy the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures' additional admission requirements stated below.

  • An appropriate University of Toronto master's degree with a minimum A– average in graduate courses and demonstrated research competence.

Program Requirements

Students are normally required to:

  • Demonstrate proficiency in the language of the major field of study during the session's first week. Undergraduate language courses may be required. These are not tabulated as part of graduate program course requirements. Successful completion of all coursework in these remedial undergraduate courses is part of a student's good progress in the PhD program.

  • Complete SLA1010H Slavic Proseminar prior to taking comprehensive examinations.

  • Complete a major field of study and a minor field of study program.

  • Complete 9.0 full-course equivalents (FCEs) with at least 0.5 FCE in Slavic linguistics. Students may be given a course exemption up to 3.0 FCEs for work completed in the MA.

    • Complete SLA1104H Introduction to Old Church Slavonic (0.5 FCE; Credit/No Credit) if specializing in Russian, Ukrainian, or Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian.

  • Minor field of study programs should include 2.0 FCEs from any one of:

    • Croatian and Serbian Languages and Literatures.

    • Czech and Slovak Languages and Literatures.

    • Polish Language and Literature.

    • Russian Language and Literature.

    • Slavic Linguistics, and Ukrainian Language and Literature.

    • A cognate discipline, with departmental approval (e.g., cinema studies, comparative literature, drama, history, philosophy).

  • Maintain a minimum annual average of A– to continue in the PhD program. Poor performance in one session (below a B average) may result in the termination of a student's PhD eligibility.

  • Acquire a working knowledge of a Slavic language other than their major field of study language of study or complete at least two approved undergraduate courses in a Slavic language that is different than their major field of study language of study by the end of Year 3. A working knowledge is defined as proficiency equivalent to a second-year course. Students must also satisfy departmental requirements for their major field of study language. Students who do not major field of study in Russian most often choose it as their second Slavic language.

  • Demonstrate a reading knowledge of French or German.

  • After successful completion of coursework and the French or German language requirement, students must pass written comprehensive examinations in the major field of study field and written and oral comprehensive examinations in the special field. The major field of study field exam cannot be taken if students have any outstanding coursework.

  • By the time of their major field of study field exam, students should have chosen their supervisor and the rest of their committee (in consultation with the supervisor).

  • Dissertation.

  • Residence. In Years 1 and 2, students must take courses and be on campus full-time to participate fully in the PhD program's activities.

Program Length

4 years (many students require 5 years to complete the program)

Time Limit

6 years


Slavic Languages and Literatures: Slavic Languages and Literatures MA, PhD Courses

Not all courses are offered every year. Students should consult the departmental handbook for current course offerings.

General Slavic

Course Code Course Title
SLA1010H
Slavic Proseminar
SLA1039H
Kyiv-Kiev-Kijow: A City and the Text
SLA1040H
Methods of Teaching Slavic Languages
SLA1050H
Theatricality and Spectacle in the History of Russian Culture. From Jesters to Meyerhold.
SLA1207H
The Imaginary Jew
SLA1241H Narrative and History
SLA1330H
Literature and Science
SLA1335H Race, Empire, Gender in Eastern Europe and Russia
SLA1340H Desires, Dreamscapes, and the Death Drive: Psychoanalysis and Literature
SLA1405H Contemporary East European Cinemas
SLA1409H Late Ukrainian Modernism (exclusion: SLA1402Y)
SLA1421H
Women in East European Fiction
SLA1521H
Post-Modernity and the Mythopoetic Legacy of Mitteleuropa
SLA2000Y
Reading and Research
SLA2001H
One Term Reading and Research
JLV5134H
Theories of the Novel
JLV5135H
1968: The Year of Revolution and Protest
JLV5143H Censorship, Culture, Archive

Croatian and Serbian Literatures

Course Code Course Title
SLA1507H
Modern Croatian Bards in Performance
SLA1517H
Modern Serbian Bards
SLA1547H
South Slavic Folklore

Czech and Slovak Literature

Course Code Course Title
SLA1600Y
Introduction to Czech and Slovak Literatures
SLA1602Y
Czech Style and Syntax
SLA1604Y
History of Czech Verbal Art from the Early Stages to Baroque

Polish Literature

Course Code Course Title
SLA1304H
Transgressions: Drama, Theatre, Performance
SLA1308H
Critical Paradigms in Polish Culture
SLA1312Y
Modernism and Post-Modernism in Polish Literature

Russian Literature

Course Code Course Title
SLA1202H
Gulag Literature
SLA1203H
The Self and Other in Russian Prose
SLA1204H
Contemporary Russian Literature
SLA1207H
The Imaginary Jew
SLA1210H
Studies in Medieval Russian Literature
SLA1211Y
Studies in the Russian Drama: Eighteenth to Twentieth Century
SLA1215H
Studies in Russian Literature and Criticism in the Eighteenth Century
SLA1216H
From English to Russian Literature and Back
SLA1220H
Nineteenth Century Russian Thinkers
SLA1222Y
Russian Poetry and Poetics
SLA1223H Introduction to Russian Poetry and Poetics
SLA1224H 19th-Century Russian Poetry
SLA1225H Russian Literature in the Age of Empire
SLA1226H
Dostoevsky in Literary Theory and Criticism
SLA1228H
Themes in Russian Realism
SLA1229H
Russian Literature Between Tradition and Modernity (exclusion: SLA1225H)
SLA1231H
Russian Modernism
SLA1233H Studies in Modern Russian Poets
SLA1234H
Dostoevsky
SLA1238H
Chekhov
SLA1239H
Vladimir Nabokov
SLA1240H
Tolstoy
SLA1410H
Gogol
SLA1411H
Synthesis of Arts in the Late Russian Empire–Early Soviet Union

Slavic Linguistics

Course Code Course Title
SLA1040H
Methods of Teaching Slavic Languages
SLA1041Y
Advanced Training in Slavic Languages I
SLA1042Y
Advanced Training in Slavic Languages II
SLA1102Y
Advanced Russian Language Skills
SLA1104H
Introduction to Old Church Slavonic (Credit/No Credit)
SLA1109H
Studies in Old Church Slavonic
SLA1141H
History of the Ukrainian Language
SLA1142H
Style and Structure of Ukrainian
SLA1150H
Russian Since the Revolution

Russian Language

Course Code Course Title
SLA1101Y
History of the Russian Language
SLA1102Y
Advanced Russian Language Skills

Ukrainian Literature/Language

Course Code Course Title
SLA1141H
History of Ukrainian Language
SLA1142H
Style and Structure of Ukrainian
SLA1402H
Early Ukrainian Modernism
SLA1403H Contemporary Ukrainian Literature
SLA1404Y
Studies in Ukrainian Poets
SLA1406Y
Studies in Ukrainian Literary Criticism
SLA1407H
Aspects of Literary Translation of Ukrainian
SLA1412H Literature of the Ukrainian Diaspora
SLA1455H Experiments in Ukrainian Prose