Wadham College
Oxford OX1 3PN
(01865 277960)
Reading List for Ab Initio Russian (updated 2017)
Congratulations on your offer of a place to study Russian at Wadham – we look forward to your joining the vibrant community of modern linguists in the college and hope you enjoy the four years of your course. The beginners’ course in Russian at Oxford, for which you have been offered a place, is intended for students who have no experience of the language. We aim to give a thorough grounding in Russian from the beginning, and therefore recommend that you do not embark on studying Russian by yourself or on other courses before you come here, partly because you may find yourself marking time when you arrive in Oxford, but mainly because we think you are likely to get off to a less satisfactory start. Familiarizing yourself with the alphabet, for example, is no bad thing, but all grammar books explain features differently, and you can end up very confused and having to unlearn bad habits. One of the very best things you can do between now and arriving in Oxford in October is, in fact, concentrate on consolidating your command of your other language.
If you do have time to spend on preparation for the beginners’ course in Russian, there is plenty that you can usefully do without starting to learn the language on your own. It would be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the historical and cultural background to the course by reading introductions to Russian history and literature, e.g.:
Geoffrey Hosking, Russia: People and Empire (1997), and A History of The Soviet Union: Final Edition (1992)
J. Westwood, Endurance and Endeavour (1992)
Robert Service, A History of Modern Russia: From Nicholas II to Putin (2003).
V. Terras, A History of Russian Literature (1993)
D. S. Mirsky, A History of Russian literature: Comprising A history of Russian literature and Contemporary Russian literature (1949 and more recent issues);
Catriona Kelly, Russian Literature: A Very Short Introduction (2001).
In addition, it would be a good idea to supply yourself with the following reference works, which you are likely to need during the course:
Edwina J. Cruise, English Grammar for Students of Russian, Arnold, 2000.
P. Falla, M. Wheeler, B. Unbegaun, C. Howlett, TheOxford Russian Dictionary, OxfordUniversity Press, 1995.
D. Offord, Modern Russian. An Advanced Grammar Course, Bristol Classical Press, 1993.
T. Wade, A Comprehensive Russian Grammar (3rdedn) and A Russian Grammar Workbook, Blackwell, Oxford, 2011 and 1996.
You could also start exploring Russian literature in translation: Pushkin prose, Gogol, Lermontov, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Chekhov’s plays and short stories, Bulgakov, Babel, Zamyatin, Solzhenitsyn, for example.
As you will have gathered from your interview in December, one of the requirements for our beginners’ course in Russian is that you should spend the second year in Russia on an approved language course. We expect this to be a specially designed eight-month course which has been arranged in Yaroslavl for our Oxford students by a British charitable organization, Russian Language Undergraduate Studies Ltd ( and their local Russian partner, Yaroslavl State University. We have chosen these because we believe that they offer good value for money: RLUS has about thirty years’ experience of organizing courses in Russia for British students, has strong links with our Embassy and the British Council there, monitors teaching quality and provides pastoral support; the standard of teaching provided by the State University is high, the costs of living in Yaroslavl are less than in Moscow or St Petersburg, and the opportunities of meeting Russians are greater. However, it is for you to decide whether you are willing to spend the second year of your university studies on the RLUS course in Yaroslavl before you commit yourself definitely to a place on our beginners’ course in Russian.
If you are happy to make this commitment, it would be a good idea to start planning your finances for the year in Russia. You will not be required to pay any additional course fees for the second year abroad in Yaroslavl', but you will need to cover the course administration charge (currently £145) and the cost of your flights, insurance and visa, and pay for local accommodation and subsistence once you get to Russia. You will also have to pay a reduced home tuition fee, which is expected to be £1,350. The total cost should not be greater than a year at Oxford, but if you have difficulty in getting the money together, the college and the Faculty may be able to help with small hardship grants. If you have any questions about the year in Russia or about its financial implications, you should get in touch with me, as your college tutor in Russian who will be acting as your liaison officer with RLUS. I shall of course be happy to answer any other questions you may have about the Oxford course.
Philip Ross Bullock
Professor of Russian Literature and Music
Fellow and Tutor in Russian, Wadham College
Email:
Postal address: Wadham College, Oxford, OX1 3PN
1