This was absolutely the best class I've had so far in UCLA. I loved all of the reading material (we read Tolstoy, Turgenev, Pushkin, etc..) and at first it seemed like alot, but once you actually start reading you won't be able to put the book down. It was after taking Russian 25 that I became more interested in Russian Literature. Take one of Professor Vroon's classes, it's good for you!

the books are great, the lectures are great.... the only problem i had with the course was the amount of reading expected. the average came out to 200+ pages a week, which basically means that you're not going to be rereading or actually taking in any details at an enjoyable pace. i can understand that his intent is to introduce students to as much great russian literature as possible, but really that's way too much reading for what amounted to a g.e. course for me. in my opinion he should have dropped one of the epic novels from the list (preferably 'anna karenina' dropped over 'crime and punishment') since we had to rush through 5 books by 5 different authors in about 6 weeks before tackling the last one ('anna karenina') by the sixth author, tolstoy. all this so that we'd be tested with one vague question worth 20% of the final from the 700+ pages of 'anna karenina'. my having to rush through the other novels at breakneck speed just in order to finish 'anna karenina' hours before the final pretty much ruined me on the exam. there were too many plot details (with equally impossible russian names) to recall from all the past stories on the final. our analysis of the first 5 stories in lecture was also limited since the entire class was behind the recommended reading schedule the entire quarter. lectures weren't all that interactive since most people hadn't yet caught up to the material he was covering. overall, i'll save future russian literature reading for strictly recreational purposes outside of class. no sour grapes here though, just maybe some hope that future students will get to enjoy the content of this course at a slower and more enjoyable pace than i did.