MLA APPROACHES TO TEACHING ANNA KARENINA

[Amy Mandelker]

Dear Colleagues:

We are posting the following to obtain your assistance in the preparation of
an important professional project.  We have undertaken the editing of a
projected volume on ANNA KARENINA for the MLA series APPROACHES TO TEACHING
WORLD LITERATURE.  This volume will be the first in the series of over 50
titles to focus on a work of Russian literature.

The procedure for editing a volume in the MLA series involves collecting
information from colleagues in the teaching profession who teach ANNA
KARENINA in various types of institutions and within diverse curriculuar
configurations.  Volumes in the MLA Approaches to Teaching World Literature
series are invaluable for their presentation of helpful course materials and
recommendations for specific approaches to take in the classroom.  In order
to collect information as efficiently as possible, we have prepared a
questionnaire.  We invite all those who have taught ANNA KARENINA to fill it
out.  All respondents will be acknowledged in the final publication.
Respondents are also invited to submit proposals for essays to be included in
the volume.  These essays should focus on some aspect of how to teach ANNA
KARENINA.

You may download the attached questionnaire, fill it out and email it to
either Professor Liza Knapp, lknapp at socrates.berkeley.edu or to Professor Amy
Mandelker, AMandelker at aol.com.  Please do not return your questionnaires to
SEELANGS.  (Please do not click on the reply function.)   Alternately, you
may obtain a paper copy of the questionnaire by writing to either:

Professor Liza Knapp, Slavic Department, University of California at
Berkeley, Berkeley, CA  94720-2979

or

Professor Amy Mandelker, Graduate Program in Comparative Literature, Graduate
Center of the City University of New York, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, New
York, 10016.

We are asking for a return date of January 15, 2000 in order to stay within
the publication schedule proposed by our editor at MLA Press.

We look forward to hearing from you.

 Liza Knapp                             Amy Mandelker
 Associate Professor of Slavic              Associate Professor of
 Language and Literatures                     Comparative Literature

 University of California at Berkeley       CUNY Graduate School


 (Text of questionnaire follows)


  Approaches to Teaching Tolstoy's *Anna Karenina*
  Edited by Liza Knapp and Amy Mandelker

  Please return by 15 January 2000 to Professor Amy Mandelker, Graduate
  Program in Comparative Literature, Graduate Center of CUNY, 365 Fifth
  Avenue, New York, New York 10016.

  Name ____________________________  Department ____________________________
  Academic Affiliation ____________________________
____________________________
  Preferred Mailing Address ___________________________
  Telephone  ____________ FAX  ____________ E-Mail _________________________

  Please feel free to attach additional sheets, if necessary, to respond to
  this questionnaire. Any supplementary material you would be willing to make
  available (e.g., course syllabi, paper topics, bibliographies) would be
  quite helpful. We encourage comment on additional issues relevant to the
  teaching of *Anna Karenina*. Respondents will be acknowledged in the
  published volume.

  1. Please check all courses in which you have taught *Anna Karenina* (place
  an asterisk next to any course in which the novel is read in Russian).
  __ survey of Russian literature (__ graduate   __undergraduate)
  __ survey of European literature (__ graduate  __undergraduate)
  __ novel (__ graduate   __undergraduate): Specify __________________
  __ upper level (3rd/4th+) Russian language course
  __ Great Books/Humanities
  __ Tolstoy course (__ graduate  __undergraduate)
  __  Tolstoy and Dostoevsky (__ graduate   __undergraduate)
  __  Graduate seminar: Specify ________________________
  __  Other: ________________________

  2. Which translations have you taught from? Which do you prefer and why?
  ____________________________________________________________________________
  _____________
  3. What secondary works, if any, do you assign or recommend? What
  background works do you assign or recommend to students? Which background
  works would you recommend to beginning teachers of *Anna Karenina*?
  ____________________________________________________________________________
  _____________
  4. How much time do you allow for *Anna Karenina*? What aspects of the
  novel do you emphasize in class? Is your approach sequential or thematic?
  ____________________________________________________________________________
  _____________
  OVER


  5. What features of *Anna Karenina* do your students find most difficult or
  challenging? What aspects do they find most stimulating or engaging? How
  have you addressed these specific features in your teaching?
  ____________________________________________________________________________
  _____________
  6. Which critical approaches and theoretical perspectives have you found
  most productive in teaching *Anna Karenina*? Do you adopt a specific
  critical stance?
  ____________________________________________________________________________
  _____________
  7. What are some of the problems you encounter in making the Russian text
  accessible to students or, when teaching in translation, in explaining
  various aspects of Russian literature, culture, and history?
  ____________________________________________________________________________
  _____________
  8. If you use supplementary nonprint materials (e.g., slides, films) in
  teaching the novel, please describe.
  ____________________________________________________________________________
  _____________
  9. What written work do you assign? Describe paper topics and other
  assignments that have been fruitful. Describe any particular techniques,
  exercises, handouts you have developed to help students read *Anna
  Karenina* more productively. Indicate any suggestions that would help
  instructors guide students through reading the novel.
  ____________________________________________________________________________
  _____________
  10. If you relate *Anna Karenina* to other works, please state which texts
  and how you perceive and teach the relation.
  ____________________________________________________________________________
  _____________
  11. What sorts of information would you like to see included in this
  volume? What particular issues or approaches should be addressed?
  ____________________________________________________________________________
  _____________
  12. If you would like to propose an essay for this volume, please enclose
  an abstract on a separate sheet. The abstract should indicate the approach
  and/or issue you would discuss and should explain its potential benefit for
  undergraduates and instructors alike.













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