The concentration in Slavic Literatures and Cultures offers Harvard students the opportunity to study the great works and cultural traditions, past and present, of Russia and the other Slavic countries, especially Ukraine, Poland, Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, and the Czech Republic. These countries share a rich cultural life as well as a turbulent and fascinating history, from the medieval period through the days of the Russian, Habsburg, and Ottoman Empires, from the twentieth-century dramas of world war and Cold War all the way to present-day efforts to reimagine democracy, dissent, and national traditions for the twenty-first century.

While our tutorials focus on literature, art, and culture, we welcome students with an interest in politics, history, linguistics, anthropology, and other fields; your Slavic curriculum will let you incorporate courses in many disciplines. The Slavic concentration encourages creativity and initiative and will teach you both how to analyze literary works and how to place them in their political and cultural context. Along the way, you will get to read some of the great works of European and world literature, from Tolstoy and Dostoevsky to Nabokov and Kundera. 

Slavic Languages and Literatures is offered as both a concentration and a secondary field.