Really great Professor! I enjoyed this class and would take it again. Her lectures were very engaging and easy to follow. She always made herself available to students who needed extra help. She promptly responded to emails and was very clear with her explanations. I think that the most important thing in this class is to take good notes that organize each book based on its characters, setting, style, theme etc. since it is very easy to get mixed up in the novels we read.

Some things to note:
1. It is time intensive. We read the following books and short stories in the class:

Captain's Daughter by Pushkin
Queen of Spades by Pushkin
The Nose by Gogol
Terrible Vengeance by Gogol
Ivan Shponka by Gogol
Petersburg Tales by Gogol
The Double by Dostoevsky
A Hero of Our Time by Lermontov
Anna Karenina by Tolstoy
Lefty by Leskov
Lady Macbeth by Leskov
Small Mistake by Leskov
The Man on the Watch by Leskov

2. Exams: while they seem to be relatively simple they are actually a bit deceiving. You don't have a lot of time to answer the questions even though they are asking for straightforward things such as characters, setting, theme, etc. There isn't that much time to think, you just kind of have to know it. There were 2 midterms in the class. For each midterm we were given 1 hour and 15 minutes.

3. Lecture Notes: Oftentimes the professor will emphasize what is important. You should write it down because I guarantee that it will appear on the exam. I do admit, everything that is said in lecture is of vital importance. Even though attendance is not required, you must attend lecture and discussion to do well in the class and understand the material.