Course description
Czech and Slovak
Click here to see departmental policy on Czech language course placement
SLA105Y1 - Elementary Czech (formerly SLA205Y)
Grammar, composition, and conversation. Readings from Czech literature. Open only to students with little or no knowledge of the language.
SLA204Y1 Intermediate Czech
Using selected texts of diverse styles, this class surveys Czech grammar and introduces various aspects of syntax, composition and translation. Special attention will be paid to oral practice.
SLA215H1 - Czech and Slovak Cultures (formerly SLA215Y)
Some of the most important features of Czech and Slovak cultural history are introduced in a survey of the national myths, traditions and cultural trends. (Offered every three years)
Exclusion: SLA215Y
SLA225H1 - The Czech and Slovak Cinema
From the “New Wave” of the 60s to the present. The films of major directors — Forman, Menzel, Chytilová — and of talented newcomers. Screening of films censored and prohibited over the last 25 years. English subtitles. (Offered every three years)
SLA305Y1 - Advanced Czech
Morphology, syntax, composition and translation, oral practice. Contemporary Czech texts representing diverse styles.
Prerequisite: SLA205Y
SLA404H1 From The National Revival to Modernism: Czech Literature of the 19th Century
Beginning with the forged manuscripts of the early 19th century this course examines Czech Romanticism, Realism and Symbolism within the context of European culture. Readings include works by Macha, Nimcova, Neruda, Zeyer, Havlieek Borovsky. Readings in Czech and Slovak. (Offered every three years). Readings in Czech and Slovak.
Prerequisite: SLA305Y1 or permission of the instructor
Exclusion: SLA405Y1
SLA405Y1 - Czech and Slovak Literatures
Studies in the Czech and Slovak literatures of the 19th and 20th centuries: national revival; realism; modernism; avant-garde. (Offered every three years)
Prerequisite: SLA305Y
SLA425Y1 - History of the Czech Literary Language
A study of original and translated works to trace the formation and development of the Czech literary language and to train students to differentiate literary styles, genres, and epochs. Readings include chronicles, sermons, travel accounts, dialogues and significant literary texts. (Offered every three years)
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor
SLA435Y1 - Readings in Czech (formerly SLA435H)
Advanced students are presented with a variety of texts - literary, journalistic, scientific - tailored to their needs and interests. (Offered every three years)
Exclusion: SLA435H
Prerequisite: Permission of instructor
SLA445H1 - Magic Prague
This class explores Prague as a meeting point of different cultures. Questions of centre and margin of multiculturalism and nationalism are discussed, based on texts by Jan Neruda, F. Kafka, M. Cvetaeva and others.
SLA455H1 - Aspects of Czech Syntax and Style
Analysis of sentence structures with regard to semantics. Introduction to stylistics. Translations, composition, oral practice.
SLA465H1 - Czech Short Story
Introduces the problematics of public places and private spaces through various works of Czech writers from the 19th and 20th centuries.
SLA475H1 - Modern Czech Drama
Introduces students to the most important plays of contemporary Czech authors. (This is a graduate/undergraduate course)
SLA485H1 - Laughter and Forgetting in Milan Kundera
Laughter and forgetting is a recurrent theme in both Kundera's fictional and essayistic work. This class will examine the variations of this topic in Kundera's work and discuss the prosaic, dramatic and essayistic texts of his Czech period and attempt to place Kundera within the European context of the 'art of fiction'. (This is a graduate/undergraduate course)
