Teaching 20th - 21st century Russian literature in an American university: searching for effective methods and means

The article summarizes the pedagogical and methodological experience gained during the work at an American University as a Fulbright scholar. Teaching the 20th and 21st centuries Russian Literature in the English-speaking environment is challenging in some ways, such as students of different levels, reading texts in translation, necessity to study a large amount of information in limited time. The article consistently denes basic texts for reading and analyzing, describes methodological techniques that have proven their effectiveness (close reading, “sketch to stretch”, creating illustrations, “ free writes”, SOAPSTone technology, etc.). Another important question is the perception of Russian Literature by American students. All in all it allows us to give a complete representation about a twentieth century epoch, and its brightest artists.