Russia is the largest country on the planet, crossing eleven time zones and spanning a wide variety of climatic regions and geographical formations. These have been mythologized in Russian literature and art, from the graceful birch forests of the taiga and the powerful Don and Volga Rivers, to the endless grasslands of the steppe, the merciless, frozen tundra of the far north, and the majestic Caucasus and Ural mountains. These mythologies concern not just the land itself, but the people who live upon it, whose lives are shaped by it, and whose actions sometimes change it forever. This course will explore a wealth of literary works, supplemented by occasional films and paintings, on topics related to Russia’s natural environment and its intersection with national and ethnic identities. Topics addressed will include the apotheosis of nature in the Russian Romantic sublime; meanings and imaginings of the primeval Russian forest; representations of the Russian peasantry and village life; artistic constructions of the exotic on Russia’s eastern and southern peripheries, and associated gendered metaphors of territorial conquest; disaster narratives of blizzards and floods and their implications for the Russian state; Soviet and post-Soviet aspirations to harness nature for political and economic purposes; and artistic reflections on the environmental decay and disaster that have resulted from such efforts.