Imperial Russia on the eve of the First World War presents a complex picture of political conflict, social and economic change, and cultural ferment and innovation. Newly emergent political parties sought to enlist mass support to transform or overthrow the tsarist regime, which in turn endeavored to preserve itself through reform, repression, and the refashioning of its image. Rapid urbanization and industrialization, and the spread of education and literacy, gave rise to social conflict and dislocation, demands for social reform, and the redefinition of individual identities and beliefs. These political, social, cultural, and economic developments provided a fertile context for the burst of literary creativity and the emergence of modernist literary and artistic movements that occurred in fin-de-siecle Russia. Intended for first- and second-year students, this tutorial seeks to familiarize students with the ways historians study and attempt to understand the past through an exploration of the interrelationships between political conflict, social and economic change, and literary and artistic creativity in imperial Russia between the 1880s and the October Revolution of 1917. Format: tutorial. Evaluation will be based on tutorial participation, and responses to tutorial partner's essays. No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 10 (expected: 10). Preference given to first-year students and sophomores. Upperclass students will be admitted only with the permission of instructor. Group B