My Graduation Thesis Experience

Keisuke Katase
Russian Studies

The goal of my graduation research was to clarify the characteristics of Russian symbolist theater. In my freshman and sophomore years, I firmed up the foundation of my language skills, and while studying abroad in Moscow, I was exposed almost daily to wonderful stage plays. Then, after returning from studying abroad, I put on a Russian play during the foreign drama festival. I chose a theme for my thesis that would be the culmination of my Russian studies during my student days. First, what took a lot of time was gathering the materials. There is not much literature in Japanese, so I had to read a lot in Russian, but at first it took me more than 30 minutes to read a single page. Even so, as I was exposed to Russian every single day, my pace picked up and my reading comprehension improved. In discussions in my seminar, I struggled when I tried to convey my own theories clearly, but I learned the true pleasure of research and deepened my understanding of Russian culture. Also, when we watched The Seagull on VTR in my Russian drama class, I was able to notice the contrast between the characters and to understand the absurdity in the work, which is difficult to grasp from the translation. I was delighted to be able to use the results of my graduation research in that way. Writing a graduation thesis takes a lot of time and effort, but I think it is definitely a major plus for the future. I am extremely grateful to the teachers who gave me this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

 Faculty of Foreign Studies