Soviet Culture in the Making: Literature, Film, and Institutions in the 1920s

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

The 1920s in Soviet cultural history are often understood in contrast to the 1930s, underlining the stark opposition between the avant-garde and socialist realism: the relative freedom in artistic expression and production versus later repressions and conservative cultural turn. In our panel, we take a closer look at this formative period, examining the creation and reception of new narratives about young Soviet society and its artistic community, with a focus on the emergence of collective memory and mythologies. Bringing together diverse perspectives, from history of institutions and satirical press to popular fiction and film studies, in our presentations we are going to test, supplement or, potentially, disprove the narrative of a radical rupture between the two cultures. Through introduction of new approaches, archival materials, and reflections on previously underdiscussed topics, we aim to offer a comprehensive look at early Soviet culture in the making.

Sub Unit

• Literature: 20th Century

Papers

• The Myth of the 'Writers’ Family”: Split in the Petrograd House of Arts at the Dawn of the NEP - Maria Likhinina, UC Berkeley

• The Rulers of Early Soviet Literature: How 'Krokodil' Promoted and Discredited Maxim Gorky and Demyan Bedny - Kate Terrasson

• Revolution and Geological Transformation in Aleksei Tolstoi’s Science Fiction - A. Mazzotti

Discussant

• Carol J. Any, Trinity College Dublin (Ireland)