"Imitations of Life" views Russian melodrama from the eighteenth
century to today as an unexpectedly hospitable forum for
considering social issues. The contributors follow the evolution of
the genre through a variety of cultural practices and changing
political scenarios. They argue that Russian audiences have found a
particular type of comfort in this mode of entertainment that
invites them to respond emotionally rather than politically to
social turmoil.
Drawing on a wide variety of sources, including plays, lachrymose
novels, popular movies, and even highly publicized funerals and
political trials, the essays in "Imitations of Life" argue that
melodrama has consistently offered models of behavior for times of
transition, and that contemporary televised versions of melodrama
continue to help Russians cope with national events that they
understand implicitly but are not yet able to articulate. In
contrast to previous studies, this collection argues for a reading
that takes into account the subtle but pointed challenges to
national politics and to gender and class hierarchies made in
melodramatic works from both the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries. Collectively, the contributors shift and cross borders,
illustrating how the cultural dismissal of melodrama as
fundamentally escapist and targeted primarily at the politically
disenfranchised has subverted the drama's own intrinsically
subversive virtues.
"Imitations of Life" will interest students and scholars of
contemporary Russia, and Russian history, literature, and theater.
"Contributors." Otto Boele, Julie Buckler, Julie Cassiday, Susan
Costanzo, Helena Goscilo, Beth Holmgren, Lars Lih, Louise
McReynolds, Joan Neuberger, Alexander Prokhorov, Richard Stites
General
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