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First published in 1986, Soviet Fiction since Stalin presents a
comprehensive overview of the literature of the post Stalin period
in the Soviet Union. The rapid advances in science and technology
in these years are reflected in the themes of many of the major
novelists - Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn, Sinyavsky, Daniel and
Grossman- and scientific subjects frequently offer a vehicle for
the exploration of the wider socio-political, moral, and
philosophical ideas. As the period advances, however, literature
becomes the first medium in which to express mistrust of scientific
advance, and hence, indirectly, of Soviet policy as a whole.
Rosalind J. Marsh uses a broad definition of 'science' which
enables her to cover topics ranging from de-Stalinization,
nationalism, and anti- Semitism in science, to Lysenko and
scientific charlatanism, the Soviet rejection of relativity theory
and quantum mechanics, the atom bomb, and also such general
problems as secrecy, careerism, and bureaucracy. The bulk of the
book concentrates on the Khrushchev years but there is also
plentiful discussion of more recent writing such as that of
Zinoviev and Voinovich. This book will be of interest to students
and researchers of Soviet literature, Russian Literature and
literature in general.
This book analyses the relationship between literature, history and
politics in post-Soviet Russia. It explores the impact of the
collapse of the USSR on Russian literature and culture and the
changing content and reception of fiction on historical themes
under Presidents Yeltsin and Putin. It discusses the value of
various theoretical concepts, such as postmodernism, trauma,
nostalgia, and the notion of discourse as power, in analysing
post-Soviet historical fiction. The book shows that Russian
society's confrontation with its past has remained one of the main
themes of Russian culture during the period 1991-2006.
Notwithstanding the gradual decline of the literature of
sensational disclosure associated with Gorbachev's peresiroika, a
more oblique investigation of many aspects of Russian and Soviet
history and an interest in the philosophy of history have continued
to be significant preoccupations of post-Soviet culture. Individual
and family history continue to be explored in memoirs and
autobiographical writings, while the history and destiny of Russia
have been passionately debated in literary journals and the media,
as Russians search for a new 'national idea' to fill the vacuum
left by the collapse of communism. This study suggests that there
is a remarkable continuity between post-Soviet literature and
pre-revolutionary Russian literature and thought.
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