In search of the true Russia : the provinces in contemporary nationalist discourse /

Parts, Lyudmila,

In search of the true Russia : the provinces in contemporary nationalist discourse / Lyudmila Parts. - Madison, Wisconsin : The University of Wisconsin Press, (c)2018. - 1 online resource

Includes bibliographies and index.

Intro; Contents; List of Illustrations; Acknowledgments; Note on Translation and Transliteration; Introduction: Imagining the Provinces; 1. Journalism: "We Look for Wealth in the Provinces and Find It There!"; 2. Literature: In the Provincial State of Mind; 3. Film and TV: "My Country-My Moscow!"; Conclusion: On Cultural Authenticity; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

This book examines the provincial theme in post-Soviet literature, film, and journalism as a cultural representation of Russian nationalism. Its focus is on "the provinces" of cultural myth: the imagined domain of authentic Russianness, and collective contemplation of the recurring questions concerning Russia's past and future, what it means to be "Russian," and where "true" Russians reside. Cultural production today locates true Russianness outside the newly prosperous, multiethnic, and westernized Moscow. In mass culture, the traditional privileging of the center, over the backward provinces, yields to a view of the provinces as the repository of national tradition and moral strength. Conversely, high literature and art-house cinema provide an alternative, harshly critical image of the provinces. Differing perspectives notwithstanding, both are negotiating a particular concept of Russianness, in which the provinces play a central role and, ultimately, function to both redirect nationalist discourse away from the deeply unsatisfying model of Russia versus the West, and put forth a hermetic national identity, based on the opposition of "us versus us," rather than "us versus them."



9780299317638


Russian literature--History and criticism.--20th century
Russian literature--History and criticism.--21st century
National characteristics, Russian, in literature.
National characteristics, Russian, in motion pictures.
Nationalism and literature--Russia (Federation)
Mass media and nationalism--Russia (Federation)
Russians in literature.


Electronic Books.

PG2987 / .I574 2018