Toxic voices : the villain from early Soviet literature to Socialist realism /
Eric Laursen.
- Evanston, Illinois : Northwestern University Press, (c)2013.
- 1 online resource (xiii, 170 pages)
- Northwestern University Press studies in Russian literature and theory .
Includes bibliographies and index.
Introduction : Scrounging in the Soviet garbage pit -- Writing a precarious balance -- He does not love us when we are dirty -- Things that should not be found -- Lost in translation -- Conclusion : Writers forward!
Satire and the fantastic, vital literary genres in the 1920s, are often thought to have fallen victim to the official adoption of socialist realism. In this book, the author contends that these subversive genres did not just vanish or move underground. Instead, key strategies of each survive to sustain the villain of socialist realism. The author argues that the judgment of satire and the hesitation associated with the fantastic produce a narrative obsession with controlling the villain's influence. In identifying a crucial connection between the questioning, subversive literature of the 1920s and the socialist realists, the author produces an insightful revision of Soviet literary history.
9780810166356
Villains in literature. Socialist realism in literature. Russian literature--History and criticism.--20th century