Search results for " Soviet literature"

Summary of PhD thesis and book by George Mackov: reviews of Karlis Egle

2018

Nikolai Shpanov and the Evolution of the Soviet Spy Thriller

2017

It is a common opinion that Stalinist literature knew no explicitly popular genres, and that, consequently, its whole body can be regarded as popular culture. The case of Nikolai Shpanov is one of the most evident arguments against such an interpretation. From the late Thirties to the early Fifties, Shpanov's works, centered around the fight with fiendish spies, had huge print runs and conspicuous success among the readers; yet, Soviet critics nearly ignored them. The publishing channels were not those of the officially endorsed "classics" of Socialist Realism, but rather what can be regarded as a Soviet equivalent of a separated mass publishing. Shpanov's books are, thus, the living proof …

Carrying the Red Man's Burden: Pavel Luknitskii, or Kipling in the Soviet Pamir

2018

Kipling’s work in the Soviet Union was heavily criticized as an expression of imperialism; yet, it was widely read and translated – it was clearly more acceptable than that of Nikolai Gumilev, “the Kipling from Tsarskoe Selo”, a purported counter-revolutionary whose name itself was forbidden. This explains the apparent contradictions in the image of Pavel Luknitskii – from one side, a scholar of Gumilev, from the other, an official Soviet writer. His novel Nisso (1946), based on his travels in the Pamir, is a classic of Soviet literature about the Asian republics. The novel’s plot is built around a classic Colonial triangle, mixed with a typical Soviet collectivization story. The setting pu…