| The Politics of Reception: Critical Constructions of Mikhail Zoshchenko Contributor(s): Carleton, Greg (Author) |
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ISBN: 081011609X ISBN-13: 9780810116092 Publisher: Northwestern University Press OUR PRICE: $74.20 Product Type: Hardcover Published: November 1998 Annotation: Mikhail Zoshchenko was one of the most popular and contentious Russian writers in the period from 1920 to 1950. He and his work have been enlisted by many scholars and critics in the former Soviet Union, the West, and Russia today to fight the cultural battles of early Soviet history, the Cold War, and even the glasnost era. In The Politics of Reception, Gregory Carleton analyzes how and why Zoshchenko's legacy has become a battleground for competing ideological interests. This book constitutes the first comparative study of the interpretive strategies employed by all involved in this debate -- from critics and officials to popular audiences -- and draws particular attention to the prejudices and needs that have shaped Western efforts to understand Soviet literature and culture right up to the present day. By using rarely accessed material from the 1920s and 1930s, The Politics of Reception contributes to scholarship that views Soviet culture, especially of the Stalinist period, as a complex and unpredictable phenomenon. Carleton revisits issues previously presumed to have been solved and poses new questions about the nature of the literary environment at that time, challenging the complacency that Western critics and readers sometimes exhibit when considering literature from that confusing tragic era. By reexamining the social contexts of writing in a highly charged environment, this book rigorously analyzes the acute tension between ideological orthodoxies and interpretive canons. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Russia & The Former Soviet Union - Literary Criticism | Russian & Former Soviet Union |
| Dewey: 891.734 |
| LCCN: 98-29222 |
| Series: Studies in Russian Literature and Theory |
| Physical Information: 0.87" H x 6.52" W x 9.54" (1.24 lbs) 228 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Russia |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Mikhail Zoshchenko was one of the most popular and contentious Russian writers in the period from 1920 to 1950. Scholars and critics have long enlisted Zoshchenko to fight the cultural battles of early Soviet history, the Cold War, and even the glasnost era. In The Politics of Reception, Gregory Carleton analyzes how and why Zoshchenko's legacy has become a battleground for competing ideological interests. |