The Russian reading revolution : print culture in the Soviet and post-Soviet eras / Stephen Lovell.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lovell, Stephen, 1972-

Contributor:

Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

Series:

Studies in Russia and East Europe

Studies in Russia and East Europe.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Books and reading--Russia (Federation).

Books and reading.

Publishers and publishing--Russia (Federation).

Publishers and publishing.

Books and reading--Soviet Union.

Soviet Union.

Publishers and publishing--Soviet Union.

Russia (Federation).

Physical Description:

viii, 215 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : St. Martin's Press, in association with the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London, 2000.

Summary:

Of all Soviet cultural myths, none was more resilient than the belief that the USSR had the world's greatest readers. This book explains how the "Russian reading myth" took hold in the 1920s and 1930s, how it was supported by a monopolistic and homogenizing system of book production and distribution, and how it was challenged in the post-Stalin era: first, by the latent expansion and differentiation of the reading public, and then, more dramatically, by the economic and cultural changes of the 1990s.

Contents:

1 Introduction: Russia's Reading Myth 1

2 The Creation of the Soviet Reader 25

3 The Arrival of the New Reader: The Post-Stalin Period 45

4 Reading Revitalized? The Perestroika Project and its Aftermath 72

5 The Periodical Press: Background and Case-Studies 98

6 Reading in Post-Soviet Russia 128.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 202-212) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Anne and Joseph Trachtman Memorial Book Fund.

ISBN:

033377826X

0312226012

OCLC:

42444174