The readers of Novyi Mir : coming to terms with the Stalinist past / Denis Kozlov.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kozlov, Denis, 1973-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Novyĭ mir--History.

Novyĭ mir.

Authors and readers--Soviet Union.

Authors and readers.

Literature and society--Soviet Union.

Literature and society.

Reader-response criticism--Social aspects--Soviet Union.

Reader-response criticism.

Russian literature--Social aspects--Soviet Union.

Russian literature.

Russian periodicals--Soviet Union--History.

Russian periodicals.

Terror in literature.

Terror--Soviet Union--Public opinion.

Terror.

Soviet Union--History--Public opinion.

Soviet Union.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (442 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2013.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In the wake of Stalin's death in 1953, the Soviet Union entered a period of relative openness known as the Thaw. Soviet citizens took advantage of the new opportunities to meditate on the nation's turbulent history, from the Bolshevik Revolution, to the Terror, to World War II. Perhaps the most influential of these conversations took place in and around Novyi mir (New World), the most respected literary journal in the country. In The Readers of Novyi Mir, Denis Kozlov shows how the dialogue between literature and readers during the Thaw transformed the intellectual life and political landscape of the Soviet Union. Powerful texts by writers like Solzhenitsyn, Pasternak, and Ehrenburg led thousands of Novyi mir's readers to reassess their lives, entrenched beliefs, and dearly held values, and to confront the USSR's history of political violence and social upheaval. And the readers spoke back. Victims and perpetrators alike wrote letters to the journal, reexamining their own actions and bearing witness to the tragedies of the previous decades. Kozlov's insightful treatment of these confessions, found in Russian archives, and his careful reading of the major writings of the period force today's readers to rethink common assumptions about how the Soviet people interpreted their country's violent past. The letters reveal widespread awareness of the Terror and that literary discussion of its legacy was central to public life during the late Soviet decades. By tracing the intellectual journey of Novyi mir's readers, Kozlov illuminates how minds change, even in a closed society.

Contents:

Front matter

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION: Readers, Writers, and Soviet History

1. A PASSION FOR THE PRINTED WORD: Postwar Soviet Literature

2. BAROMETER OF THE EPOCH: Pomerantsev and the Debate on Sincerity

3. NAMING THE SOCIAL EVIL: Dudintsev's Ethical Quest

4. RECALLING THE REVOLUTION: The Pasternak Affair

5. LITERATURE ABOVE LITERATURE: Tvardovskii's Memory

6. REASSESSING THE MORAL ORDER: Ehrenburg and the Memory of the Terror

7. FINDING NEW WORDS: Solzhenitsyn and the Experience of Terror

8. DISCOVERING HUMAN RIGHTS: The Siniavskii- Daniel' Trial

9. IN SEARCH OF AUTHENTICITY: The "Legends and Facts" Controversy

10. LAST BATTLES: The End of Tvardovskii's Novyi mir

EPILOGUE: Tradition, Change, Legacies

ARCHIVES CONSULTED

NOTES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INDEX

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674075085

0674075080

9780674075061

0674075064

OCLC:

844939421