Velvet retro : postsocialist nostalgia and the politics of heroism in Czech popular culture / Veronika Pehe.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pehe, Veronika, author.

Series:

Worlds of memory ; volume 2.

Worlds of memory ; volume 2

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Popular culture--Political aspects.

Popular culture.

Collective memory.

Czech Republic--Politics and government--1993-.

Czech Republic.

Politics and government.

Collective memory--Czech Republic.

Popular culture--Political aspects--Czech Republic.

Czechoslovakia--History--Velvet Revolution, 1989.

Czechoslovakia.

History.

National characteristics, Czech.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

x, 177 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

New York : Berghahn, 2020.

Summary:

"Scholars of state socialism have frequently invoked "nostalgia" to identify an uncritical longing for the utopian ambitions and lived experience of the former Eastern Bloc. However, this concept seems insufficient to describe memory cultures in the Czech Republic and other contexts in which a "retro" fascination with the past has proven compatible with a steadfast critique of the state socialist era. This innovative study locates a distinctively retro aesthetic in Czech literature, film, and other cultural forms, enriching our understanding of not only the nation's memory culture, but also the ways in which popular culture can structure collective memory"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Returning to the Past

Painting the Past Black and White: Czech Anticommunism after

The Past as Comedy: Representing Socialism in the 1990s

The Late 1990s: Contesting the Past through Popular Culture

Petty Heroism: Nostalgia for Resistance

The Politics and Aesthetics of Retro

Changing Memory Landscapes in the 2000s

Socialism Remembered.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Pehe, Veronika. Velvet retro

ISBN:

9781789206289

1789206286

OCLC:

1107346777