The Soviet Writers' Union and its leaders : identity and authority under Stalin / Carol Any.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Any, Carol Joyce, 1952- author.

Contributor:

JSTOR (Online Service)

Series:

Studies in Russian literature and theory

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Soi︠u︡z pisateleĭ SSSR--History.

Soi︠u︡z pisateleĭ SSSR.

Soi︠u︡z pisateleĭ SSSR--Officials and employees--Biography.

Soi͡uz pisateleĭ SSSR.

Literature and state--Soviet Union--History.

Literature and state.

History.

Soviet Union.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

1 online resource.

Place of Publication:

Evanston, Illinois : Northwestern University Press, 2020.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

Winner, University of Southern California Book Prize in Literary and Cultural Studies The Soviet Writers' Union offered writers elite status and material luxuries in exchange for literature that championed the state. This book argues that Soviet ruler Joseph Stalin chose leaders for this crucial organization, such as Maxim Gorky and Alexander Fadeyev, who had psychological traits he could exploit. Stalin ensured their loyalty with various rewards but also with a philosophical argument calculated to assuage moral qualms, allowing them to feel they were not trading ethics for self-interest. -- Employing close textual analysis of public and private documents including speeches, debate transcripts, personal letters, and diaries, Carol Any exposes the misgivings of Writers' Union leaders as well as the arguments they constructed when faced with a cognitive dissonance. She tells a dramatic story that reveals the interdependence of literary policy, communist morality, state-sponsored terror, party infighting, and personal psychology. This book will be an important reference for scholars of the Soviet Union as well as anyone interested in identity, the construction of culture, and the interface between art and ideology.

Contents:

"Mayakovsky's Choice"

The Orgkomitet : Resetting the Alliance, Retraining Cadres

The Gorky-Shcherbakov Team Model : Seeking Common Ground

A Personal Psychology of Terror

Vladimir Stavsky and the Language Codes of Terror

Vulgar Sociologism and the Dual Self

General Secretary Fadeyev

Fadeyev's Choice

Self-Definition after Stalin.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Electronic reproduction. New York Available via World Wide Web.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780810142763

0810142767

Publisher Number:

40030166841

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.