Building Stalinism : the Moscow Canal and the creation of Soviet space / Cynthia A. Ruder.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ruder, Cynthia Ann, 1956- author.

Series:

Library of modern Russia ; 2.

Library of modern Russia ; 2

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Stalin, Joseph, 1878-1953--Political and social views.

Stalin, Joseph.

Forced labor--Soviet Union--History.

Forced labor.

Moscow Canal (Russia)--History--20th century.

Moscow Canal (Russia).

Soviet Union--History--1925-1953.

Soviet Union.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xxii, 330 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates) : illustrations

Edition:

First edition.

Distribution:

[London, England] : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2019.

Place of Publication:

London, England : I.B. Tauris, 2019.

Summary:

"Today, the 80-mile long Moscow Canal is a source of leisure for Muscovites, a conduit for tourists and provides the city with more than 60% of its potable water. Yet the past looms heavy over these quotidian activities: the canal was built by Gulag inmates at the height of Stalinism and thousands died in the process. In this wide-ranging book, Cynthia Ruder argues that the construction of the canal physically manifests Stalinist ideology and that the vertical, horizontal, underwater, ideological, artistic, and metaphorical spaces created by it resonate with the desire of the state to dominate all space within and outside the Soviet Union. Ruder draws on theoretical constructs from cultural geography and spatial studies to interpret and contextualize a variety of structural and cultural products dedicated to, and in praise of, this signature Stalinist construction project. Approached through an extensive range of archival sources, personal interviews, and contemporary documentary materials, these include a diverse body of artefacts - from waterways, structures, paintings, sculptures, literary, and documentary works, and the Gulag itself. Building Stalinism concludes by analyzing current efforts to reclaim the legacy of the canal as a memorial space that ensures that those who suffered and died building it are remembered. Essential reading for all scholars working on the all-pervasive nature of Stalinism and its complex afterlife in Russia today."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Surveying the site : historical framework and spatial parameters

Water as power : real and imagined

How the gulag built the Moscow Canal

Creating metaphorical and ideological space : cultural production and the Moscow Canal

Monuments, monumentality, and memory : forgetting and remembering

The present and future of the Moscow Canal.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [305]-311) and index.

ISBN:

9781350985612

1350985619

9781786723567

1786723565

9781786733566

1786733560

OCLC:

1128165650