Always under siege : Olga Freidenberg's diary-theory and the everyday terror of Stalinism / Irina Paperno.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Paperno, Irina, Author.

Standardized Title:

"Osada cheloveka". English http://id.loc.gov/resources/hubs/c503298d-cdd1-8649-dc48-cb46505c54ac

Language:

English

Russian

Subjects (All):

Soviet Union--Politics and government--1936-1953.

Soviet Union.

Soviet Union--Intellectual life--1917-1970.

Freĭdenberg, O. M. (Olʹga Mikhaĭlovna), 1890-1955--Notebooks, sketchbooks, etc.

Freĭdenberg, O. M.

Totalitarianism.

totalitarianism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

Ithaca ; London : Cornell University Press, 2026.

Summary:

"Always Under Siege presents a remarkable and harrowing account of life in dark times that describes and embodies strategies of physical and moral survival. Irina Paperno brings to light the autobiographical chronicle (her "notes") of Olga Freidenberg (1890–1955), a pioneering Russian philologist and cultural theorist (and cousin of Boris Pasternak), who endured Stalin's purges, the Leningrad blockade during World War II, and the suffocating repression that followed. Using concepts of scholarship to understand what was happening to her and around her, Freidenberg transformed daily ordeal into what Paperno calls a "diary-theory," not just a record of events but a reflection on how power invades home, body, and mind.Analyzing Freidenberg's personal writings, kept hidden for decades, Paperno shows how she used myth, metaphor, and ethnographic description to interpret the everyday terror of life under Stalin. Comparing Freidenberg's ideas, developed in isolation, with those of contemporaries like Hannah Arendt, who witnessed Hitler's rise, Paperno identifies in Freidenberg's "notes" a compelling theory of totalitarian oppression. Presenting a singular testament of resilience, despair, and stubborn creative intellect, Paperno's book shows what it means to live and to think in a state of siege."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction

"Overture" (1890-1917)

Blockade (1941-1945)

After the War (1945-1950)

"To Fill in A Lacuna" : From the University to the Last War (1918-1941)

The Mythopolitical Theory of Olga Freidenberg in the Context of the Political Thought of Her Time

"Conclusion" (1950)

Appendix : The Russian Original of Major Quotations

Chronology of Olga Freidenberg's Life and Times.

Notes:

Translation of: "Osada cheloveka" : zapiski Ol'gi Freidenberg kak mifopoliticheskaia teoriia stalinizma, published 2023.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Online resource; title from PDF title page (De Gruyter Brill, viewed March 13, 2026).

Other Format:

Print version: Paperno, Irina Osada cheloveka. English Always under siege

ISBN:

9781501785849

1501785842

1501785850

9781501785856

OCLC:

1573147742

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license