Synopses & Reviews
Between the late 1920s and the early 1950s, one of the most persuasive personality cults of all times saturated Soviet public space with images of Stalin. A torrent of portraits, posters, statues, films, plays, songs, and poems galvanized the Soviet population and inspired leftist activists around the world. In the first book to examine the cultural products and production methods of the Stalin cult, Jan Plamper reconstructs a hidden history linking artists, party patrons, state functionaries, and ultimately Stalin himself in the alchemical project that transformed a pock-marked Georgian into the embodiment of global communism. Departing from interpretations of the Stalin cult as an outgrowth of Russian mysticism or Stalin's psychopathology, Plamper establishes the cult's context within a broader international history of modern personality cults constructed around Napoleon III, Mussolini, Hitler, and Mao. Drawing upon evidence from previously inaccessible Russian archives, Plamper's lavishly illustrated and accessibly written study will appeal to anyone interested in twentieth-century history, visual studies, the politics of representation, dictator biography, socialist realism, and real socialism.
Review
"Clark and Dobrenko not only provide a careful and creatively organized selection of documents but also, in their commentary, a concise and incisive analysis of Soviet cultural history."Carol Avins, Rutgers University
-- Mara Judith Feliciano - Speculum--A Journal of Medieval Studies
Review
"To have these documents in one place, and accessible for students in English with detailed explanations and commentary, is nothing less than a small miracle. Beg, buy or borrow this wonderful book if you care about Russian culture."Jeffrey Brooks, author of
Thank You, Comrade Stalin! Soviet Public Culture from Revolution to Cold War -- Carol Avins
Review
"This is a history of Soviet culture under Lenin and Stalin told in documents. The story unfolds in letters, public appeals, bureaucratic decisions, official orders, marginal jottings, police reports and memoranda, comments of censors, petitions, transcripts of meetings, and more. To have these documents in one place, and accessible for students in English with detailed explanations and commentary, is nothing less than a small miracle. Beg, buy or borrow this wonderful book if you care about Russian culture."Jeffrey Brooks, author of
Thank You, Comrade Stalin! Soviet Public Culture from Revolution to Cold War -- Jeffrey Brooks
Review
'\"Joseph Stalin famously described Soviet writers as engineers of human souls. This remarkable collection of documents, laden with comedy and sheer stupidity as well as calculated repression, chronicles the Bolshevik governments effort to control all cultural institutions and creative individuals. This is a story of compelling interest not only for Sovietologists but for anyone who wants to know what happens when a government treats culture as a long-term engineering project.\"Susan Jacoby, author of Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism -- Jeffrey Brooks'
Review
"Throws a bright light on the partys torturous dealings with writers and on the inevitable conflict between art and propaganda. Perhaps the books biggest surprise is its revelation of Stalin as literary critic. Despite his onerous responsibilities as party chief, dictator and head of state, no detail seems to have been too small for Stalins eagle eyea backhanded compliment if ever there was one to the awesome power of the written word."Michael Scammell, author of
Solzhenitsyn: A Biography -- Susan Jacoby
Review
'\"Soviet Culture and Power is a groundbreaking work that provides access to significant archival materials for a population that might never have been able to read and analyze these documents.\"Cynthia A. Ruder, Slavic and East European Journal -- Michael Scammell'
Review
and#8220;The crafting, production, and canonization of Stalinand#8217;s image was no simple endeavor. It involved technologies that gave Stalinand#8217;s cult a particularly modern flavor. . . through this alchemy of institutional and individual power did Stalinand#8217;s personality cult penetrate the psyche of the Soviet citizenry.and#8221;and#8212;Sean Guillory, New Books in Russia and Eurasia
Review
andldquo;An excellent study which greatly advances our understanding of one of the most important cultural artifacts of the twentieth century.andrdquo;andmdash; Graeme Gill,
Russian ReviewReview
andldquo;A fascinating history of the making and marketing of the Stalinist cult, [characterized by] clarity, sharp analysis, and a deft selection of images and illustrations. . . . A rich, valuable contribution to both modern intellectual history and the history of Russia.andquot;andmdash;
Choiceand#160;
Review
Winner of the 2013 University of Southern California Book Prize in Literary and Cultural Studies sponsored by the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Southern California and awarded annually by the Association for Salvic, East European, and Eurasian Studies for an outstanding monograph published on Russia, Eastern or Eurasia in the fields of literary and cultural studies.
Review
and#8220;Invaluably, Plamper provides a wider framework for considering Socialist Realism, while his history of the Stalin cult of personality and the way that art was organised and controlled under this despotic ruler makes this essential reading for anyone who wants to gain a more profound understanding of the period, the art, and the way it was produced.and#8221;and#8212;Christina Lodder, Burlington Magazine
Synopsis
Leaders of the Soviet Union, Stalin chief among them, well understood the power of art, and their response was to attempt to control and direct
it in every way possible. This book examines Soviet cultural politics from the Revolution to Stalins death in 1953. Drawing on a wealth of newly released documents from the archives of the former Soviet Union, the book provides remarkable insight on relations between Gorky, Pasternak, Babel, Meyerhold, Shostakovich, Eisenstein, and many other intellectuals, and the Soviet leadership. Stalins role in directing these relations, and his literary judgments and personal biases, will astonish many.
The documents presented in this volume reflect the progression of Party control in the arts. They include decisions of the Politburo, Stalins correspondence with individual intellectuals, his responses to particular plays, novels, and movie scripts, petitions to leaders from intellectuals, and secret police reports on intellectuals under surveillance. Introductions, explanatory materials, and a biographical index accompany the documents.
About the Author
Katerina Clark is professor of comparative literature and of Slavic languages and literatures, Yale University. She lives in Hamden, CT.
Evgeny Dobrenko is professor in the Department of Russian and Slavic Studies, University of Nottingham. He lives in England.