State Laughter: Stalinism, Populism, and Origins of Soviet Culture

The Stalinist reign of terror was not all gloom and darkness. Much of it was, or aimed to be, entertaining, full of laughter and joy. This book explores how, and why, humor was a necessary component of one of the most oppressive regimes of the twentieth century. It covers a variety of genres, from film comedy to satirical theatre, from war caricature to court speeches at show trials, from Stalin’s political writings to traditionally bawdy folk verses and fables. The authors combine close textual analysis with reflections on genres of the comic in general. The book offers the first comprehensive analysis of state-sponsored humoristic genres of popular culture in Stalin’s Soviet Union. Tracing the development of genres associated with official humor, satire, and comedy of the Stalin era from the late 1920s to the early 1950s, the authors argue against the conventional view that humor was a feature mostly of subversive texts of the time. According to the authors, satire and popular humor were a foundational element instilling state ideology and legitimizing Stalinist culture. The book is grounded in Soviet intellectual and cultural history and, more generally, in literary theories of laughter and the comic. The authors introduce, and demonstrate possible applications for, a number of innovative concepts

Socialist Realism in Central and Eastern European Literatures: Institutions, Dynamics, Discourses

This is the first published work to offer a variety of alternative perspectives on the literary and cultural Sovietization of Central and Eastern Europe after World War II and emphasize the dialogic relationship between the 'centre' and the 'satellites' instead of the traditional top-down approach. The introduction of the Soviet cultural model was not quite the smooth endeavour that it was made to look in retrospect; rather, it was always a work in progress, often born out of a give-and-take with the local authorities, intellectuals and interest groups. Relying on archival resources, the authors examine one of the most controversial attempts at a cultural unification in Europe by providing an overview with a focus on specific case-studies, an analysis of distinct particularities with attention to the patterns of negotiation and adaptation that were being developed in the process