Page 162 - Vinkler, Jonatan, Ana Beguš and Marcello Potocco. Eds. 2019. Ideology in the 20th Century: Studies of literary and social discourses and practices. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 162
Ideology in the 20th Century: studies of literary and social discourses and practices
Soon after, in the mid-1950s, the Khrushchev Thaw (Russian: Otte-
pel)4 began throughout the Soviet Union; the sound of guns was replaced
by influence from the West.
The literary processes during the Thaw also present quite a different
picture compared to the previous decades of Soviet life. Under liberaliza-
tion, various tendencies can be noticed: on the one hand, authors follow-
ing Soviet ideology felt the need to reevaluate their own texts (which in
individual cases even led to tragic results), and on the other hand, after an
interval of almost thirty years, the influence of Western literary trends
grew markedly. The literary life of the Soviet countries, including Geor-
gia, moved to a qualitatively new stage. Against the background of the
painful experience of intellectual terror, repressions, fighting, controver-
sies, and fear under the Communist regime, even a slight parting of the
162 Iron Curtain had a significant influence on the cultural and literary life
of this artificially constructed country. Whereas the world beyond the
Iron Curtain found its way into the homes of Soviet leaders in the form
of Marlboro cigarettes and other imported wares, literature was given the
opportunity to ‘glance’ at Western trends and conceptions. Inside the So-
viet Union, the influence of Western literary tendencies increased open-
ly, invading Soviet territory with Hemingway themes,5 as well as with
Neo-Realistic experiments, accompanied by romantic dreams of friend-
ship, sincerity, refined relations, and a desire for freedom (Ratiani 2015,
176).
The questions to be answered are as follows: How much did Soviet
Neo-Realism, as developed in the literatures of Soviet countries, resem-
ble Italian and, in general, European Neo-Realism? How strictly was re-
ality reflected in it? Was the contrasting play of realistic chiaroscuro per-
ceptible?
Discussion about Neo-Realism in the Soviet Union was started in
the 1920s by Yevgeny Zamyatin. In doing so, he tried to establish his own
4 Khrushchev’s Thaw refers to the relative liberalization of the USSR’s internal poli-
cy (de-Stalinization) and external policy (based on the principle of peaceful coexis-
tence) in the late 1950s and in the first half of the 1960s. The term arose in association
with Ilya Ehrenburg’s 1954 novel Ottepel (The Thaw). However, the party leadership
and Khrushchev himself condemned the new trends in literature and art, declaring
them to be a “perversion” of Soviet reality, formalism, and imitation of the bourgeois
culture of the West (Orlov et al. 2012, 376–377). At the end of 1960s, the Thaw was
exhausted.
5 The first book by Hemingway published in the Soviet Union (in 1935) was The Sun
also Rises; soon after, other works of his were translated.
Soon after, in the mid-1950s, the Khrushchev Thaw (Russian: Otte-
pel)4 began throughout the Soviet Union; the sound of guns was replaced
by influence from the West.
The literary processes during the Thaw also present quite a different
picture compared to the previous decades of Soviet life. Under liberaliza-
tion, various tendencies can be noticed: on the one hand, authors follow-
ing Soviet ideology felt the need to reevaluate their own texts (which in
individual cases even led to tragic results), and on the other hand, after an
interval of almost thirty years, the influence of Western literary trends
grew markedly. The literary life of the Soviet countries, including Geor-
gia, moved to a qualitatively new stage. Against the background of the
painful experience of intellectual terror, repressions, fighting, controver-
sies, and fear under the Communist regime, even a slight parting of the
162 Iron Curtain had a significant influence on the cultural and literary life
of this artificially constructed country. Whereas the world beyond the
Iron Curtain found its way into the homes of Soviet leaders in the form
of Marlboro cigarettes and other imported wares, literature was given the
opportunity to ‘glance’ at Western trends and conceptions. Inside the So-
viet Union, the influence of Western literary tendencies increased open-
ly, invading Soviet territory with Hemingway themes,5 as well as with
Neo-Realistic experiments, accompanied by romantic dreams of friend-
ship, sincerity, refined relations, and a desire for freedom (Ratiani 2015,
176).
The questions to be answered are as follows: How much did Soviet
Neo-Realism, as developed in the literatures of Soviet countries, resem-
ble Italian and, in general, European Neo-Realism? How strictly was re-
ality reflected in it? Was the contrasting play of realistic chiaroscuro per-
ceptible?
Discussion about Neo-Realism in the Soviet Union was started in
the 1920s by Yevgeny Zamyatin. In doing so, he tried to establish his own
4 Khrushchev’s Thaw refers to the relative liberalization of the USSR’s internal poli-
cy (de-Stalinization) and external policy (based on the principle of peaceful coexis-
tence) in the late 1950s and in the first half of the 1960s. The term arose in association
with Ilya Ehrenburg’s 1954 novel Ottepel (The Thaw). However, the party leadership
and Khrushchev himself condemned the new trends in literature and art, declaring
them to be a “perversion” of Soviet reality, formalism, and imitation of the bourgeois
culture of the West (Orlov et al. 2012, 376–377). At the end of 1960s, the Thaw was
exhausted.
5 The first book by Hemingway published in the Soviet Union (in 1935) was The Sun
also Rises; soon after, other works of his were translated.
