Page 185 - 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. 185
The Functions of Socialist
Realism: Translation
of Genre Fiction
in Communist
Romania
Ștefan Baghiu
Socialist realism has often been perceived as a mass culture movement,
but few studies have succeeded in defining its true structure as being
mass-addressed. The general view on literature under socialist realism is
that of standardized writing and formulaic genre. This paper aims to ana-
lyze the genre fiction and subgenres of fiction translated in Romania dur-
ing socialist realism with a view to acquiring a more comprehensive per-
spective of the social purpose and functions of socialist realist literature.
There have been many attempts to control popular and youth novels in
keeping with the ideological program of the USSR and its entire sphere of
influence. At the same time, these struggles should be opposed/connect-
ed to the development of popular fiction in Western cultures, as the two
opposite cultural systems show several significant similarities: if we con-
sider that the most translated authors of fiction within the Stalinist Ro-
manian cultural system were Alexandre Dumas, Jack London and Mark
Twain, the gap between Western and Eastern popular fiction no longer
seems so great, while their functions may still be opposite.
Socialist realism is not entirely made of realism.1 In fact, over the last
several decades, literary studies have shown that socialist realism is not
even related to realism. Katerina Clark’s 1981 The Soviet Novel or Greg
Carleton’s 1994 seminal essay Genre in Socialist Realism have demon-
strated how socialist realist fiction was undermined by its mythological
representation of figures or by annulling the fictional pact through the
1 Acknowledgement: This work was supported by a grant of the Romanian Ministry
of Research and Innovation, CCCDI – UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P1-1.2-
PCCDI-2017-0821/ INTELLIT, within PNCDI III.
Realism: Translation
of Genre Fiction
in Communist
Romania
Ștefan Baghiu
Socialist realism has often been perceived as a mass culture movement,
but few studies have succeeded in defining its true structure as being
mass-addressed. The general view on literature under socialist realism is
that of standardized writing and formulaic genre. This paper aims to ana-
lyze the genre fiction and subgenres of fiction translated in Romania dur-
ing socialist realism with a view to acquiring a more comprehensive per-
spective of the social purpose and functions of socialist realist literature.
There have been many attempts to control popular and youth novels in
keeping with the ideological program of the USSR and its entire sphere of
influence. At the same time, these struggles should be opposed/connect-
ed to the development of popular fiction in Western cultures, as the two
opposite cultural systems show several significant similarities: if we con-
sider that the most translated authors of fiction within the Stalinist Ro-
manian cultural system were Alexandre Dumas, Jack London and Mark
Twain, the gap between Western and Eastern popular fiction no longer
seems so great, while their functions may still be opposite.
Socialist realism is not entirely made of realism.1 In fact, over the last
several decades, literary studies have shown that socialist realism is not
even related to realism. Katerina Clark’s 1981 The Soviet Novel or Greg
Carleton’s 1994 seminal essay Genre in Socialist Realism have demon-
strated how socialist realist fiction was undermined by its mythological
representation of figures or by annulling the fictional pact through the
1 Acknowledgement: This work was supported by a grant of the Romanian Ministry
of Research and Innovation, CCCDI – UEFISCDI, project number PN-III-P1-1.2-
PCCDI-2017-0821/ INTELLIT, within PNCDI III.
