Greetings, Pushkin!

Stalinist Cultural Politics and the Russian National Bard

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, European, Russian, Nonfiction, History, Asian, Russia
Cover of the book Greetings, Pushkin! by Jonathan Brooks Platt, University of Pittsburgh Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jonathan Brooks Platt ISBN: 9780822981428
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press Publication: July 10, 2016
Imprint: University of Pittsburgh Press Language: English
Author: Jonathan Brooks Platt
ISBN: 9780822981428
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Publication: July 10, 2016
Imprint: University of Pittsburgh Press
Language: English

In 1937, the Soviet Union mounted a national celebration commemorating the centenary of poet Alexander Pushkin’s death. Though already a beloved national literary figure, the scale and feverish pitch of the Pushkin festival was unprecedented. Greetings, Pushkin! presents the first in-depth study of this historic event and follows its manifestations in art, literature, popular culture, education, and politics, while also examining its philosophical underpinnings.
            Jonathan Brooks Platt looks deeply into the motivations behind the Soviet glorification of a long-dead poet—seemingly at odds with the October Revolution’s radical break with the past. He views the Pushkin celebration as a conjunction of two opposing approaches to time and modernity: monumentalism, which points to specific moments and individuals as the origin point for cultural narratives, and eschatology, which glorifies ruptures in the chain of art or thought and the destruction of canons.
            In the midst of the Great Purge, the Pushkin jubilee was a critical element in the drive toward a nationalist discourse that attempted to unify and subsume the disparate elements of the Soviet Union, supporting the move to “socialism in one country.”

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In 1937, the Soviet Union mounted a national celebration commemorating the centenary of poet Alexander Pushkin’s death. Though already a beloved national literary figure, the scale and feverish pitch of the Pushkin festival was unprecedented. Greetings, Pushkin! presents the first in-depth study of this historic event and follows its manifestations in art, literature, popular culture, education, and politics, while also examining its philosophical underpinnings.
            Jonathan Brooks Platt looks deeply into the motivations behind the Soviet glorification of a long-dead poet—seemingly at odds with the October Revolution’s radical break with the past. He views the Pushkin celebration as a conjunction of two opposing approaches to time and modernity: monumentalism, which points to specific moments and individuals as the origin point for cultural narratives, and eschatology, which glorifies ruptures in the chain of art or thought and the destruction of canons.
            In the midst of the Great Purge, the Pushkin jubilee was a critical element in the drive toward a nationalist discourse that attempted to unify and subsume the disparate elements of the Soviet Union, supporting the move to “socialism in one country.”

More books from University of Pittsburgh Press

Cover of the book The Endarkenment by Jonathan Brooks Platt
Cover of the book A Responsive Rhetorical Art by Jonathan Brooks Platt
Cover of the book From Belonging to Belief by Jonathan Brooks Platt
Cover of the book Emplumada by Jonathan Brooks Platt
Cover of the book Pennsylvania Farming by Jonathan Brooks Platt
Cover of the book Red Sugar by Jonathan Brooks Platt
Cover of the book Tiger Heron by Jonathan Brooks Platt
Cover of the book Dear, Sincerely by Jonathan Brooks Platt
Cover of the book The Switching/Yard by Jonathan Brooks Platt
Cover of the book Hyperboreal by Jonathan Brooks Platt
Cover of the book Re-Collecting Black Hawk by Jonathan Brooks Platt
Cover of the book American Fanatics by Jonathan Brooks Platt
Cover of the book Cape Verdean Blues by Jonathan Brooks Platt
Cover of the book Slave Emancipation and Transformations in Brazilian Political Citizenship by Jonathan Brooks Platt
Cover of the book Eternity & Oranges by Jonathan Brooks Platt
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy