The University of Wisconsin Press

Slavic Studies / Anthropology / History / Literature & Criticism

 

Stalin in Russian Satire, 1917–1991
Karen L. Ryan

Illuminates the efforts of Russian satirists in exorcising the ghost of Stalin

During Stalin’s lifetime the crimes of his regime were literally unspeakable. More than fifty years after his death, Russia is still coming to terms with Stalinism and the people’s own role in the abuses of the era. During the decades of official silence that preceded the advent of glasnost, Russian writers raised troubling questions about guilt, responsibility, and the possibility of absolution. Through the subtle vehicle of satire, they explored the roots and legacy of Stalinism in forms ranging from humorous mockery to vitriolic diatribe.

Examining works from the 1917 Revolution to the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Karen L. Ryan reveals how satirical treatments of Stalin often emphasize his otherness, distancing him from Russian culture. Some satirists portray Stalin as a madman. Others show him as feminized, animal-like, monstrous, or diabolical. Stalin has also appeared as the unquiet dead, a spirit that keeps returning to haunt the collective memory of the nation. While many writers seem anxious to exorcise Stalin from the body politic, for others he illuminates the self in disturbing ways. To what degree Stalin was and is “in us” is a central question of all these works. Although less visible than public trials, policy shifts, or statements of apology, Russian satire has subtly yet insistently participated in the protracted process of de-Stalinization.

“Ryan is unique in her focus on the methods and devices used for satiric distortion of Stalin’s image. This angle allows her to examine Soviet/Russian national complexes rather than Stalin as a historical figure.”—Mark Lipovetsky, author of Russian Postmodernist Fiction: Dialogue with Chaos

Karen L. Ryan is professor of Slavic languages and literatures at the University of Virginia. She is author of Contemporary Russian Satire: A Genre Study.

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The cover of Ryan's book is Soviet red, with an official portrait of Stalin in the process of being defaced.

November 2009
LC: 2009012834 PG
264 pp.   6 x 9
ISBN 978-0-299-23444-7
Paper $29.95 s

This is our e-book logo. It is green and represents an open book, with an e rising from it. ISBN 978-0-299-23443-0
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