Uncensored: Samizdat Novels and the Quest for Autonomy in Soviet Dissidence PDF
Preview Uncensored: Samizdat Novels and the Quest for Autonomy in Soviet Dissidence
Uncensored Northwestern University Press Studies in Russian Literature and Theory Series Editors Robert Belknap Caryl Emerson Gary Saul Morson William Mills Todd III Andrew Wachtel Uncensored Samizdat Novels and the Quest for Autonomy in Soviet Dissidence Ann Komaromi northwestern university press / evanston, illinois Northwestern University Press www.nupress.northwestern.edu Copyright © 2015 by Northwestern University Press. Published 2015. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Komaromi, Ann, author. Uncensored : Samizdat novels and the quest for autonomy in Soviet dissidence / Ann Komaromi. pages cm. — (Northwestern University Press studies in Russian literature and theory) ISBN 978- 0- 8101- 3123- 1 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978- 0- 8101- 3124- 8 (ebook) — ISBN 978- 0- 8101- 3186- 6 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Underground literature— Soviet Union— History and criticism. 2. Underground press publications— Soviet Union. 3. Russian fiction— 20th century— History and criticism. 4. Russian fiction— 20th century— Political aspects. I. Title. II. Series: Studies in Russian literature and theory. PG3026.U5.K65 2015 891.709’0044— dc23 2015004446 This book is dedicated to the memory of my father, Imre Joseph Komaromi. Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction Writing the Free Self: Cultural Autonomy and the Dissident Subject in the Late Soviet Era 1 Chapter One Literature and the Field of Dissidence 25 Chapter Two Aksenov’s The Burn: Searing the Hearts of Men 46 Chapter Three Bitov’s Pushkin House: Deconstructing the Late Soviet Subject 73 Chapter Four On the Knife’s Edge: Venichka’s Performance in Moscow Stations 102 Chapter Five Samizdat and the Extra- Gutenberg Condition 129 Conclusion Soviet Dissidence and Critical Subjectivity in an Extra-Gutenberg Age 153 Notes 163 Bibliography 227 Index 247 Acknowledgments This work has long been in gestation and I have benefited from the feed- back, advice, and example of many generous colleagues and teachers. My dis- sertation advisor Yuri Shcheglov sparked my interest in the language of late Soviet culture and the strategies of Soviet parody. Gary Saul Morson taught me to think about subjectivity and moral responsibility in the context of Rus- sian literature and thought. David Bethea and Alexander Dolinin helped me appreciate the author and reinforced the message not to succumb to ready- made terms or fashionable critical discourses without a fight. Halina Filipowicz taught me to find my own voice. Judith Kornblatt modeled for me a sociological approach to late Soviet culture built on respect for the voices of participants in it. Among historian colleagues Benjamin Nathan’s work on dissidents has been particularly inspiring to me. In Moscow, scholars at the Memorial Society, including Arsenii Roginskii, Aleksandr Daniel, Tatiana Bakhmina- Khromova, and Boris Belenkin, provided invaluable materials and insights. Gennadii Kuzovkin has been a constant source of support and dialogue for my study of Soviet dissidence. I am grateful to all of them for access to mate- rials, and for their collegial support and willingness to share their firsthand knowledge of dissidence and samizdat. The opportunity to collaborate with the History of Dissidence project at the Memorial Society has been one of the most exciting and fruitful aspects of my work for over a decade. Similarly, I owe an enormous debt to Gabriel Superfin for his expert advice and help guiding me through the outstanding collection of samizdat and dissident materials at the Forschunggstelle Osteuropa at the University of Bremen. The support of Wolfgang Eichwede and Susanne Schattenberg of the Forschunggstelle Osteuropa has been crucial to my research and the shape of my projects. I am grateful to Olga Zaslavskaia and the IS[R]A initiative she initiated to facilitate communication and collaboration among researchers of samiz- dat. The Radio Liberty samizdat collection she curates at the Open Society ix
The list of books you might like
