Political Economy of Socialist Realism

For decades Stalinist literature, film, and art was almost exclusively deemed political propaganda imposed from on high, devoid of any aesthetic significance. In this book, Evgeny Dobrenko suggests an entirely new view: socialism did not produce Socialist Realism to “prettify reality”; rather, Socialist Realism itself produced socialism by elevating socialism to reality status, giving it material form. Without art, socialism could not have materialized. Bringing together the Soviet historical experience and Stalin-era art-novels, films, poems, songs, painting, photography, architecture, and advertising-Dobrenko examines Stalinism's representational strategies and demonstrates how real socialism was begotten of Socialist Realism. Socialist Realism, he concludes, was Stalinism's most effective sociopolitical institution.

Details

Type

Book

Place of publication

New Haven, Connecticut

Year

2007

Number of pages

386 pages

Language

English

ISBN

9780300122800

Open stacks or available on request

Open stacks

Illustrations

No

Bibliography

Yes

UDC code and author sign

709.470902 Dob

Volumes

1

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