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Socialist Realism in Central and Eastern European Literatures under Stalin

Socialist Realism in Central and Eastern European Literatures under Stalin

Evgeny Dobrenko | Natalia Jonsson-Skradol

(2018)

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Abstract

Socialist Realism in Central and Eastern European Literatures' is the first published work to offer a variety of alternative perspectives on the literary and cultural Sovietization of Central and Eastern Europe after World War II and emphasize the dialogic relationship between the ‘centre’ and the ‘satellites’ instead of the traditional top-down approach. The introduction of the Soviet cultural model was not quite the smooth endeavour that it was made to look in retrospect; rather, it was always a work in progress, often born out of a give-andtake with the local authorities, intellectuals and interest groups. Relying on archival resources, the authors examine one of the most controversial attempts at a cultural unification in Europe by providing an overview with a focus on specific case-studies, an analysis of distinct particularities with attention to the patterns of negotiation and adaptation that were being developed in the process.


‘This excellent collection will have a lasting impact on the field: it is the first large-scale examination of socialist realism across Eastern and Central Europe, attentive to its institutional frames, inner dynamics and competition with local cultural traditions. A truly pioneering contribution.’
—Galin Tihanov, George Steiner Professor of Comparative Literature, Queen Mary University of London, UK


This volume brings together articles written by experts in the literary history of Central and Eastern European literatures. The overarching topic is the export of Socialist Realism into Europe after WWII, but the authors are interested not so much in highlighting the generalised, top-down mechanism of the project, as in the particularities of each specific national and cultural context. Research shows that in practice the introduction of the Soviet cultural model was not quite the smooth endeavour that it was intended to be; rather, it was always a work in progress, often born out of a give-and-take with the local authorities, intellectuals and interest groups. Those in charge negotiated the precarious terrain of local cultural and political controversies, caught between tradition and innovation in some countries, or, in others, between a sincere interest in the new concept of art and a complete refusal to accept new rules. Paradoxically, among all the different experiences of introducing, importing imposing Socialist Realism in the specific national contexts, the one thing in common is that each case was a response to the local conditions, a process of working through the challenge of inscribing a staunch theory into the daily reality of an unfamiliar country, language and culture.

The general approach shared by the authors is based on the premise of there having been a mutual influence between the various forces engaged in the process – be it between the ‘host cultures’ and ‘the centre’ (i.e., the Soviet authorities), traditional groups and advocates of artistic innovations, similar creative movements in different countries, or political rivals and various interest groups from the literary milieu. But the interrelationship between the texts in this collection is also dialogic: selected with a view of complementing each other, often offering different perspectives on the same issue. Thus, the socialist realist episode in the Yugoslav arts and letters can be regarded either as a short episode, a foundation of the national myth, or a chapter in the ongoing rivalry between competing parties in the creation of a national canon (Peruško, Norris, Ivić). The Czech case can be seen as exemplary strenghtening of traditional pre-war censorship mechanisms or as an awkward attempt to accommodate the Soviet version of a new positive hero (Janáček, Schmarc). The role of leftist intellectuals returning from exile, their interactions with Soviet representatives, as well as the framing of these interactions in the national cultural debate in East Germany and Hungary were both similar and distinctly different (Hartmann, Fehervary, Robinson, Skradol; Scheibner, Kalmár, Balázs). Even in the case of the loyal Soviet satellite Bulgaria, Soviet style institutions can be analysed differently, depending on whether one takes a synchronic view at the time of their imposition, or a diachronic view, observing their evolution over time (Volokitina, Doinov). At the same time, Soviet efforts directed at the creation of a unified socialist cultural sphere were quite versatile, and by no means limited to activites in specific countries (Zubok, Djagalov, Ponomarev). Finally, when it comes to the demise of Socialist Realism as a Pan-European project, having a country-specific perspective next to a more general, European picture is productive for an assessment of the true significance of the events in question (Dobrenko, Günther).

The texts are divided into sections which reflect the organising principle of the volume: an overview with a focus on specific case-studies and an analysis of distinct particularities with attention to what patterns of negotiation and adaptation were being developed in the process. Most of the contributions rely on archival resources, often previously unexplored, and all of them place the issue they are concerned with into a broader institutional, social and cultural context.


Evgeny Dobrenko is professor of Russian and Slavonic Studies, University of Sheffield, UK. He is the author, editor or co-editor of twenty books and numerous articles on Soviet and post-Soviet literature and culture.

Natalia Jonsson-Skradol is a research associate at the University of Sheffield, UK. Her work focuses on unconventional approaches to discursive practices of repressive regimes – mostly Stalinism, but also German and Italian fascism.


"This volume’s transnational mosaic of contributions allows scholars to perceive a new way of thinking about Stalinist culture, as well as the culture it bequeathed in its wake.
— Pavel Khazanov, 'The Russian Review' Volume 77, Issue 4, October 2018 Pages 645-692"

Table of Contents

Section Title Page Action Price
Cover Cover 1
Front Matter i
Half title i
Series Page ii
Title page iii
Copyright information iv
Table of contents v
Acknowledgements ix
Chapter int-20 15
Introduction 1
Notes 13
Bibliography 13
Part 1 Institutions 15
Chapter One How Socialist Realism Was Exported to Eastern European Countries and How They Got Rid of It 17
Notes 23
Bibliography 24
Chapter Two Literary Monopolists and The Forging of The Post–World War Ii People’s Republic of Letters 25
Wartime 26
Post-war 29
Notes 36
Archives 37
Bibliography 37
Chapter Three Once Dr Faul Has Left: the Agony Of Socialist Realism in Poland, 1955–56 39
Literary Practice 39
Literary Theory 46
Literary Politics 53
Notes 58
Archives 60
Bibliography 60
Chapter Four From Literature Censored by Poets to Literature Censored by the Party... 61
The Clash on Stalinova Tr.ída: Stalinist Censorship from the Viewpoint of Discontinuity 61
The Age of Biblioclasm: Stalinist Censorship from the Viewpoint of Continuity 65
Notes 69
Bibliography 69
Chapter Five the Demise of ‘Socialist Realism For Export’ In 1947: Voks Receives John Steinbeck and Robert Capa 71
The Woes of Post-War VOKS 73
‘Kremlin Gremlins’ at Work 78
Lost in the Cold War 82
Notes 86
Archives 88
Bibliography 88
Chapter Six The Soviet Factor and The Institutionalization of Bulgarian Literature After World War Ii 89
Notes 98
Archives 98
Bibliography 98
Chapter Seven Cultural Renewal in Eastern Germany – Mission Impossible for Soviet Cultural... 101
Among the Ruins 101
Behind the Scenes 102
During the Cold War 104
From the Soviet Universe I 105
From the Soviet Universe II 108
Notes 110
Bibliography 111
Part 2 Dynamics 115
Chapter Eight Socialist Writers and Intellectuals in a Divided Nation: The Early GDR Experience 117
Notes 127
Bibliography 127
Chapter Nine Stalinism’s Imperial Figure: Hero or Clerk of The Pax Sovietica? 129
Pax Romana 129
Socialism, Empire and Accommodation 130
Ernst Niekisch – On Socialism’s Empire 133
In the Soviet Zone 139
Conclusion: The Peace of the Clerks? 141
Notes 143
Bibliography 145
Chapter Ten From Avant-Garde to Socialist Realism: Continuities and Discontinuities in Hungarian and Romanian Literature 147
The Status of the Avant-Garde and Socialist Realism in the Romanian and Hungarian Contexts 147
Shifting Concepts, Conceptual Shifting 151
Three Stages of the Shifts between the Avant-Garde and ‘Socialist’ Literature 152
Basic Characteristics of the Shifts 152
1922: Shifts in the Hungarian Avant-Garde in Exile 153
1932: The Bucharest Surrealists Turn to Proletarian Literature 157
1948 and After: The Silenced Avant-Garde 160
Towards Some Conclusions 162
Notes 163
Bibliography 164
Chapter Eleven The Short Life of Socialist Realism in Croatian Literature, 1945–55 165
Introduction 165
Sovietization – a Death Sentence to Croatian Literature? 166
Agitprop 167
Glorification 168
Censorship 169
Publishing and Translation 170
Literary Strategies of Sovietization: Sovietization as Technique 171
Miroslav Krleža’s ‘No’ to Socialist Realism 175
Croatian Literature between East and West 178
Westernization 178
Conclusion 179
Notes 180
Bibliography 180
Chapter Twelve Literature in Socialist Yugoslavia: Constructing Collective Memory, Institutionalizing the Cultural Field 183
Yugoslavia: A New Society 183
The Function of Literature after 1945: To Be Socialist and Yugoslav 184
Creating Narratives of National Memory 189
Narrative Breakdown in the 1980s 193
Notes 196
Bibliography 197
Chapter Thirteen ‘Yesterday And Tomorrow’: the Forms of the Slovak Literature of Socialist Realism, 1945–56 199
The East or the West? Actualization of the Slavic and Avant-garde Traditions in Slovak Literature, 1945–49 199
Socialist Realism and the Mechanisms of Its Canonization in Slovak Literature after 1949 203
Genre and Poetological Configurations in Slovak Literature, 1945–56 207
Notes 213
Bibliography 216
Chapter Fourteen Socialist Or Realist: The Poetics Of Politics In Sovietized Hungary 217
Politics 217
The Three Great Debates 221
Politics and Aesthetics 227
Notes 231
Bibliography 233
Part 3 Discourses 235
Chapter Fifteen Introducing Socialist Realism In Hungary, 1945–51: How Politics Made Aesthetics 237
‘Freedom to Writers!’ 237
The Politics of ‘Doublespeak’ 239
Inventing a Domestic Tradition of Socialist Realism: Avant-gardism versus Peasant Sociography 242
An Increased Vigilance: Communist Cultural Politics in Transition 246
Striving for Unity in Culture and Politics 248
Socialist Realism without Lukács 252
Conclusion 253
Notes 254
Bibliography 256
Chapter Sixteen When writers turn against themselves: the soviet model... 261
The Beginning 261
Going Public 263
A Bulgarization of Sovietization: Practicing a Ritual, Developing a Genre 265
An Epilogue from the 1960s: The Decline of Public Repentance 276
Notes 277
Bibliography 278
Chapter Seventeen Big Brother’s Gravity: East European Literature In The Mirror Of Soviet 281
Notes 296
Bibliography 296
Chapter Eighteen The Coming One: Prolegomena To The Positive Hero Of Czech Socialist Realism... 297
Introduction: The Chosen Heirs of National Traditions 297
The Identity of the Coming One 301
The Ascetic, the Everyman, the Bogatyr, the Son, the Bureaucrat 304
The Ascetic Revolutionary 305
The Everyman 306
The Bogatyr 307
The Model Son 310
The Efficient Middle-Class Bureaucrat 313
Conclusion 314
Notes 316
Bibliography 317
Primary Sources 317
Secondary Sources 317
Chapter Nineteen Will Freedom Sing as Beautifully as Captives Sang About it? Reshaping the Croatian Canon, 1945–55 319
Notes 324
Bibliography 325
Chapter Twenty The Salon in the Camp: Friendship Societies and The Literary Public Sphere in The Sbz and The Early Gdr 327
Professional Friends and Amateur Salespeople 329
Propositions and Prepositions 330
Learning to Count (As If) 335
Notes 339
Bibliography 341
Primary Sources 341
Secondary Sources 341
Conclusion 343
Notes 347
Bibliography 347
End Matter 349
List of Contributors 349
Index 355