Customer Reviews

Russian Popular Culture: Entertainment and Society since 1900 (Cambridge Russian Paperbacks)

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In an otherwise detailed account, questions remain about what wasn't included, and the extent to which this material lived in "popular culture." One thinks, for example, of the film "Repentance," which, when Gorbaschev allowed its release, had the whole country walking around in a daze for months. And where do underground classics like "Master and Marguerita" sit? We're left with some ambiguity.

The book's story ends around 1990, when the Soviet Union collapsed. In that sense, even the last section reads as from another time. Largely, thus, the book is an account of Soviet propaganda. Describing the various media campaigns instituted by the Kremlin to mobilise public opinion. We see how in the desperate years of World War 2, that appeals to Rodina were used, as a traditional rallying point.

There is some account of independent cultural activities. Very little operating space was permitted for these by the authorities. Until the 80s and perestroika and glasnost arose.

Surprisingly, the index omits any mention of samizdat. Yet this was the hallmark of much dissident actions.