Generation Stalin traces Joseph Stalin's rise as a dominant figure in French political culture from the 1930s through the 1950s. Andrew Sobanet brings to light the crucial role French writers played in building Stalin's cult of personality and in disseminating Stalinist propaganda in the international Communist sphere, including within the USSR. Based on a wide array of sources-literary, cinematic, historical, and archival-Generation Stalin situates in a broad cultural context the work of the most prominent intellectuals affiliated with the French Communist Party, including Goncourt winner Henri Barbusse, Nobel laureate Romain Rolland, renowned poet Paul Eluard, and canonical literary figure Louis Aragon. Generation Stalin arrives at a pivotal moment, with the Stalin cult and elements of Stalinist ideology resurgent in twenty-first-century Russia and authoritarianism on the rise around the world.

About the Author

Andrew Sobanet teaches French literature, film, and culture at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He is author of Jail Sentences: Representing Prison in Twentieth-Century French Fiction and Associate Editor of Contemporary French Civilization.

Reviews

This is an outstanding work of intellectual history. . . . Highly recommended.

* Choice *

Generation Stalin offers a pathbreaking new perspective on an under-examined (or until now misexamined) convergence of twentieth-century French culture and politics.

* H-France *



Book Information
ISBN 9780253038210
Author Andrew Sobanet
Format Hardback
Page Count 312
Imprint Indiana University Press
Publisher Indiana University Press