Thirty years after the fall of the Soviet Union, the 1917 Revolution still looms large: not only because Russians remain divided over whether the revolution arrived forcibly or inevitably and whether it was a colossally tragic or colossally generative event, but also because its social, cultural, scientific, and even moral residues remain everywhere in Putin's Russia.

Revolutionary Aftereffects looks at the ways in which 1917 has been and continues to be commemorated in Russia. Although post-Soviet Russia has emphasized its complete break with the past, this study of the memorialization and legacy of 1917 explores a fundamental continuity underlying an apparent discourse of discontinuity in post-socialist Russia. Contributors provide insight into the continuing reverberations of the revolution from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, including history and literary studies as well as heritage studies, anthropology, geography, and sociology. Collectively, these essays demonstrate the changing nature of the revolution's memorialization in the Soviet Union and post-Soviet Russia and the ambivalence and contradictions within those narratives.

About the Author
Megan Swift is an associate professor in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies at the University of Victoria.

Reviews

"The disciplinary breadth of Revolutionary Aftereffects provides a compelling set of entryways into the interesting question of what might constitute a useable Bolshevik and Soviet past that could renovate national memory in contemporary Russia."

-- David Fisher, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley * The Russian Review *
"Essential reading for academics interested in Russia's past and present." -- Elizabeth White, University of West England * Slavic Review *



Book Information
ISBN 9781487529567
Author Megan Swift
Format Hardback
Page Count 260
Imprint University of Toronto Press
Publisher University of Toronto Press
Weight(grams) 440g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 159mm * 24mm