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.

Study on the export of Socialist Realism into Central and Eastern Europe after World War II.

About the Author

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.

Reviews

'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

Socialist Realism proves a useful resource for graduate students and scholars interested in Eastern Europe in the second half of the twentieth century from various perspectives-literary, historical, political, cultural and sociological-and it opens the way for new insights into a troubling era.'
- Corina L. Petrescu, 'Hungarian Cultural Studies'. 'e-Journal of the American Hungarian Educators Association', 12 (2019)

This comprehensive and well-organized volume edited by Evgeny Dobrenko and Natalia Jonsson-Skradol is a major new achievement in the study of both a single method by which literature is institutionalized and globalized and its lasting discourses. It is an achievement that builds on the strengths of Dobrenko and Thomas Lahusen's Socialist Realism Without Shores, the magisterial Sotsrealisticheskii kanon edited by Dobrenko with Hans Gunther, and A History of Russian Literary Theory and Criticism: The Soviet Age and Beyond edited by Dobrenko with Galin Tihanov, and also enter into an illuminating dialogue with Tihanov's award-winning The Birth and Death of Literary Theory: Regimes of Relevance in Russia and Beyond. This new collection features a skillfully arranged set of twenty detailed and lucid chapters by an international group of scholars - Slavonic and East European Review (vol.100, no.1, January 2022); Inessa Medzhibovskaya

Book Information
ISBN 9781783086979
Author Evgeny Dobrenko
Format Hardback
Page Count 372
Imprint Anthem Press
Publisher Anthem Press
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 153mm * 26mm