Description
Stalin's reign of terror was not all doom and gloom, much of it was (meant to be) funny! From comedy films to satirical theatre, from caricature to court speeches, and from Stalin's own writings to bawdy folk songs, humour pervaded the popular culture of the USSR. Until now, conventional wisdom has held that humour was a hallmark of the subversive, but in State Laughter Dobrenko and Jonsson-Skradol do away with that notion. Instead, tracing the development of official humour, satire, and comedy from the revolution through to the 1950s, they explore how and why laughter was a core component of the survival of the Soviet regime. Grounded in Soviet intellectual and cultural history, State Laughter offers the first comprehensive analysis of state-sponsored popular culture in Stalin's Soviet Union.
About the Author
Evgeny Dobrenko is Professor of Russian Studies at Ca' Foscari University. He has previously held posts across the, then, Soviet Union, the USA, and the UK, including, among others, the Moscow and Odessa State Universities, Stanford, Amherst, and the University of California. Over his career he has authored, edited and co-edited some 20 books and more than 250 articles and essays on Soviet and post-Soviet literature and culture, Stalinism, Socialist Realism, Soviet national literatures, Russian and Soviet film, critical theory, and Soviet cultural history. Natalia Jonsson-Skradol has published over 20 articles on functions and uses of language in oppressive regimes. Her work has appeared in Slavic Review, Utopian Studies, Slavonic and East European Review, German Quarterly and in other academic publications. She has lived and worked in Israel, Germany, Austria, and the UK.
Reviews
Broadly interdisciplinary and replete with nuanced insights into Stalin-era comedic practices, discourses, and genres, Dobrenko and Jonsson-Skradol's gripping volume offers new perspectives on humor under totalitarianism. This empirically-rich, theoretically-informed, and carefully documented study is bound to appeal to a wide range of scholars and students of Soviet history, literature, and culture. * Olga Mesropova, Russian Review *
This book opens up new ways of examining Soviet culture by moving away from reductive narratives in which Soviet jokes always belonged to dissidents' efforts to resist Stalinist totalitarianism. The emphasis on state-sanctioned laughter in Stalinist culture contributes not only to cultural studies of laughter in general but also benefits the understanding of Soviet culture and Soviet subjectivity in general. Most importantly, the methodology developed in this book could further inspire scholars studying cultures and politics of other communist states to explore the formation and transformation of the comic in official narratives. * Yejun Zou, Europe-Asia Studies *
This new volume is the first to offer a comprehensive exploration of how Stalin's regime understood, attempted to control, and ultimately wielded humour as a (usually blunt-force) tool to engineer utopia. The authors (Dobrenko,Skradol) place their study in direct opposition to the two principal claims that long permeated both emigre accounts and the historiography. * Jonathan Waterlow, Modern Language Review *
State Laughter should be considered a must-read for anyone interested in Soviet mass culture under Stalin. * David Brandenberger, Ab Imperio *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198840411
Author Evgeny Dobrenko
Format Hardback
Page Count 448
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 812g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 165mm * 33mm
About the Author
Evgeny Dobrenko is Professor of Russian Studies at Ca' Foscari University. He has previously held posts across the, then, Soviet Union, the USA, and the UK, including, among others, the Moscow and Odessa State Universities, Stanford, Amherst, and the University of California. Over his career he has authored, edited and co-edited some 20 books and more than 250 articles and essays on Soviet and post-Soviet literature and culture, Stalinism, Socialist Realism, Soviet national literatures, Russian and Soviet film, critical theory, and Soviet cultural history. Natalia Jonsson-Skradol has published over 20 articles on functions and uses of language in oppressive regimes. Her work has appeared in Slavic Review, Utopian Studies, Slavonic and East European Review, German Quarterly and in other academic publications. She has lived and worked in Israel, Germany, Austria, and the UK.
Reviews
Broadly interdisciplinary and replete with nuanced insights into Stalin-era comedic practices, discourses, and genres, Dobrenko and Jonsson-Skradol's gripping volume offers new perspectives on humor under totalitarianism. This empirically-rich, theoretically-informed, and carefully documented study is bound to appeal to a wide range of scholars and students of Soviet history, literature, and culture. * Olga Mesropova, Russian Review *
This book opens up new ways of examining Soviet culture by moving away from reductive narratives in which Soviet jokes always belonged to dissidents' efforts to resist Stalinist totalitarianism. The emphasis on state-sanctioned laughter in Stalinist culture contributes not only to cultural studies of laughter in general but also benefits the understanding of Soviet culture and Soviet subjectivity in general. Most importantly, the methodology developed in this book could further inspire scholars studying cultures and politics of other communist states to explore the formation and transformation of the comic in official narratives. * Yejun Zou, Europe-Asia Studies *
This new volume is the first to offer a comprehensive exploration of how Stalin's regime understood, attempted to control, and ultimately wielded humour as a (usually blunt-force) tool to engineer utopia. The authors (Dobrenko,Skradol) place their study in direct opposition to the two principal claims that long permeated both emigre accounts and the historiography. * Jonathan Waterlow, Modern Language Review *
State Laughter should be considered a must-read for anyone interested in Soviet mass culture under Stalin. * David Brandenberger, Ab Imperio *
Book Information
ISBN 9780198840411
Author Evgeny Dobrenko
Format Hardback
Page Count 448
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 812g
Dimensions(mm) 240mm * 165mm * 33mm
