“ The Thaw ” ( )

Nikita Khrushchev General Secretary of CPSU

Destalinization… Prisoners released from the GULAGs Opening up the arts: film, poetry Reaching out to the third “non-aligned” world Building of houses, movie theatres USSR becomes a nuclear power

Waltzes Waltzes and poetry (Evtushenko)… Freedom within limits: jazz underground Boris Pasternak, author of Doctor Zhivago, forced to refuse Nobel Prize

The Denunciation of Stalin February 1956: 20 th congress of the Communist Party: secret speech denouncing Stalin Stalin removed from the Mausoleum Stalingrad becomes Volgograd Conservative faction plots against Khrushchev…

October-November1956: Budapest Russian tanks suppress uprising

The sputnik: 4 October 1957 The USSR leads in the space race…

The Cuban Revolution Fidel Castro takes power in 1959 Becomes an ally of the USSR October 1962 Cuban missile crisis

The Stalinists win 16 Oct Cuban missile crisis October 1964 Khrushchev removed from power – replaced by Leonid Brezhnev. Solzhenitsyn cannot print anything in the USSR Show trial of Joseph Brodsky.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Early years Studied mathematics at Rostov University Moscow Institute of Philosophy, Literature, and History During war becomes commander of artillery, twice decorated.

GULAG 9 February 1945 arrested eight-year term in various GULAGs internal exile “for life” in Kazahkstanю Taught mathematics and physics in schools Successfully treated for cancer in Tashkent released from exile, returns to European Russia.

Print at last nd Communist party congress Solzhenitsyn's A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich published in literary journal Novy Mir, November Matriona's Home. January 1963.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn “Matryona’s Homestead” (1963 )

Socialist Realism: Meaning? Literature must be realistic (i.e., believable) and didactic. Appeal to the newly literate masses of workers and peasants. “Party-minded” (Marxist-Leninist) Optimistic – apotheosis at end, reflecting Marxist view of history.

Sotsrealism in literature “Bildungsroman” – about the education of an individual with whom the reader is supposed to identify. “young positive hero”of correct class background, i.e., son of worker, overcomes difficulties thanks to help of older Bolshevik, perhaps party member, triumphs over difficulties at the end and has his consciousness raised.

Questions to consider When are these events happening? What motifs do you find significant? Why? Is the story optimistic or pessimistic? What kind of picture do we get of the Russian countryside under communism? How important is the narrator telling the story? What values does the story reflect? Does the story hint at a political program for Russia?

Russian vs Soviet. Didacticism: returns to tradition of “critical realism” of Tolstoy, Turgenev of 19 th century Didactic – but anti-Soviet Tone of restrained irony

“Un-Socialist”Realism Pessimistic, treats two taboo themes: the state of the villages, and the GULAG Education of the narrator, hence the reader The final words sum up the moral Extols values of honesty, modesty, hard work – but in the “wrong” character

Nationalism vs internationalism Creating a Russian national myth as opposed to the Communist international myth The myth of the Russian narod: personified in the figure of Matriona… Critique of Soviet society: greed, hierarchy, corruption…

Social and Ecological disaster Image of village post-collectivization: decline, decay, arrogance of director. Linguistic decay of Russian language “khamstvo” with which Matriona is treated. Train and tractor destroy house: mechanization, progress vs traditional values.

Russian Nationalism Religion Morality Hard work The Russian language = a national ideological program for Russia

Questions What have you learned about Russia after Stalin from this reading? How is the story written: is it effective at conveying its message to the reader?