
Why are there few courses in Soviet literature at American universities? (2014) - lermontov
http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2014/07/03/thawing-out/
======
idlewords
I take issue with the premise of this article. I majored in Russian at a
liberal arts college; the standard practice (which was reflected at similar
schools) was to teach one survey course of 19th century literature, and one of
20th, both in translation. That way comp-lit students could take either
course. There's a canonical Golden Age (mid-19th century) and Silver Age
(early 20th) that is universally taught.

Stalin made life easier for Russian majors by effectively destroying the
intelligentsia by the 1930's, greatly reducing the amount of literature we had
to study.

------
ivanb
For those looking for a quality read of something Soviet I suggest Soviet
science fiction writers.

Take a look at works of Ivan Efremov, Alexander Kazantsev, Kir Bulychev.

Kazantsev is especially Soviet in the sense that he looked forward to the
worldwide communism and the greater good it would provide to humanity. Once
you get over the overabundance of "tovarisch" his works are truly epic, full
of adventures and immensely enjoyable to the former teenage me. "The
destruction of Faena" is easy to google. I don't know about any other English
translations.

For an easy way in read Bulychev's "Those Who Survive". Bulychev is famous for
writing SF books for children but this story is more than that. Read it.

I read just a couple of short stories of Ivan Efremov and I cannot say much
about him except for the fact that he has some highly regarded SF novels.

There are also Strugatsky brothers who I think are well known in the West.

Somehow I thought that Stanislaw Lem belongs to the list. His works felt
closer to Soviet SF than to the western SF. He was a brilliant Polish writer.

Want a good laugh? Read Ilf and Petrof's "The Twelve chairs".

As you see I am mostly a SF guy. I don't find the prose of the Soviet period
interesting maybe because it mostly covers the consequences of the wars and
revolutions that Russia had to go through. These events seemed to overshadow
everything else in the mind of a Soviet writer. If you want to read about the
heroism of the Soviet people during and after the WW2 and atrocities of the
revolutions there are a lot of books to chose. My grandmother lived through
the WW2 and read and reread the books about it many times.

As for the topic the West praises the works of art that depict only how tough
it is to be Russian and live in Soviet Russia. Who wants to intentionally read
and study propaganda and counterpropaganda anyway?

~~~
nationcrafting
Re: Stanislaw Lem. You're right, he definitely feels like he belongs in the
Soviet writers context. You can tell the difference in culture, context,
commercial preoccupations, etc. when you compare Soderbergh's film version of
Solaris with Tarkovsky's version. Both films were enjoyable, of course, but
Tarkovsky was much closer to the depth of the book.

~~~
gambiting
Lem's "Invincible" is my favourite book of all time. It's very hard to buy it
for my English friends though, as the only translation seems to be from
German(already a translation)->English from 1971, so it's not ideal.

------
DenisM
Salient point:

 _All of the professors with whom I corresponded said that universities were
full to the brim with Soviet literature courses in the sixties, but interest
took a nose dive once Russia ceased to be the Evil Empire. Priscilla Meyer, of
Wesleyan University, told me that enrollment in Russian courses has decreased
by 40 percent since 1991, with a particular hit in the Soviet department._

------
shalmanese
I was born in China but grew up in Australia until I was 21 when I moved to
the US. What I found that surprised me was all of the white people I kept
meeting in the US who were totally conversationally fluent in Mandarin.
Australia as a culture always felt like it had much closer ties to China and
Chinese culture was much more integrated into mainstream Australia culture
than when I lived in Seattle or SF.

Still, I maybe met 2 people my entire time growing up that were had any
proficiency in Mandarin vs over a dozen in my time in the US who were
conversationally fluent (and who didn't have Chinese wives or girlfriends or
any other exogenous reason for learning it). In contrast, for white people in
Australia, conversational fluency in Thai or Indonesian seemed abnormally
common.

There are some things about the US that are hard to realize if you've grown up
here. America is a much more business focused and entrepreneurial/private
market minded kind of place and it's a dominant lens through which to view the
world. It's hard to put into words exactly what it is but the last time I had
that "only in America" feeling was seeing this sign on a coin op telescope on
the top of Twin Peaks: [http://imgur.com/AaD1mk5](http://imgur.com/AaD1mk5)

~~~
omonra
I'm curious - why would Australians learn Mandarin (if not for exogenous
reasons - such as family relations or business opportunities)?

~~~
frandroid
China is one of Australia's largest trading partners, due to China's
proximity, size and growing need for minerals, which Australia has in spades.
China is the dominant player in East Asia, which is the region closest to
Australia. China also has a diaspora throughout the regional that's
disproportionally represented in trade and business, so even if you were
setting your sights on doing business in say, Indonesia, you might be dealing
with a lot of Chinese people.

~~~
seanmcdirmid
Indonesia has a large Chinese population of course, and they tend to do more
business. Same with Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines, ...

------
jeffreyrogers
Probably the biggest reasons are that Russia doesn't have as much appeal to
American college students (unlike say France or Germany) because the country
is seen as dysfunctional. And unlike Chinese or Arabic, Americans don't see
much financial opportunity in learning to speak Russian.

~~~
hnnewguy
> _because the country is seen as dysfunctional_

All the more reason to study their literature.

~~~
VLM
Aside from "serious literature struggle" a nation that liked catch-22 and
stuff like that would dig "Monday begins on Saturday". Its been out of print
forever (in english), used copies sell for $50 on amazon.

Something to think about with "failed markets" is when you only have a
microscopic hyper regulated oligopoly you can end up with tons of demand but
if the small number of providers close ranks and refuse to sell that kind of
stuff, well... doesn't matter if used or bootleg copies indicate market demand
at $50, the general public simply will not be permitted to read. Its very much
like recording company execs as gatekeepers, if you disagree with them well
tough cookies you aren't going to hear what you want.

I suffered thru about half of "The Idiot" before I gave up, and I almost never
give up on books, but Russia is really big and not all russian lit is like
that (although there is a lot of old russian lit that obviously was paid for
on a "per word" contract)

~~~
selimthegrim
In Powell's in Portland, I have seen out-of-print old translations and
original Russian copies of Monday begins on Saturday. Maybe try their website?

------
616c
What cracks me up about the main conclusion of this piece, that once foreign
culture X loses its edge as an enemy, the well dries up, has an interesting
counterpoint in Arabic language literature.

I will not debate the enemy thing, but the perception is there, with centuries
of making literature from the region even more exotic prior thanks to
orientalism, and yet there are less than a dozen American uni profs I can name
that specialize in Arab literature that are not in fact Arab literateurs that
make a living out of their profession/hobby (many write literature themselves,
and the community is small and self-feeding).

And yet, you would think people care. But as a former Arabic language major,
the amount of interest in learning Arabic while totally circumscrbing the
obvious cultural and literary component is hilariously omni-present with the
gaggles of wannabe intelligence officers.

I can go on and on, but is nice to see the USSR counterpoint.

~~~
anigbrowl
That seems pretty counter-productive. Learning the language without learning
any of the literary/cultural component means missing out on the idiomatic
dimension of written communication and falling into the (apparently fairly
common) error of assuming one's strategic opponents think the same way as
oneself, tsuj a ni tnereffid egaugnal.

------
tuke
You ask about _literature_ specifically: Depends on what you're teaching. I
think novels like Cement and How the Steel was Tempered are hard sells in the
classroom. And Quiet Flows the Don is so long.

Having said that, a well-designed cultural studies course in literature,
painting, sculpture, film, and propaganda would be amazing, and I think would
be intellectually stimulating.

Maybe like this: [http://registrar.princeton.edu/course-
offerings/course_detai...](http://registrar.princeton.edu/course-
offerings/course_details.xml?courseid=006292&term=1154)

~~~
huhtenberg
"Cement" is so out there it reads like a farce.

My grandmother had one of the first editions and it was clearly meant for
people that were limited to the entry level school education, if that much.
The book was basically printed in large letters, the sentences was generally
short and the storyline was as flat as it was obvious. It's a "working man"
novel about "working man" subjects written in a "working man" language.
Propaganda all the way. It's certainly worth a read to get an idea of what the
early Soviet literature was like.

[1]
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cement_%28novel%29](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cement_%28novel%29)

~~~
ceasarby
"Cement" looks like an odd choice to me, it's not even in a school program in
Russia itself. Perhaps, they limited by the books translated into English..

~~~
tuke
I don't know why, but in my Soviet literature course in college (early 1980s)
we read Cement. Maybe it was on syllabi back then because there was also an
English translation. (Now that I look at Amazon, maybe there wasn't a
translation back then.)

~~~
ceasarby
I was born and raised in Belarus and all these books: Evgeny Zamyatin, We
Mikhail Bulgakov, Heart of a Dog Andrei Platonov, Foundation Pit Alexander
Solzhenitsyn, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich Valentin Rasputin,
Farewell to Matyora

were in high school program for Russian Literature in 10-11th grades.

Except for "Fyodor Gladkov, Cement". Never heard of it until today, had to
look it up. Appears that this writer was in his prime in Stalin's times.
Without reading his books can't say it's 100% crap, but the fact that he
received 2 Stalin's Awards makes me think that the quality of literature there
is not that good and he was more ideologically right for the communists than
got recognition for writers talent.

You can check [http://www.briefly.ru/school/](http://www.briefly.ru/school/)
for list of mandatory Russian Literature for School Program. I'm sure, that
for Foreign reader it will be more than enough to start with these books
first, because they quality is tested by ages.

------
markvdb
Only vaguely related to the subject, a wonderful 10' fairytale film for the
kids, made in USSR:

Ezītis miglā (Hedgehog in the fog)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPS7tKJNj9M](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPS7tKJNj9M)
.

Enjoy!

~~~
fierycatnet
As a kid growing up in USSR I remember this cartoon, it was one of the most
dreadful cartoons they could show on TV.

~~~
markvdb
"Nu, Pogodi"
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8uFylzinW0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8uFylzinW0)
) is more popular I guess, but "Hedgehog in the fog" has its own kind of
charm...

~~~
paganel
As a Romanian who grew up in the '80s and '90s I also have to say that "Nu,
Pogodi" was very much liked in these parts of Europe. Bonus points for this
excellent Elektronika game on which I spent many, many hours as an 11-12 year
old:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGy14lwf_LQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGy14lwf_LQ)
.

Later edit: Damn it, because nostalgia has kicked in and we're talking about
Eastern European animation, I also have to give a big thumbs-up for the
Bulgarian National Television's opening sequence of its daily cartoon show
from back in the '80s-'90s, an example (of many) being this one:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YLmLx53ZvM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YLmLx53ZvM)
, the Polish Lolek and Bolek
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiiULpdnVrY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiiULpdnVrY))
and the Romanian Balanel and Miaunel
([https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_F2IVgjasc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_F2IVgjasc))

------
cafard
The lifeblood of departments is undergraduate enrollment. English departments
are or were huge because of the required composition and survey courses. When
there is a drop off in Russian language students, the graduate students and
the faculty diminish. The Cold War created a large demand for Russian
competence.

"writers like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky are part of a mainland tradition—it’s not
necessary to know much about the historical context of their era to understand
or appreciate their work, whereas the Soviet writers are completely steeped in
their historical setting."

I would question that. Tolstoy does write a lot of his historical context into
this work. But reading Dostoevsky without knowing something 19th Century
European thought seems a bit futile.

------
trhway
enemy -> attention (this is why Russia craving for yesterday level attention
today is so hard trying to pose as an enemy). Also add that 20th century had a
lot of immigrants from Russian Empire territories (Jews before WWI, Russian
aristocracy and just educated people running from Revolution, Jews and
dissidents after the WWII). And USSR with its communism looked like something
ahead, a next stage in progress forward.

That all has changed. Today in US it is absolutely not interesting to study
the self-reflections of people with too much time on their hands in a society
without opportunities and without good access to mental health professionals -
ie. Russian literature (as well as literature of almost any other culture -
because they pretty much all deep in the past and the issues they explore in
many cases has already been answered). US has moved past that. People like
Musk illustrate it - work, make money, improve and expand civilization. This
is why the only good writers in Russia since the space flights started have
been Strugatskies brothers - who explore the issues of such civilization
expansion and Pelevin - who explores absence of such expansion and the
resulting end-game of the above mentioned "self-reflection", ie. he finishes
what Dostoevsky/Chehov started.

~~~
emodendroket
Saying we don't need to read Russian literature because Elon Musk has answered
all the questions it asks seems like it could be a parody of HN comments.

~~~
reality_czech
That's true. Elon Musk didn't answer ALL the questions raised by Russian
literature. But Bitcoins and Angular.js answered the other half.

------
Animats
" _All of the professors with whom I corresponded said that universities were
full to the brim with Soviet literature courses in the sixties, but interest
took a nose dive once Russia ceased to be the Evil Empire._ "

Yes. After the Soviet Union went down, there was a sign at the Stanford
bookstore: "All Communism 70% off".

------
gumby
Is there a soviet equivalent of James Bond? I'd love to read some cold war spy
novels from the "other side"'s perspective.

------
marincounty
"American universities don’t teach Soviet literature because American students
show little interest in reading it. All of the professors with whom I
corresponded said that universities were full to the brim with Soviet
literature courses in the sixties, but interest took a nose dive once Russia
ceased to be the Evil Empire."

This is supposedly the reason? When I was in school, I was not required to
read any Russian Liturature. I didnt care at the time, I was working towards a
business degree, with a minor in biology. My writting skills, and use of the
English language was, and still is atrocious; I ended up taking most the
required English, and Literature courses my last semester.

My first introduction to Russian Liturature was years later. I checked out
Lolita by Valadimire Nabokov. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.
Well, after reading the book, I finally appreciated good writing. I found his
writing beautiful, and easy to read. I wonder why some of his work wasn't
required reading. I wish I was forced to read at least one of his books in
high school, or college.(I understand why a high school english teacher
wouldn't even mention Lolita. It wouldn't be worth the backlash, but his other
books are appropriate?).

As to why I wasn't introduced to any Russian Liturature, I always thought it
was due to the Mcarthy Era--where anything remotely related to
socialism/communism was career ending? And, professors remember what their
predecessors went through, and just decided it wasn't worth it. Stick with the
safe stuff politically? I assumed, today, Russian Literature, at least some
authors, were required reading in most American college Lit. departments? I
had no idea, the students were the one's whom showed no interest in Russian
literature? Are their any recent English, Lit. majors who would chime in? Just
curious to see If you agree with the author?

(Valadimire Nabrakov Lolita is one of his English novels. I always thought it
was translated. His first nine novels were in Russian.)

~~~
RobertKerans
To nitpick, Lolita is not Russian literature, it's English

~~~
swimfar
I had to look it up to see what you meant. You are referring to the fact that
the book was written in English. But would it not still be considered Russian
literature, at least in some sense? I mean, his "true" Russian works are still
considered Russian literature even when translated into English, so why would
a book by the same author not be considered Russian if he initially wrote it
in English? Or are all his books written after moving to the US considered to
be English literature? Would that be the case even if one was written in
Russian?

These are honest questions, I don't know (and had never thought about) how
literature is classified in this sense.

~~~
RobertKerans
As @gizmo says, he's a weird case. He's one of the best prose stylists in
English, his use of the language is incredible. But then at the same time he
wrote his first 9 novels in Russian, and translated his own English works back
into Russian, and into French. I'd classify a large chunk of his work as
English literature, but I can't comment on how he's viewed in Russia, or for
that matter in France, given several of his novels were written in the
language then translated.

