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"The Manuscripts Never Burn" Home
This website was composed by Samantha Michaels and Catherine Ahearn, two students currently attending Middlebury College. The research and conclusions available on the following pages are the result of a semester- long (12 week) cumulative project for a Russian Modernism class, given by Professor Thomas Beyer.
The topic of this project was chosen due to an interest both students share in observing the way in which political and societal change coincide, and the extent in which cultural products such as literature have a role in this change.
The 1980s in the Soviet Union--an era of cultural and spiritual revival--proves to be prime case- study, as new leadership, loosening censorship policies and liberal reforms precipitated an extraordinary surge of historical information and literary works throughout the nation. Although new masterpieces were slow in coming, the Russian people finally had access to a mass of previously-written and formerly-banned novels, short stories and poems, while journalists, the intelligentsia and other politically-minded individuals transformed newspapers like Moscow News and magazines such as The Soviet Life and Ogonek.
The Soviets began re-evaluating their pre-Soviet and Soviet past, learning to question the current state of Soviet affairs in the process. The result was an unprecedented forum for political and social discussion--an opportunity to publicly critique unjust policies and demand reform. This site aims to investigate the way in which literature prepared for, and facilitated both the political and societal changes of this time period. As was evident in the 1980s Soviet Union, the manuscripts never burn, and sometimes their words breed revolution.
The topic of this project was chosen due to an interest both students share in observing the way in which political and societal change coincide, and the extent in which cultural products such as literature have a role in this change.
The 1980s in the Soviet Union--an era of cultural and spiritual revival--proves to be prime case- study, as new leadership, loosening censorship policies and liberal reforms precipitated an extraordinary surge of historical information and literary works throughout the nation. Although new masterpieces were slow in coming, the Russian people finally had access to a mass of previously-written and formerly-banned novels, short stories and poems, while journalists, the intelligentsia and other politically-minded individuals transformed newspapers like Moscow News and magazines such as The Soviet Life and Ogonek.
The Soviets began re-evaluating their pre-Soviet and Soviet past, learning to question the current state of Soviet affairs in the process. The result was an unprecedented forum for political and social discussion--an opportunity to publicly critique unjust policies and demand reform. This site aims to investigate the way in which literature prepared for, and facilitated both the political and societal changes of this time period. As was evident in the 1980s Soviet Union, the manuscripts never burn, and sometimes their words breed revolution.
Click above to listen to some 1980s Russian music as you browse.
The song is "Derevyannye kostyumy, "by Vladimir Vysotsky. A
poet and musician, Vysotsky was a central figure in magnitizdat,
or the 1980s music underground in the Soviet Union which
recorded and distributed forbidden folk, rock, and jazz works.
The song is "Derevyannye kostyumy, "by Vladimir Vysotsky. A
poet and musician, Vysotsky was a central figure in magnitizdat,
or the 1980s music underground in the Soviet Union which
recorded and distributed forbidden folk, rock, and jazz works.
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CathySam |
Latest page update: made by CathySam
, May 4 2008, 4:43 PM EDT
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Keyword tags:
Glasnost
Lenin
Literature
Mikhail Gorbachev
Perestroika
Politics
Russia
Russian Literature
Society
Soviet Union
Stalin
The Manuscripts Never Burn
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