Russian Nationalism and the Politics of Soviet Literature: The Case of 'Nash sovremennik', 1981-91 by Simon Cosgrove (review)

Abstract

752 SEER, 84, 4, 2006 Cosgrove, Simon. Russian Nationalism andthePolitics ofSoviet Literature: TheCaseof 'Nashsovremennik', I98I-I. Studies in Russia and East Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstokeand New York, 2004. xii + 253 pp. Appendices. Notes. Bibliography.Index. ?5o.o?. THIS is a study of the political evolution of the Russian nationalist 'thick journal' Nashsovrernennik (Our Contemporary)during the period from February I98I to November i99i. It is not the first study of Russian nationalism in the late Soviet period, nor even of the politics of this particularjournal. Nevertheless, Simon Cosgrove does add new detail, depth and texture to our knowledge of the subject. In large degree this is because unlike earlier Westernresearchers he has not had to relyon publishedtextsalone but has been able to draw on revealinginterviewswith twenty-onewritersand editors who participateddirectlyin the events under study. In chapter one the author clarifiesthe concept of nationalism in general and of Russian nationalism in particular.In chapter two he focuses on the specific strandsof Russian nationalism that were most characteristicof Nash sovremennik. The central chapters (3-8) trace the development of the journal's ideological orientationwithin the broadercontext of Soviet politicsin six successive sub-periods of the final Soviet decade. Chapter nine presents somne concluding reflectionsin the provocativeform of seven 'paradoxes'of Russian nationalism:the anti-Communistideology adopted by self-proclaimedCommunists , the pro-imperialideology that hastened the end of the empire, the anti-Westernideology that helped make Russiamore likethe West, and so on. Here the authorextends his temporalhorizonsto cover the formativeyearsof the post-Soviet Russian Federation. I would venture to suggest, however, that Cosgrove's main contribution does not lie in the area of analysisof Russian nationalistideasas such. These ideas have been analysed by many investigatorsand were already quite well understood;what Cosgrove has to say about them does not strikeme as all that originalor penetrating.His book is valuable above all as a well-informed and in places fascinating case study of the process of late Soviet literaryand ideologicalpolitics -a processthatpreviouslywas much lesswell understood, at least by outsiders.From this point of view, the most importantpart of the book is the first appendix, which explains how editorial decisions at Na7sh sovremennik were reached and the relationships among the various players involved. Providence, RI STEPHEN D. SHENFIELD Hames, Peter. TheCzechoslovak New Wave.Second edition. Wallflower Press, London and New York, 2005. xi + 323 pp.Illustrations.Notes. Bibliography . Index. fI5.99 (paperback). WALLFLOWER PRESS is currentlyundertakingthe commendable task of reviving or, rather,promoting the studyof Centraland EasternEuropeancinema, with the publication of monographs on Emir Kusturica (writtenby Goran Gocic); Polish cinema (by Paul Coates); Krzysztof Kieslowski (by Marek ...