Belomor : criminality and creativity in Stalin's Gulag / Julie Draskoczy.

By:

Draskoczy, Julie S [author.]

Material type: Text

text

Media type:

computer

Carrier type:

online resource

ISBN:

9781618112897
1618112899
9781618116949
1618116940

Subject(s): Genre/Form:

Additional physical formats: Print version:: BelomorDDC classification:

361.50621 23

LOC classification:

HV9712.5.P286 D73 2014eb

Online resources:

EBSCOhost

Contents:

Introduction: Born again: a new model of Soviet selfhood -- The factory of life -- The art of crime -- The symphony of labor -- The performance of identity -- The mapping of utopia.

Summary: "Containing analyses of everything from prisoner poetry to album covers, Belomor: Criminality and Creativity in Stalin's Gulag moves beyond the simplistic good/evil paradigm that often accompanies Gulag scholarship. While acknowledging the normative power of Stalinism--an ethos so hegemonic it wanted to harness the very mechanisms of inspiration--the volume also recognizes the various loopholes offered by artistic expression. Perhaps the most infamous project of Stalin's first Five-Year Plan, the Belomor construction was riddled by paradox, above all the fact that it created a major waterway that was too shallow for large crafts. Even more significant, and sinister, is that the project won the backing of famous creative luminaries who enthusiastically professed the doctrine of self-fashioning. Belomor complicates our understanding of the Gulag by looking at both prisoner motivation and official response from multiple angles, thereby offering a more expansive vision of the labor camp and its connection to Stalinism"--Back cover.Summary: This book analyzed everything from Gulag prisoners' poetry to album covers under Stalin's power, and the various loopholes offered by artistic expression. The author examined both prisoner motivation and official response from multiple angles, and offered a more expansive vision of the labor camp and its connection to Stalinism.

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Includes bibliographical references (pages 233-245) and index.

Introduction: Born again: a new model of Soviet selfhood -- The factory of life -- The art of crime -- The symphony of labor -- The performance of identity -- The mapping of utopia.

"Containing analyses of everything from prisoner poetry to album covers, Belomor: Criminality and Creativity in Stalin's Gulag moves beyond the simplistic good/evil paradigm that often accompanies Gulag scholarship. While acknowledging the normative power of Stalinism--an ethos so hegemonic it wanted to harness the very mechanisms of inspiration--the volume also recognizes the various loopholes offered by artistic expression. Perhaps the most infamous project of Stalin's first Five-Year Plan, the Belomor construction was riddled by paradox, above all the fact that it created a major waterway that was too shallow for large crafts. Even more significant, and sinister, is that the project won the backing of famous creative luminaries who enthusiastically professed the doctrine of self-fashioning. Belomor complicates our understanding of the Gulag by looking at both prisoner motivation and official response from multiple angles, thereby offering a more expansive vision of the labor camp and its connection to Stalinism"--Back cover.

This book analyzed everything from Gulag prisoners' poetry to album covers under Stalin's power, and the various loopholes offered by artistic expression. The author examined both prisoner motivation and official response from multiple angles, and offered a more expansive vision of the labor camp and its connection to Stalinism.