Wonderlands of the Avant-Garde

Erscheinungsjahr 2013
ISBN: 978-0-8101-2894-1
Verlag: Northwestern University Press

Buch, Englisch, 312 Seiten, Hardback, Format (B × H): 164 mm x 239 mm, Gewicht: 594 g

Reihe: Studies in Russian Literature and Theory

In postrevolutionary Russia, as the Soviet government was initiating a program of rapid industrialisation, avant-garde artists declared their intent to serve the nascent state and to transform life in accordance with their aesthetic designs. In spite of their professed utilitarianism, however, most avant-gardists created works that can hardly be regarded as practical instruments of societal transformation. <br><br>Exploring this paradox, Vaingurt claims that the artists’ investment of technology with aesthetics prevented their creations from being fully conscripted into the arsenal of political hegemony. The purposes of avant-garde technologies, she contends, are contemplative rather than constructive. <br><br>Looking at Meyerhold’s theater, Tatlin’s and Khlebnikov’s architectural designs, Mayakovsky’s writings, and other works from the period, Vaingurt offers an innovative reading of an exceptionally complex moment in the formation of Soviet culture.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Vaingurt, Julia

Über Autor(innen)

<strong>Julia Vaingurt</strong> is an assistant professor in the Department of Slavic and Baltic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.