In Stalin's Time: Middleclass Values in Soviet Fiction

321 Pages·1990·5.143 MB·English

by  Vera S. Dunham

In Stalin’s Time
Middleclass Values in Soviet Fiction
Stadles of the H arrima* Institute
Columbia University
Founded as the Russian Institute in 1946,
the W. Averell Harri man Institute for Ad­
vanced Study of the Soviet Union is the
oldest research institution of its kind in
the United States. The book series Studies
of the Harr mum Institute, begun in 1953,
helps bring to a wider audience some of
the work conducted under its auspices by
professors, degree candidates, and visiting
fellows. The faculty of the Institute, with­
out necessarily agreeing with the conclu­
sions reached in these books, believes their
publication will contribute to both scholar­
ship and a greater public understanding of
the Soviet Union.
In Stalin’s Time
Middledass Values in Soviet Fiction
V E R A S. D U N H A M Enlarged and Updated Edition
With a new Introduction by Richard Sheldon
Introduction to the first edition by Jerry F. Hough
DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Durham and London 1990
© 1990 Duke University Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
on add-free paper «
Originally published in 1976 by
Cambridge University Press
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publicarion data
appear on the last printed page of this book.
To the memory of my husband
H. Warren Dunham

Introduction to enlarged and updated edition xi
Preface xxv
Note of thanks xxvi
Introduction to first edition xxvii
PART ONE Finding the Big Deal
1 The Big Deal 3
It did not crumble 3
The Front 5
Postwar challenge 11
Conversion of public values 15
Meshchanstvo and intelligentsia with a note on kultumost 19
2 The uses of literature 24
Literature and society 24
Middlebrow fiction 28
Looking for clues 33
PART TWO Middleclass culture
3 Possessions 41
Artifacts 41
Who is against middleclass objects? 52
Who wins what? 55
4 New protagonists 59
Road to Life 59
Pronouns in transition 67
Truth in trouble 74
viii Contents
Young people quarrel 79
Jaded people adjust 84
5 Status 87
The ways of a scoundrel 87
New child rearing 91
Status and love 96
What became of the simple worker? 104
6 Parasites and builders 110
Untouched 110
Reluctant bricklayers 116
A residue to reckon with 121
Fighting achievers 124
7 Twin roots of meshchanstvo 129
PART THREE Partners at work
8 Comrade Chameleon 137
Comrades Wholesale and Retail 137
Myopia 141
Learning is forever 143
The seraphic comrade 150
Comrade Perfect 154
9 Producers 157
Nomadic management 157
The golden calf 160
Perfectionism 163
My plant 167
Exegesis on proper interaction 171
Medals on a broad chest 176
PART FOUR Obstacles and adaptations
10 Defective party partners 187
Difficulties 187
Outdated convictions 188
Talmudism 190
11 Professionals make trouble 194
Dr. Ulcer 194
Cooled-off engineer 196
Melancholic bungler 199
Diesel engine addiction 201
12 Professors talk back 205
Old Fox 205
Contents ix
Labels 207
The right to err 210
13 Women’s Liberation confused 214
Off the track 214
Surtax on equality 220
14 Populist pressure 225
Rural quilt 225
Stalinism in populist guise 228
Near-populist Hamlet 231
The improbable agronomist 234
New Tidings: An explorer 239
Postscriptum: From fear to envy 241
Postscript II 251
Notes 256
Bibliographical note 280
Index 284