How Nauchnaia Fantastika Was Made: The Debates about the Genre of Science Fiction from NEP to High Stalinism

Slavic Review ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 224-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Schwartz
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Popular Literature ◽  
Social Progress ◽  
Soviet Science ◽  
Literary Politics ◽  
History Of ◽  
Soviet Science Fiction

Based on a detailed analysis of published and unpublished sources, Matthias Schwartz reconstructs the making of Soviet science fiction in the cultural context of Soviet literary politics. Beginning in the 1920s, nauchnaia fantastika (scientific fantasy) became one of the most popular forms of light fiction, though literary critics and activists tended to dismiss it because of its origins in popular adventure, its ties to the so-called Pinkerton literature, and its ambiguous relationship to scientific inventions and social progress. Schwartz's analysis shows that even during high Stalinism, socialist realism's norms were far from being firmly established, but in the case of nauchnaia fantastika had to be constantly negotiated and reconstituted as fragile compromises involving different interest groups (literary politicians, writers, publishers, readers). A cultural history of Soviet science fiction also contributes to a better understanding of what people actually wanted to read and sheds new light on the question of how popular literature adapts to political changes and social destabilizations.

scholarly journals Introduction: From Nauchnaia Fantastika to Post-Soviet Dystopia

Slavic Review ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 72 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibelan Forrester ◽  
Yvonne Howell
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Literary History ◽  
Cultural Exchange ◽  
Technological Advancement ◽  
Soviet Science ◽  
The Future ◽  
History Of ◽  
Collective Imagination ◽  
Soviet Science Fiction

Science fiction is the genre that links our lives to the future: the faster the pace of scientific and technological advancement, the greater our awareness of what István Csicsery-Ronay called “the science-fictionality” of everyday life. The more we feel the effect of scientific and technological change on global flows of economic, social, and cultural exchange (not to mention the blurring of biological and environmental boundaries), the more we are drawn to a literature that Boris Strugatskii identified as “a description of the future, whose tentacles already reach into the present.“ It is hardly surprising that scholarly interest in Russian and Soviet science fiction has been growing in recent years, with an expanding roster of roundtables and panels exploring the topic at professional conferences. Why talk about Soviet science fiction? As the articles in this special thematic cluster suggest, science fiction functions more as a field of intersecting discourses than as a clearly delineated genre: for readers of Slavic Review, it is a genre that foregrounds the interdisciplinary connections between the history of Soviet science and technology, political and economic development, and social and literary history. Science fiction, in short, offers a way to read the history of the future, with texts selfconsciously oriented toward distant spatial and temporal horizons, even as they point insistently back to the foundational factors shaping the vectors of a society's collective imagination.

scholarly journals Da Zona enquanto espaço pregnante

Revista Prumo ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 124-137
Author(s):  
Lucas Gadelha Parente
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Key Words ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Social History ◽  
Urban Space ◽  
Soviet Science ◽  
Multiple Networks ◽  
Soviet Science Fiction

The present article results from research around the concept of Zone in what refers to a boundary, symbolic and urban space that activates multiple networks of meaning according to its use in social history, literature, cinema, urbanism and theory of art. Secondly, the text deals with the stalker as a character who traces the paths of the Zone. The article analyzes its emergence in Soviet science fiction, in modern cinema, and its unfolding in theoretical discussions, relating both to cyberspace and to a number of contemporary pedestrian practices. Key-Words: cyberspace; misery belt; science fiction; urbanism.

scholarly journals Citizen of the universe. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s cosmic philosophy and science fiction

2017 ◽  
pp. 335-360
Author(s):  
Piotr Klafkowski
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Soviet Science ◽  
Large School ◽  
Soviet Science Fiction ◽  
The Universe

The paper discusses Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s philosophy as it can be reconstructed from his writings of two kinds, the academic papers and the works generally, though not always correctly, classified as science fiction. It is stressed that Tsiolkovsky belongs to the large school of Russian philosophers known as the Cosmists, and he is placed within the group of 20th century academic-minded Cosmists. The first part of the paper reconstructs Tsiolkovsky’s cosmic philosophy on the basis of his philosophical works, which amount to half of his published works. The second part of the paper discusses all the works by Tsiolkovsky available in English under the science fiction label. The paper also contains comparisons of Tsiolkovsky’s views with the philosophicalreligious system propagated by Nicholas and Helena Roerich, known as Agni Yoga, and its ancient Indian roots. It is also mentioned that Tsiolkovsky played an important role in the development of the early Russian, or more properly Soviet, science fiction movies. The paper stresses that Tsiolkovsky always based his writings on solid scientific foundations, so that the label “science fiction” does not always apply to them.

The symbol of Saint Gióng and the Gióng festival in the historical context of Vietnam

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-45
Author(s):  
Hai Hong Dinh
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Cultural Context ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Core Element ◽  
Content Type ◽  
History Of ◽  
Gradual Transformation ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to trace the way in which a popular ritual became one of Vietnam’s most important festivals, elevated as a celebration of national heroism and charts its gradual transformation in modern society. Design/methodology/approach This research focuses on the combination of a fertility rite and narratives of St Gióng based on nationalism or heroism created a special festival reflecting many traditional cultural characteristics of Vietnam and the Việt people and the transformation of St Gióng from a mythological to a national symbol of heroism in anti-invader history was recorded in texts. Findings The paper casts light on the mythologization and historicization of St Gióng in Vietnam’s particular historical context by decoding the Gióng symbol as a core element of the folktales and myths about St Gióng to understand the formation and development of St Gióng in the cultural history of Vietnam. Research limitations/implications The paper is not exploring the Gióng symbol within a larger cultural context of nationalism and ethnosymbolic approach in a comparison of national symbolism and heroism. Practical implications The paper includes implications for advised scholars to conduct further exploration of the symbol and myth of not only St Gióng in Vietnam but also Kubera in India and Vaisravana in China to connect Kubera, Vaisravana and St Gióng under the connection of literal myth and heroic symbol. Social implications The paper shows how processes of historicizing myth and mythologizing history are important features of Vietnamese socio-historical research. Originality/value The paper shows how a fertility rite became a historical festival and the figure of St Gióng became a symbol of patriotic heroism.

Warriors of Steel: Representations of Machinery and Technology in British Heavy Metal of the 1980s

2021 ◽  
pp. 362-381
Author(s):  
A.S. Kolesnik ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Science Fiction ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Cultural Significance ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Fantastic ◽  
The Uk ◽  
And Behavior

The New Wave of British Heavy Metal is a remarkable phenomenon in British cultural history of the 1980s. Trying to identify themselves and to indicate their reaction to the social and political context in the UK, young musicians turned to the representation of fantastic worlds. The language of the “fantastic” in early British heavy metal was primarily associated with themes of mechanization, heroics, epics, mythology, fantasy and science fiction. The musical form was often emphatically epic and majestic, designed to create an audio picture to the lyrics. Visual representations — large-scale, spectacular, often theatrical live performances — played an important role in the representation of the “fantastic”. The semiotic element consisted of the signs and symbols of heavy metal (mascots, occult themes, mythological creatures, technocratic motives), which were reflected not only in the design of album covers and the metal bands names, but also in the clothes and behavior of musicians and their fans. The paper examines the specifics of the fantastic language of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands and, first of all, the representation of technogenic motives: how machines and robots were depicted, what techniques were used to create machine soundscapes, how this topic was played up within live performances, and finally, what cultural significance did references to machines and technology have.

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