The Impact of Deconstruction on the Lithuanian Literary Criticism

In the article I discuss how deconstruction (Jacques Derrida and other Yale School participants) came to Lithuanian literary criticism and how it changed habits of humanitarian thinking during the three decades after independence. The most unusual and radical deconstruction critique of essentialist metaphysical thinking, new terminology (inter-text, elimination of center, footprint, writing, difference, blinding, labyrinth narrative, guest / enemy, etc.) and new strategies for interpreting texts were very important for Lithuanian humanities liberated from Soviet ideology. Literary critics have noticed and discussed the undoubted connection between postmodernist literature and its deconstructive reading.We can find three tendencies in the deconstructive criticism of Lithuanian literature. The first tendency is the interpretation of general theoretical concepts of deconstruction, second tendency - searching the deconstructive features in literary works and the third tendency of criticism, expanding its own self-criticism and self-irony, is discussing chrestomathic and structuralist interpretations of the literary works or deconstructing icons of Soviet culture. We know very well, that many feminist, postcolonial, historiographic, anthropological, or interdisciplinary researches of literature cannot escape the effects of deconstruction.

Paradoxes of the 30s Soviet Discourse: From the Biblical Metaphor to the Ideology Representation of the Leader

The study first raised the question of using biblical metaphors in the process of establishing Soviet ideology and creating a cult of the leader of the Soviet people. Authors tested the story “Blizzard” by Georgian writer Shalva Dadiani in the context of Georgian cultural mentality and studied the ideology function of the biblical metaphor “The Pillar of Light” in the discourse of Georgian Soviet prose. An analysis of the text proved that in Georgian culture, the basic concepts-metaphors of Christian Doctrine were an effective weapon of Soviet propaganda. At Bible the “The Pillar of Fire”, “The Pillar of Cloud” and “The Pillar of Light” are theophany – the manifestations of the presence of the God. The biblical metaphor transformed into an ideology representation of the Soviet Leader and in the text of the Shalva Dadiani this is an allegory of the New Messiah – Stalin. As a result, with the help of biblical metaphors were formed a new ideological concept (the Soviet leader is the Messiah of the New Doctrine) and the new metaphorical model of Soviet reality. Thus, by transferring the basic values of the traditional Christian conceptual sphere to the Soviet ideological one, a new ideological concept is created and a new metaphorical model of Soviet reality is formed. This achieved a double goal: the inviolability of the Soviet ideologeme was confirmed on an emotional level, and at the same time the respect and trust in the Church that had been carried for many generations was undermined – it was transferred to the new teaching and its adherents.

VALUE DILEMMA: SOVIET IDEOLOGY AND MODERN CULTURE

This article describes the foundations of Soviet ideology, theoretical and practical layers of the concept of scientific atheism, solutions and principles of Bolshevik politics. This characteristic is a definition showing how and what ideological speculative methods were used in the field of Javitology, formulated on a scientific basis. The patterns of Soviet ideological interpretations of the doctrine, culture, heritage, path, philosophy, history are defined. The dilemma between the values of modern culture and Soviet scientific atheism was conducted on a philosophical level. And some kind of clairvoyant concept was used for anti-religious agitation groups in Soviet politics.

From Orthodox Messianism to the Doctrine of the "World Revolution": Continuity or a Radical Break with the Past?

In the 16th century, Moscow proclaimed itself to be the the third Rome and discovered the special way or Russian Orthodox Messianism doctrine. Since the mid-nineteenth century, the idea of Russia's unique global historical role went beyond exclusively church discussions, and the idea of Moscow as the Third Rome acquired an important place in the structure of imperial ideology. Even after a break with the past, after the 1917 October Revolution, the country did not abandon the idea of Messianism, which organically fitted into the structure of Soviet ideology. At the same time, reanimation of messianic moods was carried out here in the format of the doctrine of the World Republic of Soviets and/or World Revolution. Of course, some backbone elements of old Messianism underwent a significant transformation, which can hardly be called secularization. The purpose of this article is to show that the time 1917 mid-1930s may be described with the help of a peculiar dialectic, as the unity of a radical break with the past and the specifically manifested continuity with it. Subsequently, despite large-scale changes, the idea of the peculiarity of the Russian way, firstly in Soviet and then in Russian society, including the specific perception of its past, continued to remain an influential political brand. This kind of discourse should be considered highly archaic today; however, it does not become an attribute of the distant past, retaining the attractiveness and even acquiring state ideology.

Soviet pedagogues and teaching of foreign students: the experience of the Mongolian worker’s faculty

The subject of this research is examination of the activity of the Soviet pedagogues in teaching foreign students based on the materials of the Mongolian worker’s faculty. The object of this research is the Soviet-Mongolian cooperation in educational sphere that developed in the 1920s – 1930s. The Mongolian worker’s faculty was formed in Verkhne-Udinsk for teaching Mongolian and Tuvan students. It is noted that the academic staff was represented by the prominent pedagogues of the Buryat ASSR. The teaching of foreign students was carried out within the framework of international cooperation and allowed distributing Soviet ideology. The Mongolian People's Republic and Tuvan People's Republic viewed the USSR as the model for further development. The analysis of activity of the pedagogues of Mongolian worker’s faculty allowed reveals the key vectors of work with foreign students from the Mongolian People's Republic and the Tuvan People's Republic. Besides intense educational and upbringing activity, the teaching staff paid special attention to the adaptation of students and formation of worldview in the spirit of socialist values. The authors’ special contribution lies in determination of the peculiarities of organizing political and educational activity in the institution. The novelty of this consists in examination of the contribution of the pedagogues of the Mongolian worker’s faculty to the establishment of friendly relations with the neighboring states – Mongolia and Tuva.

Arno Babajanian: “Radicalisms” of the 1960s

Пришедшие в отечественную музыку в 1960-е годы западные новации были встречены бурной критикой со стороны хранителей «чистоты» советского искусства. Композиторы и их сочинения, созданные с применением новых техник, рассматривались как идеологически опасные. Однако творческие эксперименты некоторых авторов получили официальное одобрение. Среди них был А. Бабаджанян, который в равной степени уловил модные тенденции времени как в сфере академической музыки (додекафония в «Шести картинах»), так и в сфере массовой эстрадной песни (твисты «Королева красоты» и «Лучший город земли»). В статье анализируются его новации в обеих областях. Western innovations that came to Soviet music in 1960s were met with harsh criticism from the guardians of the “purity” of Soviet art. Composers and their works, which were created using avant-garde techniques, were considered as dangerous for soviet ideoLogy. However, creative experiments of some authors have received approval Among them was A. Babajanian, who picked up the modern tendencies both in the academic music (dodecaphony in “Six Pictures”) and mass pop song (twists “KoroLeva krasoty” and “Luchshiy gorod zemLi”). His innovations in these two areas are anaLyzed in the articLe.

Transformation of the “Soviet Ideology” in the Discursive Practices of the Russian Government

The article examines the trajectory of changes in the post-Soviet period in the ideological complex, which was called “Soviet ideology” in the “late” USSR. The theoretical and methodological frame work of the analysis consists of the theory of political regimes, as well as elements of the theory of ideologies and the theory of political discourse. The features and peculiarities of the “Soviet ideology” in the conditions of the “post-totalitarian” political regime in the “late” USSR, which led to its weakening and decline after the collapse of the Soviet regime, are investigated. Under the conditions of the post-Soviet political regime in Russia, the “Soviet ideology” disintegrated into an ideological component (the basis of the ideology of post-Soviet communist parties) and a political-cultural component (the pattern of post-Soviet political culture). Both components created a specific problem of relations with these phenomena for the ruling power. The study of the discourse of power on the subject of “Soviet ideology” (conducted mainly on the material of speeches and statements of the presidents of the Russian Federation) allowed us to identify three successive discursive strategies of such relations: the strategy of “struggle”, the strategy of “adaptation” and the strategy of “selective use”. The last of them was used in the 2010s in the conditions of consolidation of the authoritarian political regime. It made it possible to selective lyinclude the legacy of “Soviet ideology” in the ideological complex of the ruling regime, which is characterized by the use of not full-fledged political ideologies, but “identitarian narratives” that allow the inclusion of heterogeneous elements of ethno cultural, historical, religious, etc. traditions. Comparative studies also show that the orientation in the ideological sphere to such “identitarian narratives” is a characteristic trend of modern neo-autocracies.

Epic Novel: to the problem of liberating terms from pseudo-meanings

The article examines the concept of an epic novel – a special historical genre phenomenon that arose as a result of the successful implementation by Russian classics of the second half of the 19th century. The author discusses the pseudo-names that appeared in Soviet literary criticism due to its politicisation and ideologisation back in the 1920s –30s and she shows that the terms of epic novel and epopee novel were used at the indicated time for the sake of the Communist party tasks, but contrary to their true meanings. As noted in the article, this required a rejection of the traditions of Russian classical literature, a rejection of the genetic memory of the universal vision of the world and human inherent in the epic novel. Analytical comprehension of the polemics of literary critics of different generations made it possible to show that a number of researchers who rightly saw the problem, forgot to “rehabilitate” the above concepts and transferred the line of denial of Soviet ideology to the terms themselves. The author of the article explains the importance of using the concept of an epic novel in its true meaning, in relation to the voluminous works of Russian classical literature.

Private Spheres

Based on a series of interviews with 38 British and Dutch cradle communists who participated in an oral history project about communist family life, this chapter explores communist home life and focuses on participants’ political and cultural upbringing. It shows the more practical ways in which family time was structured, before discussing parental prescriptions and aspirations. What kind of parents did Communist Party members want to be and were they inspired by Soviet ideology? Were their aspirations fundamentally different from those of non-communist working-class parents? Searching for answers to these questions, this chapter maps the theory and practice of a communist upbringing and examines the considerable contrast between the two. It specifically looks at gender roles, sexuality, pedagogical values, and morality.

The Postcolonial Nature of the Post-Soviet Space: a reading of the cultural condition of Albania

Postcolonialism has always concerned itself with the conditions in former colonies of European maritime empires. However, based on current frameworks defining imperialism and the post-colonial condition, the erstwhile Soviet Union could be classified as a colonial power. Its aggressive annexation of nations and paranoid control of information and education systems are reflective of colonial practices. Nevertheless, the Eurocentrism inherent in the culture of its former members prevents them from acknowledging their postcoloniality. Albania is one such nation. Not only was it a province of the Ottoman Empire for centuries but also a satellite state of the Soviet Union. Although Albania broke away from the USSR in the 1960s, it remained under the aegis of Soviet ideology as its nationalist dictator Enver Hoxha was a staunch Stalinist. This created unique cultural conditions which eminent Albanian writers like Ismail Kadare could not help but represent in their works. The post-Soviet space, including Albania, shows a number of symptoms of postcoloniality which are a direct consequence of Soviet imperialism. This paper will explore the postcoloniality of the post-Soviet space and analyse its symptoms in Stalinist Albania. In this context, it will also briefly examine the orientalist frameworks often employed by the West in its dealings with the ambiguous Europeanness of East and Central European nations.