Epic Revisionism: Russian History and Literature as Stalinist Propaganda [Paperback]

Focusing on a number of historical and literary personalities who were regarded with disdain in the aftermath of the 1917 revolution—figures such as Peter the Great, Ivan the Terrible, Alexander Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, and Mikhail Lermontov—Epic Revisionismtells the fascinating story of these individuals’ return to canonical status during the darkest days of the Stalin era.

An inherently interdisciplinary project,Epic Revisionismfeatures pieces on literary and cultural history, film, opera, and theater. This volume pairs scholarly essays with selections drawn from Stalin-era primary sources—newspaper articles, unpublished archival documents, short stories—to provide students and specialists with the richest possible understanding of this understudied phenomenon in modern Russian history.

“Two excellent scholars, with original, conceptual minds, have undertaken the investigation of historical revisionism in the Stalin years to demonstrate the effectiveness and limitations of a state project of legitimation. One a historian and the other a literary critic, Platt and Brandenberger have collected first-rate contributors and produced a coherent and powerful volume that amplifies what we know about the uses and abuses of history in the Soviet 1930s.”—Ronald Grigor Suny, University of Chicago“This stimulating potpourri of essays and documents about the portrayal of historical and literary figures in the Stalin era will be a boon to graduate students and a delight to aficionados of Soviet culture. Platt and Bradenberger have performed a service to the profession.”—Jeffrey Brooks, John Hopkins University