После Сталина: позднесоветская субъективность (1953-1985)

Тhe papers included in this volume were first presented, in different form, at the conference “После Сталина: позднесоветская личность, 1953-1985 гг.,” at the European University at Saint Petersburg, April 25-26, 2014. The collection examines the post-Stalin fate of the Soviet project to create a “New Person.” It demonstrates that this project in fact became more important after Stalin, as the Soviet leadership sought mechanisms of control other than terror. This development led to the growth of the state and witnessed the emergence of a fascinating paradox: the post-Stalin subject, while enmeshed in stronger state institutions, became a more creative, autonomous agent. “После Сталина” argues that this new autonomy was a result not simply of the absence of terror, but of a historical conjuncture that privileged the new, the unofficial, and the unfinished, and phenomena such as youth, amateur performance, and the literary fragment. Contributors to the volume include historians, art historians, philosophers, sociologists, and literary scholars, from the United States, Canada, England, France, Belgium, and Russia.