Soviet Culture, Above and Below Ground

This interdisciplinary survey explores Soviet literature, art, theater, and film after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. We will explore the works of avant-garde authors and artists, official writers and painters, authors who wrote "for the desk drawer", and those whose creative works were circulated in the underground. In our analysis of Soviet artistic production, we will focus on major cultural topics in and around the increasing pressure of shifting political landscapes, ideology, propaganda, the publishing market, and the role of the writer in society.