Common Places: Mythologies of Everyday Life in Russia (Library of African Adventure; 3)

Boym provides a view of Russia that is historically informed, replete with unexpected detail, and stamped with authority. Alternating analysis with personal accounts of Russian life, she conveys the foreignness of Russia and examines its peculiar conceptions of private life and common good, of Culture and Trash, of sincerity and banality.

What is the real Russia? What is the relationship between national dreams and kitsch, between political and artistic utopia and everyday existence? Commonplaces of daily living would be perfect clues for those seeking to understand a culture. But all who write big books on Russian life confess their failure to get properly inside Russia, to understand its doublespeak.

Boym is a unique guide. A member of the last Soviet Generation, the Russian equivalent of our Generation X, she grew up in Leningrad and has lived in the West for the past thirteen years. Her book provides a view of Russia that is historically informed, replete with unexpected detail, and everywhere stamped with authority. Alternating analysis with personal accounts of Russian life, Boym conveys the foreignness of Russia and examines its peculiar conceptions of private life and common good, of Culture and Trash, of sincerity and banality. Armed with a Dictionary of Untranslatable Terms, we step around Uncle Fedia asleep in the hall, surrounded by a puddle of urine, and enter the Communal Apartment, the central exhibit of the book. It is the ruin of the communal utopia and a unique institution of Soviet daily life; a model Soviet home and a breeding ground for grassroots informants. Here, privacy is forbidden; here the inhabitants defiantly treasure their bits of domestic trash, targets of ideological campaigns for the transformation (perestroika) of everyday life.

Against the Russian and Soviet myths of national destiny, the trivial, the ordinary, even the trashy, take on a utopian dimension. Boym studies Russian culture in a broad sense of the word; she ranges from nineteenth- and twentieth-century intellectual thought to art and popular culture. With her we go walking in Moscow and Leningrad, eavesdrop on domestic life, and discover jokes, films, and TV programs. Boym then reflects on the 1991 coup that marked the end of the Soviet Union and evoked fin de siècle apocalyptic visions. The book ends with a poignant reflection on the nature of communal utopia and nostalgia, on homesickness and the sickness of being home.

Library Journal

Visitors and outsiders have long lamented that the real lives of Soviet citizens were hidden behind a veil of official rhetoric. The private self was kept separate from the public self as a sort of defensive or coping mechanism. Boym (humanities, Harvard), who was raised in Leningrad but has lived in the West for 13 years, analyzes the dichotomy between the common meeting places of public life and the no-places of private life and discerns a cultural tradition that still persists. Her themes are the communal apartment (which deprived all residents of a private life), graphomania (the compulsion to bad writing), and the spiritual self in Russian philosophy. Examples are drawn from film, literature, painting, and philosophy of the 19th and, primarily, 20th centuries. Appropriate for academic and specialized collections.-Marcia L. Sprules, Council of Foreign Relations Lib., New York

Alternating analysis with personal accounts of Russian life, this text on the "real Russia" conveys the foreignness of the nation and examines peculiar conceptions of private life and common good, of "culture" and "trash", of sincerity and banality. What is the "real Russia"? What is the relationship between national dreams and kitsch, between political and artistic utopia and everyday existence? Commonplaces of daily living would be perfect clues for those seeking to understand a culture. But all who write big books on Russian life confess their failure to get properly inside Russia, to understand its "doublespeak." Boym is a unique guide. A member of the last Soviet Generation, the Russian equivalent of our Generation X, she grew up in Leningrad and has lived in the West for the past thirteen years. Her book provides a view of Russia that is historically informed, replete with unexpected detail, and everywhere stamped with authority. Alternating analysis with personal accounts of Russian life, Boym conveys the foreignness of Russia and examines its peculiar conceptions of private life and common good, of Culture and Trash, of sincerity and banality. Armed with a Dictionary of Untranslatable Terms, we step around Uncle Fedia asleep in the hall, surrounded by a puddle of urine, and enter the Communal Apartment, the central exhibit of the book. It is the ruin of the communal utopia and a unique institution of Soviet daily life; a model Soviet home and a breeding ground for grassroots informants. Here, privacy is forbidden; here the inhabitants defiantly treasure their bits of "domestic trash," targets of ideological campaigns for the transformation ( perestroika ) of everyday life. Against the Russian and Soviet myths of national destiny, the trivial, the ordinary, even the trashy, take on a utopian dimension. Boym studies Russian culture in a broad sense of the word; she ranges from nineteenth- and twentieth-century intellectual thought to art and popular culture. With her we go walking in Moscow and Leningrad, eavesdrop on domestic life, and discover jokes, films, and TV programs. Boym then reflects on the 1991 coup that marked the end of the Soviet Union and evoked fin de siecle apocalyptic visions. The book ends with a poignant reflection on the nature of communal utopia and nostalgia, on homesickness and the sickness of being home What is the “real Russia”? What is the relationship between national dreams and kitsch, between political and artistic utopia and everyday existence? Commonplaces of daily living would be perfect clues for those seeking to understand a culture. But all who write big books on Russian life confess their failure to get properly inside Russia, to understand its “doublespeak.”Svetlana Boym is a unique guide. A member of the last Soviet Generation, the Russian equivalent of our Generation X, she grew up in Leningrad and has lived in the West for the past thirteen years. Her book provides a view of Russia that is historically informed, replete with unexpected detail, and everywhere stamped with authority. Alternating analysis with personal accounts of Russian life, Boym conveys the foreignness of Russia and examines its peculiar conceptions of private life and common good, of Culture and Trash, of sincerity and banality. Armed with a Dictionary of Untranslatable Terms, we step around Uncle Fedia asleep in the hall, surrounded by a puddle of urine, and enter the Communal Apartment, the central exhibit of the book. It is the ruin of the communal utopia and a unique institution of Soviet daily life; a model Soviet home and a breeding ground for grassroots informants. Here, privacy is forbidden; here the inhabitants defiantly treasure their bits of “domestic trash,” targets of ideological campaigns for the transformation (perestroika) of everyday life.Against the Russian and Soviet myths of national destiny, the trivial, the ordinary, even the trashy, take on a utopian dimension. Boym studies Russian culture in a broad sense of the word; she ranges from nineteenth- and twentieth-century intellectual thought to art and popular culture. With her we go walking in Moscow and Leningrad, eavesdrop on domestic life, and discover jokes, films, and TV programs. Boym then reflects on the 1991 coup that marked the end of the Soviet Union and evoked fin-de-siècle apocalyptic visions. The book ends with a poignant reflection on the nature of communal utopia and nostalgia, on homesickness and the sickness of being home. What is the real Russia? What is the relationship between national dreams and kitsch, between political and artistic utopia and everyday existence? Commonplaces of daily living would be perfect clues for those seeking to understand a culture. But all who write big books on Russian life confess their failure to get properly inside Russia, to understand its doublespeak. Svetlana Boym is a unique guide. A member of the last Soviet Generation, the Russian equivalent of our Generation X, she grew up in Leningrad and has lived in the West for the past thirteen years. Her book provides a view of Russia that is historically informed, replete with unexpected detail, and everywhere stamped with authority. Alternating analysis with personal accounts of Russian life, Boym conveys the foreignness of Russia and examines its peculiar conceptions of private life and common good, of Culture and Trash, of sincerity and banality. Armed with a Dictionary of Untranslatable Terms, we step around Uncle Fedia asleep in the hall, surrounded by a puddle of urine, and enter the Communal Apartment, the central exhibit of the book. It is the ruin of the communal utopia and a unique institution of Soviet daily life; a model Soviet home and a breeding ground for grassroots informants. Here, privacy is forbidden; here the inhabitants defiantly treasure their bits of domestic trash, targets of ideological campaigns for the transformation ( perestroika ) of everyday life. Against the Russian and Soviet myths of national destiny, the trivial, the ordinary, even the trashy, take on a utopian dimension. Boym studies Russian culture in a broad sense of the word; she ranges from nineteenth- and twentieth-century intellectual thought to art and popular culture. With her we go walking in Moscow and Leningrad, eavesdrop on domestic life, and discover jokes, films, and TV programs. Boym then reflects on the 1991 coup that marked the end of the Soviet Union and evoked fin-de-sicle apocalyptic visions. The book ends with a poignant reflection on the nature of communal utopia and nostalgia, on homesickness and the sickness of being home. What is the "real Russia"? What is the relationship betweennational dreams and kitsch, between political and artistic utopiaand everyday existence? Commonplaces of daily living would beperfect clues for those seeking to understand a culture. But allwho write big books on Russian life confess their failure to getproperly inside Russia, to understand its "doublespeak." SvetlanaBoym is a unique guide. A member of the last Soviet Generation, theRussian equivalent of our Generation X, she grew up in Leningradand has lived in the West for the past thirteen years. Her bookprovides a view of Russia that is historically informed, repletewith unexpected detail, and everywhere stamped with authority.Alternating analysis with personal accounts of Russian life, Boymconveys the foreignness of Russia and examines its peculiarconceptions of private life and common good, of Culture and Trash,of sincerity and banality. Armed with a Dictionary ofUntranslatable Terms, we step around Uncle Fedia asleep in thehall, surrounded by a puddle of urine, and enter the CommunalApartment, the central exhibit of the book. It is the ruin of thecommunal utopia and a unique institution of Soviet daily life; amodel Soviet home and a breeding ground for grassroots informants.Here, privacy is forbidden; here the inhabitants defiantly treasuretheir bits of "domestic trash," targets of ideological campaignsfor the transformation (perestroika) of everyday life.Against the Russian and Soviet myths of national destiny, thetrivial, the ordinary, even the trashy, take on a utopiandimension. Boym studies Russian culture in a broad sense of theword; she ranges from nineteenth- and twentieth-centuryintellectual thought to art and popular culture. With her we gowalking in Moscow and Leningrad, eavesdrop on domestic life, anddiscover jokes, films, and TV programs. Boym then reflects on the1991 coup that marked the end of the Soviet Union and evokedfin-de-siècle apocalyptic visions. The book ends with apoignant reflection on the nature of communal utopia and nostalgia,on homesickness and the sickness of being home Introduction: Theoretical Common Places -- Rubber Plants And The Soviet Order Of Things -- Archeology Of The Common Place -- A Labyrinth Without A Monster -- The Mythologist As Traveler -- 1. Mythologies Of Everyday Life -- Byt: Daily Grind And Domestic Trash -- Poshlost': Banality, Obscenity, Bad Taste -- Meshchanstvo: Middle Class, Middlebrow -- Private Life And Russian Soul -- Truth, Sincerity, Affectation -- Kul'turnost': The Totalitarian Lacquer Box -- Soviet Songs: From Stalin's Fairy Tale To Good-bye, Amerika -- 2. Living In Common Places: The Communal Apartment -- Family Romance And Communal Utopia -- Art And The Housing Crisis: Intellectuals In The Closet -- Welcome To The Communal Apartment -- Psychopathology Of Soviet Everyday Life -- Interior Decoration -- The Ruins Of Utopia -- A Homecoming, 1991 -- 3. Writing Common Places: Graphomania -- History Of The Literary Disease -- The Forgotten Classics -- The Genius Of The People And The Conceptual Police -- Glasnost, ' Graphomania, And Popular Culture -- A Taxi Ride With A Graphomaniac -- 4. Postcommunism, Postmodernism -- The End Of The Soviet World: From The Barricades To The Bazaar -- Glasnost' Streetwalking: Fallen Monuments And Rising Dolls -- Stalin's Cinematic Charisma, Or History As Kitsch -- Trashy Jewels Of Women Artists -- Merchant Renaissance And Cultural Scandals -- The Obscure Object Of Advertisement. Conclusion: Nostalgia For The Common Place. Svetlana Boym. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 293-342) And Index. What is the "real Russia"? What is the relationship between national dreams and kitsch, between political and artistic utopia and everyday existence? Commonplaces of daily living would be perfect clues for those seeking to understand a culture. But all who write big books on Russian life confess their failure to get properly inside Russia, to understand its "doublespeak." A member of the last Soviet Generation, the Russian equivalent of our Generation X, Svetlana Boym grew up in Leningrad and has lived in the West for the past thirteen years. Her book provides a view of Russia that is historically informed, replete with unexpected detail, and everywhere stamped with authority. Boym studies Russian culture in a broad sense of the word; she ranges from nineteenth- and twentieth-century intellectual thought to art and popular culture. With her we go walking in Moscow and Leningrad, eavesdrop on domestic life, and discover jokes, films, and TV programs. Boym then reflects on the 1991 coup that marked the end of the Soviet Union and evoked fin de siècle apocalyptic visions. The book ends with a poignant reflection on the nature of communal utopia and nostalgia, on homesickness and the sickness of being home. -- From product description