Well, another area where the postwar Soviets were not particularly kitschy on the culture front was poetry. Also, in film they were also pretty good, with Tarkovsky being one of the greatest film directors of all time.
A curious issue is the relationship between the less kitschy parts of the culture and the government. A lot of this non-kitschy stuff, from Grossman through Vysotsky, etc. was definitely dissenting to varying degrees, with some going over the edge to being outright repressed (Solzhenitsyn) and much playing a "skating along the edge" game. Some was fully acceptable, but not much, with Sholokov probably the leading example. Some that was later acceptable was not when it was produced, such as some of Shostakovich's musice (some of which remained forbidden until the fall of the Soviet Union). Some people started out dissenting but then became very acceptable personally, e.g. Yevtushenko.
There is a question about whether the repression itself was stimulating to cultural creativity. Certainly some of it was to some degree, and the blathery kitsch of a lot of what is now being produced would suggest that. Some creative people needed some repression to inspire them, although works that simply attacked the repression were ultimately a bit boring.
Anyway, there is a lot that was being produced that was very fine and distinctly not kitsch in many areas, but much of which is simply not well known in the West. Barkley Rosser ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Pugliese" <debsian at pacbell.net> To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org> Sent: Thursday, June 12, 2003 10:38 AM Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Re: Soviet Kitsch
> Jeesh, I knew that Chris. Why do you assume I didn't?
> The Fat Kapitalist with Top Hat is Kitsch, was a standard caricature in
> cartoons by such as Robert Minor in The Masses. The CPUSA aligned New
> Masses continued that tradition later. (I have some back issues, one with
> an ad for the John Hammond organized concert @ at Canegie Hall, "From
> Spirituals to Swing, " that would have included Robert Johnson.)
>
>
>
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