Officially in 1934, socialist realism emerged in Soviet society as the new cultural aesthetic, providing an artistic framework for all forms of cultural productionart, music, architecture and literature. In the realm of childrens writing, socialist realism had particularly interesting effects on the themes and formulas that were utilized by authors. Though once thought to represent the tsarist and peasant past, the Party encouraged the use of traditional folk elements to popularize the new overtly Soviet tales, despite the apparent unorthodoxy. Similarly, authors were encouraged to reintroduce the hero, also seemingly unorthodox in what was a theoretically collective society. Nonetheless, heroic themes and characters emerged to recognize achievements in industry and the drive for modernization, encourage vigilance against internal and external spies and saboteurs, propagandize the Soviet war effort against Germany, and honour Soviet soldiers for their sacrifices. Soviet childrens books demonstrated to youth the communist qualities of selflessness and devotion to the collective, and about the dangers of idleness. Children learned that the Soviet Union was to be the new Soviet family, replacing the bond of blood kinship. The leader cult filtered down to childrens books and Stalin made a significant appearance as the father of all heroes. This thesis argues that the Party recognized the value of childrens literature for shaping the character development of young readers. Popular in their own right, childrens books were not able to avoid the manipulation and control of the Party, which employed them as tools of propaganda. However, it is difficult to separate the extent of their genuine popularity from their appeal as propaganda.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:SSU.etd-12172007-154527 |
| Date | 18 December 2007 |
| Creators | Manz, Lindsay F |
| Contributors | Voitkovska, Ludmilla, Stewart, Larry, McCannon, John, Jordan, Pamela |
| Publisher | University of Saskatchewan |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-12172007-154527/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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