contributors

Articles by Alexandra Biktimirova and Victoria Kravtsova

1. The mystery of The Blue Cup Arkadii Gaidar and socialist realism

   Arkadii Gaidar (1904–1941) is one of the most popular Soviet children’s writers and an undisputed part of the Soviet literary canon. The Pioneer organization used him as a symbol to mold young Soviet citizens, the characters from his books entered Soviet folklore, and generations of Soviet children have been brought up on his books. Nonetheless, his path from military commander to a classic of Soviet literature was far from ordinary. This paper reviews Gaidar’s work, focusing especially on the analysis of his short story The Blue Cup as the most representative of his oeuvre and of the political and literary context of the 1930s.

2. Nabokov on socialist and cinematic realism

   The aim of this article is to show to what extent Nabokov’s relations to the two phenomena Soviet art and cinematic art were interrelated and subtly intertwined. Focusing on a cinematic scene in Nabokov’s first novel, Mary (1926), the analysis traces how the themes of cinematic deception techniques and mimetic violence are developed by Nabokov. It is shown how cinematic effects in Nabokov addresses the violence inherent in socialist realist aesthetics: political censorship and manipulation on the one hand, and the programmatic extinction of artists labeled as “bourgeois” on the other.

3. Adorno’s realism

   Adorno’s understanding of realism in the present is often taken to have been simply negative. In the posthumously published Aesthetic Theory, too, the negative view is predominant; there are, however, traces of another conception of realism. Adorno proposes, although with some caveats, that what he calls an adequate conception of realism is not only possible, but also something that art in the present cannot and must not avoid.

4. drug control policies in Russia. Unhealthy, deviant, and criminal

   Although agencies involved in drug control and regulation are important for the reproduction of differentiated practices of drug use, they formulate a rather homogeneous image of a drug user as an unhealthy deviant and criminal, and an unequivocal threat to society. In the process of policy realization, the most vulnerable groups of users become the main target of public intervention. As a result, stigmatization and violence against these groups becomes institutionalized and legitimized.

5. Searching for Baltic Dimensions

   In the fall, 2016, Färgfabriken organized the symposium “In Search for the Baltic Dimensions”, where researchers, artists, media practitioners, designers, urban planners, and art students outlined some of the burning social and cultural issues related to the Baltic Sea region.

6. “Good literature is like lightning: it has to shock, to pierce the heart”

   In this interview, Laura Sintija Černiauskaitė shares her experience of becoming a writer in the post-Soviet conditions of 1990s Lithuania. Her development as a writer coincided with a drastic change in what it meant to be a writer: from being a political spokesperson to being an economic entity.

7. Elections in Montenegro The long reign of Milo Djukanović coming to an end?

   Although the elections were on the large respecting international standards and fundamental freedoms, the process has showed that Montenegro’s democracy is fragile and deeply divided along two lines, where NATO membership and ultimate geopolitical allegiance is strongly contested. The Montenegrin democracy may face important challenges from within, and is seemingly standing with few defenders among the established political actors.

8. 2016 PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS IN ROMANIA BREAKING THE PATTERN OF RISING RADICAL RIGHT POPULISM IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE

   The December 11th 2016 Romanian Parliamentary elections witnessed a dramatic redrawing of the Romanian political map, and confirmed the inability of the radical right populist parties to be serious contenders in parliamentary politics for the coming mandate. The elections also marked the return to a system of proportional electoral representation on party lists.

9. Countering Kremlin`s disinformation in Baltic and Eastern Europe

   Disinformation tools are not something unique or new and have been used long time ago. But now we are living in times when information became a weapon. Annexation of Crimea, war in Donbas and in Syria have shown a significant role of information.

10. Presidential election in Uzbekistan. First after Islam Karimov

    What could be expected from Mirziyoyev’s term in office? First of all, there is no reason to doubt about his promise to follow Karimov’s policies both in domestic and foreign policy domain. His backing comes from the clans and he must continue to balance between the state’s and regional power brokers’ interests, the first and foremost being stability at all costs.

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