TY - CHAP

T1 - Be on the Lookout! Soviet Conspiracy Drama of the 1920s and 1930s

AU - Вьюгин, Валерий Юрьевич

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - This chapter describes how ‘spy mania,’ which affected both public and private life in the Soviet Union (particularly in the 1930s), intersected with Soviet literature and theater. Diverse theater productions during the 1920s and 1930s, linked by their exaggerated concern with spies and saboteurs, can be considered to be a separate genre, conspiracy drama. Conspiracy drama occupied a distinct place in Soviet official culture, responding to shifts in ideology, in Stalin’s policy, and in- fluencing public opinion in its own, rather unique way. What were the boundaries of this near-forgotten genre? What was conspiracy drama teaching, persuading, and imposing upon audiences? What was its agenda aesthetic or ideological?

AB - This chapter describes how ‘spy mania,’ which affected both public and private life in the Soviet Union (particularly in the 1930s), intersected with Soviet literature and theater. Diverse theater productions during the 1920s and 1930s, linked by their exaggerated concern with spies and saboteurs, can be considered to be a separate genre, conspiracy drama. Conspiracy drama occupied a distinct place in Soviet official culture, responding to shifts in ideology, in Stalin’s policy, and in- fluencing public opinion in its own, rather unique way. What were the boundaries of this near-forgotten genre? What was conspiracy drama teaching, persuading, and imposing upon audiences? What was its agenda aesthetic or ideological?

KW - Soviet drama of the 1920s and 1930s; spy-mania; conspiracy drama

M3 - Article in an anthology

SN - 978-38376-4650-4

SP - 61

EP - 86

BT - “Truth” and Fiction: Conspiracy Theories in Eastern European Culture and Literature / Ed. by Peter Deutschmann, Jens Herlth, Alois Woldan.

PB - Transcript-Verlag

CY - Bielefeld

ER -