Primary Source on Soviet interest in western goods/culture 50s-70s

[Melissa Smith]

If you're including films, "Beregis' avtomobilya" is a classic Riazanov 
satire that stars Innokenty Smoktunovsky as a Robin Hood who steals 
ill-gotten cars and contributes the money to an orphanage. I'm not sure 
it has subtitles, however.


Charlotte Rosenthal wrote:


>Dear Professor Applebaum:
>
>You might show the film "Moscow Doesn't Believe in Tears" (set in the 
Khrushchev and Brezhnev years) which has a number of references (mostly 
negative)to Western popular culture and language, including the new 
phenomenon of television in the 1950s.  These are set off against 
positive "native" culture.  It's also an excellent example of 
"Socialist Realism" in cinema which ironically won an Academy Award.  
My students and I discuss how Hollywood was hoodwinked (or not).
>Charlotte Rosenthal
>
>Charlotte Rosenthal, Ph. D.
>Professor of Russian
>Dept. of Modern & Classical Langs. and Lits. University of Southern 
Maine
>Portland, ME 04104-9300 U.S.A.
>
>crosenth at usm.maine.edu
>>>> Rachel Applebaum  10/16/09 10:26 AM >>>
>Dear List Members,
>
>I'm going to be teaching an introductory undergraduate course on  
>"Russian civilization" in the winter, which will be mostly based on  
>primary source material (in English, including fiction). I'm looking  
>for a text to assign about Soviet interest in Western (American/ 
>European) popular culture/and or goods in the Khrushchev or Brezhnev  
>period. I was thinking for instance of Aksenov's Starry Ticket, but  
>it's too long and the translation strikes me as stilted. Ideally I'd  
>like to find something under 100-150 pages. It could be a novella,  
>diary, memoir, archival document, film, anything really.
>
>Please let me know if you have any suggestions.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Rachel Applebaum
>PhD Candidate, Russian and East European History
>University of Chicago
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
>  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
>                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
>

------------------------------------
Melissa T. Smith, Professor
Department of Foreign Languages and 
Literatures  
Youngstown State University
Youngstown, OH 44555
Tel: (330)941-3462

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------