Maxim Lukin | University of Pennsylvania (original) (raw)

Papers by Maxim Lukin

Новое литературное обозрение. , 2022

This article reconstructs for the first time the biography of Ariadna Gromova (1916—1981), a Sovi... more This article reconstructs for the first time the biography of Ariadna Gromova (1916—1981), a Soviet science fiction writer, literary critic and translator. Gromova’s case serves as material for analysis of the interaction between official literary institutions, on the one hand, and the informal social networks and communicative spaces widespread in the late USSR on the other. In Gromova’s social surroundings, networks of poets from Kiev, science fiction writers, and Western scholars and criticists interested in Soviet science fiction have been identified. The author emphasizes that Gromova’s ability to be a cultural manager and intermediary agent who connected different social networks contributed to the success of her literary career and the development of “sociophilosophical” movement in Soviet science fiction, despite the serious opposition from the censors and ideological institutions.

Keywords: Soviet science fiction, late-Soviet society, field of literature, public sphere, biographical studies, social network analysis

Вестник Пермского университета. История, 2(57), 2022

The authors record a sharp rise of the present (from the routine of every day to the monumental a... more The authors record a sharp rise of the present (from the routine of every day to the monumental and ideologically elaborated our era) in the discursive environments of 1934 and dedicate the article to the archaeology of our time. The analysis of the arrangement, becoming and conditions of possibility for extended and shared socialist present in 1934 is based on the archaeological method, dispositive analysis, the anthropology of time, and the experience of introducing one-year histories. The historical present is considered in the specifics of its eventfulness, connections of times, patterns, timescales, timescapes, time frames, modalities, positions, the art of navigation and existence in time. Daily newspapers, weekly magazines and diaries are used as sources of the present. The authors describe the becom-ing of the socialist present dispositive or timescape of our time through: a) its production in discourse; b) its techno-logical objectification and inventory through measurement; c) the development of ethical standards for action in the present and the transformation of the present into an ethical criterion. The discursive opening of the present as a polit-ical resource, a stage for demonstrating the achievements of socialist construction, a priority area for updating the Soviet experience and identity are considered against the background of the mobilization temporality of the five-year plans and the shift from situational to total mobilization (discipline of the present). The extension and sharing of the present are realized through the formation of new relationships with the immediate past and future, the increase in the verbal mass of words-indicators of the current moment, the framing of Soviet identity through temporality, proce-dures for changing the temporal scale and the construction of a monumental present. Three patterns of extended and shared present are described. The actualization of interest in measuring time and technological access to the present, establishing control over it are recorded. The paper problematizes the formation of ethical standards and criteria that makes it possible to evaluate the actions of Soviet people in the extended present. A special role of the propaganda use of the Chelyuskin epic in the extension, sharing and political opening of our time is discussed.

Key words: archaeology of time, dispositive, timescape, timescale, present, temporalization, history of one year, patterns of temporality, our time.

Новое литературное обозрение. , 2022

This article reconstructs for the first time the biography of Ariadna Gromova (1916—1981), a Sovi... more This article reconstructs for the first time the biography of Ariadna Gromova (1916—1981), a Soviet science fiction writer, literary critic and translator. Gromova’s case serves as material for analysis of the interaction between official literary institutions, on the one hand, and the informal social networks and communicative spaces widespread in the late USSR on the other. In Gromova’s social surroundings, networks of poets from Kiev, science fiction writers, and Western scholars and criticists interested in Soviet science fiction have been identified. The author emphasizes that Gromova’s ability to be a cultural manager and intermediary agent who connected different social networks contributed to the success of her literary career and the development of “sociophilosophical” movement in Soviet science fiction, despite the serious opposition from the censors and ideological institutions.

Keywords: Soviet science fiction, late-Soviet society, field of literature, public sphere, biographical studies, social network analysis

Вестник Пермского университета. История, 2(57), 2022

The authors record a sharp rise of the present (from the routine of every day to the monumental a... more The authors record a sharp rise of the present (from the routine of every day to the monumental and ideologically elaborated our era) in the discursive environments of 1934 and dedicate the article to the archaeology of our time. The analysis of the arrangement, becoming and conditions of possibility for extended and shared socialist present in 1934 is based on the archaeological method, dispositive analysis, the anthropology of time, and the experience of introducing one-year histories. The historical present is considered in the specifics of its eventfulness, connections of times, patterns, timescales, timescapes, time frames, modalities, positions, the art of navigation and existence in time. Daily newspapers, weekly magazines and diaries are used as sources of the present. The authors describe the becom-ing of the socialist present dispositive or timescape of our time through: a) its production in discourse; b) its techno-logical objectification and inventory through measurement; c) the development of ethical standards for action in the present and the transformation of the present into an ethical criterion. The discursive opening of the present as a polit-ical resource, a stage for demonstrating the achievements of socialist construction, a priority area for updating the Soviet experience and identity are considered against the background of the mobilization temporality of the five-year plans and the shift from situational to total mobilization (discipline of the present). The extension and sharing of the present are realized through the formation of new relationships with the immediate past and future, the increase in the verbal mass of words-indicators of the current moment, the framing of Soviet identity through temporality, proce-dures for changing the temporal scale and the construction of a monumental present. Three patterns of extended and shared present are described. The actualization of interest in measuring time and technological access to the present, establishing control over it are recorded. The paper problematizes the formation of ethical standards and criteria that makes it possible to evaluate the actions of Soviet people in the extended present. A special role of the propaganda use of the Chelyuskin epic in the extension, sharing and political opening of our time is discussed.

Key words: archaeology of time, dispositive, timescape, timescale, present, temporalization, history of one year, patterns of temporality, our time.