Papers by Valentyna Kharkhun
Slovo i Chas, 9, 2010
Socialist realism as a canonical art The article focuses on the historiography of canon forms and... more Socialist realism as a canonical art The article focuses on the historiography of canon forms and the typology of canonical arts. The author argues that, being a canonical art, socialist realism absorbed all canonizing practices produced throughout the history of world arts and theoretical thinking. The paper demonstrates that the canon of socialist realism is in fact a literary practice with its own style standards and prohibitions; a literary theory aimed at establishing and substantiating of doctrines; and a historiographic model of literary process. The study proves that the socialist realist canon is characterized by self-canonization as a way of canon structuring under the colonization conditions, that is, when Russian literature is generally viewed as a canon for the other national literatures.
Slovo i Chas, 2010, 1, 2010
The article deals with the formation of discourse about the totalitarian-Soviet-socialist realism... more The article deals with the formation of discourse about the totalitarian-Soviet-socialist realism since the
beginning of the Cold War until now. The chronological aspect of this research concentrates on the shift
from the Soviet (Sovietological) vector to the revisionist (post-Soviet) one. The historiography of discourse
about the totalitarian-Soviet-socialist realism is analysed on the axiological, thematical and methodological
levels.
Key words: discourse of the Soviet, socialist realism, Soviet studies, revisionism.
Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society Vol. 4, No. 1 (2018), 2018
This article analyzes how Ukrainian memory policies have affected the presentation of the Soviet ... more This article analyzes how Ukrainian memory policies have affected the presentation of the Soviet past in Ukrainian museums, from the late 1980s through to the post-Euromaidan period. It includes an examination of specific memory policies created by successive Ukrainian presidents who, as key mnemonic actors, have played an important role in defining the context of how their citizens perceive and remember the Soviet-communist past. The article addresses a set of key questions: Who are the main mnemonic actors/agents creating narratives about the Soviet past in Ukraine? What are the distinctive Ukrainian issues shaping the interpretation and presentation of the Soviet legacy when compared to other Central and Eastern European countries? What narratives are used in museums when it comes to discussing the Soviet past, and do they coexist, overlap, and/or op-pose each other? Which mnemonic regimes are dominant in the Ukrainian perception of communism, and what role do museums play in creating these regimes?
The article draws upon a detailed study of approximately fifty cases of museumification of the Soviet era in Ukraine, comprising government museums at the national and regional levels, and independent museums operated by local societies or individuals. It identifies three key narratives employed by museums in presenting the Soviet past: the victimhood narrative; the heroic narrative; and the everyday narrative, in which the emphasis is placed on the lived experience of ordinary people, often through a focus on Soviet material culture. The article further elaborates on how variations in regional and private museumification initiatives affect the political arena in which museums operate, and investigates how these different types of museums reflect, influence, reinforce, or challenge government policies, public opinion, and, ultimately, the national memory regime.
Keywords: memory politics, memory projects, mnemonic actors, Ukrainian memory of communism, museums about the communist past.
Слово і час, 2008
The author of the paper studies the mechanisms of modelling and use of Lenin’s image as a totalit... more The author of the paper studies the mechanisms of modelling and use of Lenin’s image as a totalitarian
Christ. The specific character of the works of art dedicated to Lenin, which are treated here as a kind of
totalitarian Gospel, requires the analysis of three language activities, i.e. of narration understood as a modus
of creation, of description as a modus of interpenetration, and of conversation as a modus of revelation. The
article also focuses upon the new Soviet iconography, which, to its author’s mind, has the most unambiguous
Christological connotations, and singles out the symbolical, historical, and idealistic stages of Lenin’s image
formation.
Key words: totalitarian Christ, Gospel, geographical works of art dedicated to Lenin, totalitarian iconography.
Слово і час, 2008
This article explores the way the canon of literary works of art dedicated to Lenin was structure... more This article explores the way the canon of literary works of art dedicated to Lenin was structured. The
author of the essay analyses the ideological and aesthetical determinatedness of the early works of art
dedicated to Lenin which formed the cult of the Soviet leader as a totalitarian ideal, and some of the major
literary works dedicated to Lenin, which were created during the Stalinist period and used to legalise the new
leader’s power; she also pays attention to the literary Leniniana of the post*Stalinist period, which is thus
examined as a the final stage of the “nationalisation” and unification of the Lenin cult.
Key words: literary canon, Lenin cult, works of art dedicated to Lenin, early, Stalinist and post*Stalinist
periods
Слово і час, 2008
Valentyna Kharkhun. Artistic works about Lenin as an aesthetic project
This article contains an a... more Valentyna Kharkhun. Artistic works about Lenin as an aesthetic project
This article contains an analysis of artistic works about Lenin as the main project of socialist realism which presupposed the
codification of “positive heroes” and determined the typology of the artist’s functional roles as well as ideological and aesthetical literary
models. Particular attention is paid to the theoretical aspects of Lenin’s image formation as an embodiment of a positive hero, the
categories of historicism, “typicality” and “tragic nature” as the basic factors which formed the canon of Lenin’s verbal representation.
The article examines the writers’ position as a “medium”, “fighter”, and “researcher” and determines the crucial role of artistic works
about Lenin in forming of the “Soviet literature” phenomenon.
Key words: aesthetics of socialist realism, positive hero, historicism, typicality, tragic nature, the artist’s functional role, Soviet
literature
Слово і час, 2014
У статті вивчається історіографія та типологія культу Т. Шевченка в радянській поезії. З’ясовано
... more У статті вивчається історіографія та типологія культу Т. Шевченка в радянській поезії. З’ясовано
специфіку колективних збірників про Шевченка в контексті різних комеморативних практик.
Особлива увага зосереджена на трансформації патріотично-рустикального культу Шевченка як
“батька” в радянській поезії та наданні йому нових ідеологічно прийнятних конотацій.
Ключові слова: шевченкіана, образ Шевченка, культ Кобзаря, комеморативна практика,
радянська поезія.
Valentyna Kharkhun. “We need Taras’s voice…”: The cult of Kobzar in the Soviet poetry
The article deals with the historiography and typology of Taras Shevchenko’s cult in the Soviet poetry.
The paper reveals the specifi city of collective poetry collections about Shevchenko in the context of
various commemorative practices. Special attention is paid to the transformations of the patriotic and
populist cult of Shevchenko as “father” in the Soviet poetry. The author also studies the creation of
ideologically acceptable connotations of this cult.
Key words: works about Shevchenko, the image of Shevchenko, the cult of Kobzar, commemorative
practices, Soviet poetry.
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Papers by Valentyna Kharkhun
beginning of the Cold War until now. The chronological aspect of this research concentrates on the shift
from the Soviet (Sovietological) vector to the revisionist (post-Soviet) one. The historiography of discourse
about the totalitarian-Soviet-socialist realism is analysed on the axiological, thematical and methodological
levels.
Key words: discourse of the Soviet, socialist realism, Soviet studies, revisionism.
The article draws upon a detailed study of approximately fifty cases of museumification of the Soviet era in Ukraine, comprising government museums at the national and regional levels, and independent museums operated by local societies or individuals. It identifies three key narratives employed by museums in presenting the Soviet past: the victimhood narrative; the heroic narrative; and the everyday narrative, in which the emphasis is placed on the lived experience of ordinary people, often through a focus on Soviet material culture. The article further elaborates on how variations in regional and private museumification initiatives affect the political arena in which museums operate, and investigates how these different types of museums reflect, influence, reinforce, or challenge government policies, public opinion, and, ultimately, the national memory regime.
Keywords: memory politics, memory projects, mnemonic actors, Ukrainian memory of communism, museums about the communist past.
Christ. The specific character of the works of art dedicated to Lenin, which are treated here as a kind of
totalitarian Gospel, requires the analysis of three language activities, i.e. of narration understood as a modus
of creation, of description as a modus of interpenetration, and of conversation as a modus of revelation. The
article also focuses upon the new Soviet iconography, which, to its author’s mind, has the most unambiguous
Christological connotations, and singles out the symbolical, historical, and idealistic stages of Lenin’s image
formation.
Key words: totalitarian Christ, Gospel, geographical works of art dedicated to Lenin, totalitarian iconography.
author of the essay analyses the ideological and aesthetical determinatedness of the early works of art
dedicated to Lenin which formed the cult of the Soviet leader as a totalitarian ideal, and some of the major
literary works dedicated to Lenin, which were created during the Stalinist period and used to legalise the new
leader’s power; she also pays attention to the literary Leniniana of the post*Stalinist period, which is thus
examined as a the final stage of the “nationalisation” and unification of the Lenin cult.
Key words: literary canon, Lenin cult, works of art dedicated to Lenin, early, Stalinist and post*Stalinist
periods
This article contains an analysis of artistic works about Lenin as the main project of socialist realism which presupposed the
codification of “positive heroes” and determined the typology of the artist’s functional roles as well as ideological and aesthetical literary
models. Particular attention is paid to the theoretical aspects of Lenin’s image formation as an embodiment of a positive hero, the
categories of historicism, “typicality” and “tragic nature” as the basic factors which formed the canon of Lenin’s verbal representation.
The article examines the writers’ position as a “medium”, “fighter”, and “researcher” and determines the crucial role of artistic works
about Lenin in forming of the “Soviet literature” phenomenon.
Key words: aesthetics of socialist realism, positive hero, historicism, typicality, tragic nature, the artist’s functional role, Soviet
literature
специфіку колективних збірників про Шевченка в контексті різних комеморативних практик.
Особлива увага зосереджена на трансформації патріотично-рустикального культу Шевченка як
“батька” в радянській поезії та наданні йому нових ідеологічно прийнятних конотацій.
Ключові слова: шевченкіана, образ Шевченка, культ Кобзаря, комеморативна практика,
радянська поезія.
Valentyna Kharkhun. “We need Taras’s voice…”: The cult of Kobzar in the Soviet poetry
The article deals with the historiography and typology of Taras Shevchenko’s cult in the Soviet poetry.
The paper reveals the specifi city of collective poetry collections about Shevchenko in the context of
various commemorative practices. Special attention is paid to the transformations of the patriotic and
populist cult of Shevchenko as “father” in the Soviet poetry. The author also studies the creation of
ideologically acceptable connotations of this cult.
Key words: works about Shevchenko, the image of Shevchenko, the cult of Kobzar, commemorative
practices, Soviet poetry.
beginning of the Cold War until now. The chronological aspect of this research concentrates on the shift
from the Soviet (Sovietological) vector to the revisionist (post-Soviet) one. The historiography of discourse
about the totalitarian-Soviet-socialist realism is analysed on the axiological, thematical and methodological
levels.
Key words: discourse of the Soviet, socialist realism, Soviet studies, revisionism.
The article draws upon a detailed study of approximately fifty cases of museumification of the Soviet era in Ukraine, comprising government museums at the national and regional levels, and independent museums operated by local societies or individuals. It identifies three key narratives employed by museums in presenting the Soviet past: the victimhood narrative; the heroic narrative; and the everyday narrative, in which the emphasis is placed on the lived experience of ordinary people, often through a focus on Soviet material culture. The article further elaborates on how variations in regional and private museumification initiatives affect the political arena in which museums operate, and investigates how these different types of museums reflect, influence, reinforce, or challenge government policies, public opinion, and, ultimately, the national memory regime.
Keywords: memory politics, memory projects, mnemonic actors, Ukrainian memory of communism, museums about the communist past.
Christ. The specific character of the works of art dedicated to Lenin, which are treated here as a kind of
totalitarian Gospel, requires the analysis of three language activities, i.e. of narration understood as a modus
of creation, of description as a modus of interpenetration, and of conversation as a modus of revelation. The
article also focuses upon the new Soviet iconography, which, to its author’s mind, has the most unambiguous
Christological connotations, and singles out the symbolical, historical, and idealistic stages of Lenin’s image
formation.
Key words: totalitarian Christ, Gospel, geographical works of art dedicated to Lenin, totalitarian iconography.
author of the essay analyses the ideological and aesthetical determinatedness of the early works of art
dedicated to Lenin which formed the cult of the Soviet leader as a totalitarian ideal, and some of the major
literary works dedicated to Lenin, which were created during the Stalinist period and used to legalise the new
leader’s power; she also pays attention to the literary Leniniana of the post*Stalinist period, which is thus
examined as a the final stage of the “nationalisation” and unification of the Lenin cult.
Key words: literary canon, Lenin cult, works of art dedicated to Lenin, early, Stalinist and post*Stalinist
periods
This article contains an analysis of artistic works about Lenin as the main project of socialist realism which presupposed the
codification of “positive heroes” and determined the typology of the artist’s functional roles as well as ideological and aesthetical literary
models. Particular attention is paid to the theoretical aspects of Lenin’s image formation as an embodiment of a positive hero, the
categories of historicism, “typicality” and “tragic nature” as the basic factors which formed the canon of Lenin’s verbal representation.
The article examines the writers’ position as a “medium”, “fighter”, and “researcher” and determines the crucial role of artistic works
about Lenin in forming of the “Soviet literature” phenomenon.
Key words: aesthetics of socialist realism, positive hero, historicism, typicality, tragic nature, the artist’s functional role, Soviet
literature
специфіку колективних збірників про Шевченка в контексті різних комеморативних практик.
Особлива увага зосереджена на трансформації патріотично-рустикального культу Шевченка як
“батька” в радянській поезії та наданні йому нових ідеологічно прийнятних конотацій.
Ключові слова: шевченкіана, образ Шевченка, культ Кобзаря, комеморативна практика,
радянська поезія.
Valentyna Kharkhun. “We need Taras’s voice…”: The cult of Kobzar in the Soviet poetry
The article deals with the historiography and typology of Taras Shevchenko’s cult in the Soviet poetry.
The paper reveals the specifi city of collective poetry collections about Shevchenko in the context of
various commemorative practices. Special attention is paid to the transformations of the patriotic and
populist cult of Shevchenko as “father” in the Soviet poetry. The author also studies the creation of
ideologically acceptable connotations of this cult.
Key words: works about Shevchenko, the image of Shevchenko, the cult of Kobzar, commemorative
practices, Soviet poetry.