Wonderlands of the avant-garde : technology and the arts in Russia of the 1920s

Resource Information

The work Wonderlands of the avant-garde : technology and the arts in Russia of the 1920s represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in European University Institute. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

Wonderlands of the avant-garde : technology and the arts in Russia of the 1920s

Title remainder

technology and the arts in Russia of the 1920s

Statement of responsibility

Julia Vaingurt

Creator

• Vaingurt, Julia

Subject

• Arts, Russian -- 20th century
• Avant-garde (Aesthetics) -- Russia (Federation) -- History -- 20th century
• Art and technology
• Russian literature -- 20th century -- History and criticism
• Machinery in literature

Language

eng

Summary

In postrevolutionary Russia, as the Soviet government was initiating a program of rapid industrialization, avant-garde artists declared their intent to serve the nascent state and to transform life in accordance with their aesthetic designs. In spite of their professed utilitarianism, however, most avant-gardists created works that can hardly be regarded as practical instruments of societal transformation. Exploring this paradox, Vaingurt claims that the artists' investment of technology with aesthetics prevented their creations from being fully conscripted into the arsenal of political hegemony. The purposes of avant-garde technologies, she contends, are contemplative rather than constructive. Looking at Meyerhold's theater, Tatlin's and Khlebnikov's architectural designs, Mayakovsky's writings, and other works from the period, Vaingurt offers an innovative reading of an exceptionally complex moment in the formation of Soviet culture.--

Member of

• Studies in Russian literature and theory

Assigning source

Provided by Publisher

Cataloging source

IEN/DLC

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography

Series statement

Northwestern University Press studies in Russian literature and theory