Description
Book SynopsisThis work explores how early Soviet language culture gave rise to unparalleled verbal creativity and utopian imagination, while sowing the seeds for perhaps the most notorious forms of Orwellian "newspeak" known to the modern era.
Trade Review"A first-rate book that explains, better than anything else in print, the origins and inner workings of the Stalinist language culture. Gorham breaks new ground, writing with zest and elegance as he tells a fascinating story."—Victoria Bonnell, University of California
"A rare thing indeed, a wholly original work of scholarship. Gorham's work is truly outstanding."
-James von Geldern, Macalester College
Table of ContentsTable of Contents
Introduction
1. The Contours of the Communication Gap
2. The Revolutionary Voice and the Resurrection of Meaning
3. Awkward Ambiguities of the Soviet Vox Populi
4. Models of Proletarian Language Acquisition
5. The Cleansing Authority of the Russian National Voice
6. Canonization of the Party-State Voice
7. Narrating the Party State
Epilogue: The Politics of Voice at the Margins of Soviet History
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index
