Description

Book Synopsis
This 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 Contents

Table 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

Speaking in Soviet Tongues

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    A Hardback by Michael Gorham

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      Book details

      Publisher Cornell University Press
      Published 2 June 2003
      ISBN-13 9780875803135
      978-0875803135
      ISBN-10 087580313X
      Also in:
      Sociolinguistics

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      This 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 Contents

      Table 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

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