The mood of the Romanian intelligentsia in the early 1960s through the eyes of a young Soviet writer
The Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI) contains reports of Soviet writers and cultural figures who traveled in the 1950s-1980s on creative business trips to socialist countries. Not yet in high demand by researchers, they are at the same time of undoubted interest as a historical so...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Russian |
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Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Slavic Studies
2023-07-01
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| Series: | Славянский мир в третьем тысячелетии |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://slavicworld.ru/index.php/jsw/article/view/385/401 |
| _version_ | 1827334968746967040 |
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| author | Alexander Stykalin |
| author_facet | Alexander Stykalin |
| author_sort | Alexander Stykalin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI) contains reports of Soviet writers and cultural figures who traveled in the 1950s-1980s on creative business trips to socialist countries. Not yet in high demand by researchers, they are at the same time of undoubted interest as a historical source, since they reflect information related to the establishment of bilateral and multilateral cultural ties, the development of literature and art in foreign (in particular, Eastern European) countries, as well as the mood of foreign intelligentsia. The article deals with the report on the trip to Romania in the spring of 1962 by the young playwright Mikhail Filippovich Shatrov (1932–2010). A sincere supporter of the genuine renewal and democratization of the Soviet system, M. Shatrov was pleased with the reception given to him in Romania and highly appreciated the state of theatrical performances in this country. At the same time, he got the impression based on communication with Romanian interlocutors (writers and theatrical figures) that the Romanian society was lagging behind the Soviet one in its readiness to break with the Stalinist legacy. In his view, those responsible for cultural policy preferred to play it safe when it came to staging the Soviet plays in Romania that were critical of Stalin's personality cult, as they might lead the public to undesirable parallels with the current situation in Romania. Moreover, according to M. Shatrov, an atmosphere of fear continued to flourish in Romania, “a terrible legacy of the era of the cult of personality”. On the other hand, he drew attention to the reluctance of some Romanian cultural figures to advertise their old Soviet connections in the face of public opinion, because they were afraid of being compromised in the eyes of their colleagues in the conditions when the Romanian communist regime began to keep distance from the USSR. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T18:06:30Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-7a7e838a82f7416eafc1c80d0e9d8229 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2412-6446 |
| language | Russian |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T18:06:30Z |
| publishDate | 2023-07-01 |
| publisher | Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Slavic Studies |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Славянский мир в третьем тысячелетии |
| spelling | doaj.art-7a7e838a82f7416eafc1c80d0e9d82292024-03-02T09:03:25ZrusRussian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Slavic StudiesСлавянский мир в третьем тысячелетии2412-64462023-07-01181-23347https://doi.org/10.31168/2412-6446.2023.18.1-2.02The mood of the Romanian intelligentsia in the early 1960s through the eyes of a young Soviet writer Alexander Stykalin 0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0834-9090Institute of Slavic Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences The Russian State Archive of Literature and Art (RGALI) contains reports of Soviet writers and cultural figures who traveled in the 1950s-1980s on creative business trips to socialist countries. Not yet in high demand by researchers, they are at the same time of undoubted interest as a historical source, since they reflect information related to the establishment of bilateral and multilateral cultural ties, the development of literature and art in foreign (in particular, Eastern European) countries, as well as the mood of foreign intelligentsia. The article deals with the report on the trip to Romania in the spring of 1962 by the young playwright Mikhail Filippovich Shatrov (1932–2010). A sincere supporter of the genuine renewal and democratization of the Soviet system, M. Shatrov was pleased with the reception given to him in Romania and highly appreciated the state of theatrical performances in this country. At the same time, he got the impression based on communication with Romanian interlocutors (writers and theatrical figures) that the Romanian society was lagging behind the Soviet one in its readiness to break with the Stalinist legacy. In his view, those responsible for cultural policy preferred to play it safe when it came to staging the Soviet plays in Romania that were critical of Stalin's personality cult, as they might lead the public to undesirable parallels with the current situation in Romania. Moreover, according to M. Shatrov, an atmosphere of fear continued to flourish in Romania, “a terrible legacy of the era of the cult of personality”. On the other hand, he drew attention to the reluctance of some Romanian cultural figures to advertise their old Soviet connections in the face of public opinion, because they were afraid of being compromised in the eyes of their colleagues in the conditions when the Romanian communist regime began to keep distance from the USSR.https://slavicworld.ru/index.php/jsw/article/view/385/401romania in the 1960sde-stalinization in the soviet unionsoviet-romanian literary and cultural contactsimagologyperception of romania in the ussr |
| spellingShingle | Alexander Stykalin The mood of the Romanian intelligentsia in the early 1960s through the eyes of a young Soviet writer Славянский мир в третьем тысячелетии romania in the 1960s de-stalinization in the soviet union soviet-romanian literary and cultural contacts imagology perception of romania in the ussr |
| title | The mood of the Romanian intelligentsia in the early 1960s through the eyes of a young Soviet writer |
| title_full | The mood of the Romanian intelligentsia in the early 1960s through the eyes of a young Soviet writer |
| title_fullStr | The mood of the Romanian intelligentsia in the early 1960s through the eyes of a young Soviet writer |
| title_full_unstemmed | The mood of the Romanian intelligentsia in the early 1960s through the eyes of a young Soviet writer |
| title_short | The mood of the Romanian intelligentsia in the early 1960s through the eyes of a young Soviet writer |
| title_sort | mood of the romanian intelligentsia in the early 1960s through the eyes of a young soviet writer |
| topic | romania in the 1960s de-stalinization in the soviet union soviet-romanian literary and cultural contacts imagology perception of romania in the ussr |
| url | https://slavicworld.ru/index.php/jsw/article/view/385/401 |
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