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Diaries, Dreams. 52 The primary focus of Marsh’s study is historical themes and the
representation of particular historical figures or events in post-Soviet literature
(including both pre- and post-Soviet Russian history as well as the Soviet period). 53
The majority of the texts discussed by Marsh are not, therefore, concerned with
representing everyday family life in the Soviet Union which is the main focus of my
own study. Paperno’s research on memoirs of Soviet life is more concerned with
representations of the private sphere and how these convey, often indirectly, the
nature of ‘Soviet experience’. 54 Many of the autobiographical texts she discusses
portray experiences of war and terror, often with a particular focus on the Stalin
period. 55 The primary texts chosen for this thesis, however, describe childhood in
the Soviet Union since the Second World War and experiences of war and terror do
not feature prominently in the narratives (with the exception of Miller’s depiction of
experiences of anti-Semitism towards the end of Stalin’s rule). I have found no
research which specifically explores representations of the post-Stalin Soviet past
through portrayal of everyday life, or which considers post-Soviet literary
representation of Soviet childhood.
28
There are a few examples of scholarship on the critical reception of post-
Soviet literary texts in Russia. A recent volume edited by Evgeny Dobrenko and
Galin Tihanov provides a broad overview of significant trends in Soviet and post-
Soviet literary criticism. 56 Also noteworthy is Henrietta Mondry’s discussion of the
52 Rosalind Marsh, Literature, History and Identity in Post-Soviet Russia, 1991–2006 (Bern:
Peter Lang, 2007); Irina Paperno, Stories of the Soviet Experience: Memoirs, Diaries,
Dreams (Ithaca, NY: Cornell, 2009).
53 Chapter 10 of Literature, History and Identity in Post-Soviet Russia, 1991–2006, for
example, offers a detailed exploration of representations of Stalin and Stalinism.
54 Another study of Soviet and post-Soviet Russian memoir which has been particularly
useful and will be discussed further in Chapter 2 is Marina Balina, ‘The Tale of Bygone Years:
Reconstructing the Past in the Contemporary Russian Memoir’, in The Russian Memoir:
History and Literature, ed. by Beth Holmgren (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press,
2003), pp. 186–209.
55 Paperno, p. 4.
56 Evgeny Dobrenko and Galin Tihanov, eds, A History of Russian Literary Theory and
Criticism: The Soviet Age and Beyond (Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2011).