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212 Reviewscraft from books rather than from contact with "the masses." They were regardedofficially as literary artists on par with other writers.In his second chapter on the noviny and funeral laments, Miller proceeds with atextual analysis of the work of Kriukova and other, lesser-known performers. In hisreading he isolates the ways in which traditional imagery and versification are usedto portray the "heroics" of Soviet history. He goes on to describe the arrogation offuneral laments for propagandistic purposes but points out that this tradition did, infact, experience a limited though genuine revival in North Russia during the SecondWorld War—each lament containing a curse on Hitler and a "patriotic maternalexhortation" (p. 72).The chapter on Soviet tales deals with the work of I. F. Kovalev, G. I. Sorokovikov,and others, who, like the authors of the noviny, often displayed a real talent intheir depiction of Party leaders—notably Stalin—as traditional heroes.Miller's final chapter on the fate of pseudofolklore is focused on the role folkloristsplayed as collaborators as well as resisters in the process of undermining theirfield. Indeed, even before the death of Stalin, folklorists were showing signs ofdiscomfort with the state of scholarship. The noviny and tales were being examinedfor their artistic merit and sometimes criticized for their inauthenticity. The publicationof Studies in Russian Folklore of the Soviet Period, which had been compiled ayear before Stalin's death and which had focused on the representation of the dictatoras hero, became, after 1953, the focus of discontent. Such prominent scholars asV. S. Bakhtin, E. V. Pomerantseva, A. N. Nechaev, and N. Rybakova wrote criticalessays. Some even admitted to their role in the perpetration of pseudofolklore. In the1960s V. la. Propp led the reaction to officially sanctioned views of folklore. However,as Miller points out, folklorists continued to publish noviny and Soviet tales inanthologies dating from the Brezhnev era. Furthermore, he concludes, if the imageof Stalin has been de-emphasized and new theories have been allowed to emerge,the goals of folklore to the present have not differed markedly from those of the1930s: the promotion of loyalty to the country, Lenin, and the Party.Miller's three indexes contain useful synopses of noviny and Soviet tales discussedin the body of the text. The last index reproduces a few well-chosen texts infull.Miller's study, an outgrowth of his Ph.D. dissertation, is solidly researched, wellorganized, and clearly written. It provides the English-speaking reader with aglimpse into yet another aspect of Party control over the peoples of the Soviet Unionduring the Stalin era. However, because Miller tends to describe rather than analyzethe role of myth and folklore in popular life prior to the 1917 Revolution, the readeris left to wonder what has been the reaction to and the effect of this patronizingpseudofolklore—particularly in light of the waning interest in folk traditions on thepart of an increasingly urbanized and literate population.Joanna HubbsHampshire College