George Orwell, Soviet Studies, and the “Soviet Subjectivity” Debate
George Orwell, Soviet Studies, and the “Soviet Subjectivity” Debate

Author(s): Dmitry Halavach
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Political Theory
Published by: Central European University Press
Keywords: Orwell;utopia;Soviet Union (USSR);
Summary/Abstract: One of the most recent and important contributions to Soviet history is that of “Soviet subjectivity” literature. This approach originates in the works of Igal Halfin and Jochen Hellbeck, for both of whom Michel Foucault and post-structuralist theory are major sources of inspiration. Halfin and Hellbeck use the Foucauldian analysis of the creation of subjectivity by power to look at the Stalinist purges in a new way. The self that they write about is not a Cartesian or Kantian self, but rather an intersection of discourses and mechanisms of power. This is a radical version of the linguistic turn in history, and the questions that Halfin and Hellbeck raise are equally radical. What potential for resistance was there in the USSR? What were the limits and peculiarities of the new “Soviet self”? And what were the sources of the uniquely confessionary nature of Stalinist terror?

• Details
• Contents