Empire of Objects: Iurii Trifonov and the Material World of Soviet Culture

Iurii Trifonov was a canonical Soviet author whose lifetime spanned nearly the whole of the USSR's history, embodying many of its contradictions. He wrote his first novel in praise of the dictators policies, but was a subtle critic of the communist regime. Scholars have neglected his work, focusing on his most famous works, but almost half of his output was written before the 1960s. His work reflects the paradoxes of a culture that could neither confront the past nor create a viable future, and offers a compelling window into Soviet culture.

Format: Unspecified
Length: 170 pages
Publication date: 30 November 2023
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press

Iurii Trifonov, a canonical Soviet author whose lifetime spanned nearly the whole of the USSR's history, embodied many of its contradictions. Born to a Bolshevik murdered on Stalin's orders, he wrote his first novel in praise of the dictator's policies. A lifelong Muscovite, he often set his prose in the Central Asian peripheries of the USSR's empire. A subtle critic of the communist regime, he nonetheless benefited from privileges doled out by a censorious state. Scholars have neglected Trifonov in recent years, focusing their limited attention on the authors most famous works, produced in the 1960s through 1980s. Yet, almost half of his output was written before then. In Empire of Objects, Benjamin Sutcliffe takes care to consider the author's entire oeuvre. Trifonov's work reflects the paradoxes of a culture that could neither honestly confront the past nor create a viable future, oscillating between trying to address and attempting to obscure the trauma of Stalinism. He became increasingly incensed by what he perceived as the erosion of sincerity in public and private life, the impact of technology, and the state's tacit support of greed and materialism. Trifonov's work, though fictional, offers a compelling window into Soviet culture.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780299344009