A. P. Chekhov in Soviet film culture: Tactics of dissent.

Abstract

In this dissertation, I argue that in the 1950s and 60s cinema culture generated a synthetic-analytical Chekhovian discourse that encompassed the main aspects of the being of narrative at large, where being signifies the existence of an essence, as whiteness is the essence of the color white. The being of narrative in Soviet culture at different points in time always revolved around either the interface or the mutual repulsion between the officially imposed narrative framework (which I consider in this dissertation as a stable Stalinist proto-<italic>fabula</italic>) and artistic agency as revealed in the fluid <italic>siuzhet</italic> of Soviet films. In Soviet narratives, this relationship manifested itself essentially in the interaction of the central positive hero with his or her social environment. In Soviet discourse, the positive hero was conceptualized in Engelsian terms as the typical hero, while social environment constituted the typical circumstances of the hero's progress toward greater ideological consciousness. The emergence and evolution of the Chekhovian discourse in the 1950s and 60s was linked precisely to the inflation of typicality---a pivotal concept in both Russian and Soviet cultures, obsessed with the generalizing capacities of art. This dissertation focuses on Chekhov's presence in the most topical film critical discourses, especially those of the 1960s, as well as in the films of the 1930s--60s dealing with contemporary life. I have purposely chosen a number of films that draw on Chekhov intertextually. This dissertation seeks to fill the gap in the study of Chekhov's reception in the Soviet Union and provide a nuanced perspective on the evolution of Soviet cinematic narrative and the critical-theoretical discourses around cinema. I draw methodologically on works that are also my primary sources, such as the 1950s and 1960s film criticism as well as the Russian Formalists. Among contemporary scholars, this study is particularly indebted to Katerina Clark, Evgenii Dobrenko, and Boris Groys.