Language And Metaphors Of The Russian Revolution

"This panoramic history of the Russian intelligentsia provides a uniquely cross-disciplinary look at the language of the Russian Revolution from its origins through fruition in early Soviet society. Harrison examines storms, floods, and harvest metaphors in selected works of fiction and analyzes the use of language as a weapon of class war"--

Language and Metaphors of the Russian Revolution: Sow the Wind, Reap the Storm is a panoramic history of the Russian intelligentsia and an analysis of the language and ideals of the Russian Revolution, from its inception over the long nineteenth century through fruition in early Soviet society. This volume examines metaphors for revolution in the storm, flood, and harvest imagery ubiquitous in Russian literary works. At the same time, it considers the struggle to own the narrative of modernity, including Bolshevik weaponization of language and cultural policy that supported the use of terror and social purging. This uniquely cross-disciplinary study conducts a close reading of texts that use storm, flood, and agricultural metaphors in diverse ways to represent revolution, whether in anticipation and celebration of its ideals or in resistance to the same. A spotlight is given to the lives and works of authors who responded to Soviet authoritarianism by reclaiming the narrative of revolution in the name of personal freedom and restoration of humanist values. Hinging on the clashes of culture wars and class wars and residing at the intersection of ideas at the very core of the fight for modernity, this book provides a critical reading of authoritarian discourse and investigates rare examples of the counter narratives that thrived in spite of their suppression.

Through 30 interpretative essays, The Bloomsbury Handbook of the Russian Revolution sees an international team of leading scholars comprehensively examine Russia's revolutionary years. In the wake of the 2017 centenary, this handbook is the first reference point for anyone wishing to learn more about the changes which took place in Russia between 1917 and 1921 and subsequently the 20th century. Split into six sections covering political crises, politicians and parties, social groups, identities, regions and peoples, and civil war, the volume covers the collapse of Tsarism and the February Revolution, the emergence of the Provisional Government, and major historical figures such as Lenin, Kerensky and the Socialist Revolutionary leader Viktor Chernov. It also explores the events surrounding the Bolshevik seizure of power in October 1917, the first year of Soviet Government until the Bolshevik dictatorship was established, and the impact on Russia of the subsequent civil war. The focus is broader than these issues of high politics, however, since this handbook also considers events in the provinces as well as revolutionary Petrograd, and examines the social impact of the revolution in terms of class, gender, age and culture.

How does a country find itself 'at war' over spelling? This book focuses on a crucial juncture in the post-communist history of the Czech Republic, when an orthographic commission with a moderate reformist agenda found itself the focus of enormous public controversy. Delving back into history, Bermel explores the Czech nation's long tradition of intervention and its association with the purity of the language, and how in the twentieth century an ascendant linguistic school - Prague Functionalism - developed into a progressive but centralizing ideology whose power base was inextricably linked to the communist regime. Bermel looks closely at the reforms of the 1990s and the heated public reaction to them. On the part of language regulators, he examines the ideology that underlay the reforms and the tactics employed on all sides to gain linguistic authority, while in dissecting the public reaction, he looks both at conscious arguments marshaled in favor of and against reform and at the use, conscious and subconscious, of metaphors about language. Of interest to faculty and students working in the area of language, cultural studies, and history, especially that of transitional and post-communist states, this volume is also relevant for those with a more general interest in language planning and language reform. The book is awarded with the "The George Blazyca Prize in East European Studies 2008".

A popular concise guide - one of the clearest available on the Russian Revolution.

The book sheds light on the preconditions and consequences extending far beyond the event that opened up totally new horizons in 1917. To mark the centennial of the Russian Revolution, an international team of both junior and experienced scholars from Austria, Belarus, Brazil, the Czech Republic, France, Israel, Poland, Russia and Slovakia brought together contributions from the surprisingly broad interdisciplinary field of comparative, economic, conceptual, and political history, human geography and urbanism, literature, media studies, and political science. The book explains the Russian revolution in a complex ambiguity between the event and its immediate consequences, medium-term social and economic transformations, and the long-term reconfiguration of the spaces of politics and culture.

The authors examine the diverse ways that language and other symbols--including flags and emblems, public rituals, songs, and codes of dress--were used to identify competing sides and to create new meanings in Russia's political struggles of 1917. 32 illustrations.

This book traces the profound influence that Russian literature, which was tied inseparably to the political victory of the Russian revolution, had on China during a period that saw the collapse of imperial rule and the rise of the Communist Party.