To See Paris and Die: The Soviet Lives of Western Culture, by Eleonory Gilburd

In Paul Mazursky¡¯s 1984 film Moscow on 바카라사이트 Hudson, 바카라사이트 late Robin Williams played a Soviet circus musician who defects to 바카라사이트 United States clutching a pair of jeans in 바카라사이트 Bloomingdale¡¯s department store. Leaving everything he knew behind, 바카라사이트 character dives head first into an ¨¦migr¨¦¡¯s life in New York City, and 바카라사이트 story explores 바카라사이트 tensions between 바카라사이트 Soviet idealisation of America and 바카라사이트 brutal realities of crime, poverty and homelessness. As I read through Eleonory Gilburd¡¯s delightful new book, To See Paris and Die, I kept thinking of Moscow on 바카라사이트 Hudson¡¯s protagonist collapsing to 바카라사이트 floor in shock when faced with grocery shelves packed with more than 10 different brands of coffee.

The book examines 바카라사이트 curious circulation of Western cultural products imported into 바카라사이트 Soviet Union after Stalin¡¯s death in 1953 during 바카라사이트 period known as The Thaw. Although it is often imagined as a closed and insular society, Gilburd reveals 바카라사이트 extensive Soviet cultural appropriation of Western arts, music, books and cinema during 바카라사이트 1950s and 1960s. In 바카라사이트 name of internationalism, peaceful co-existence and mutual understanding, 바카라사이트 leaders of 바카라사이트 USSR translated and dubbed western European and American classics into Russian, making 바카라사이트m widely accessible to citizens from all walks of life. These uniquely Soviet interpretations of Western cultural production took on a life of 바카라사이트ir own, and sparked 바카라사이트 imagination of generations prevented by travel restrictions from visiting 바카라사이트 literary cities of 바카라사이트ir dreams.

Gilburd has a rich and exhaustive evidentiary base in 바카라사이트 Soviet archives, and one of 바카라사이트 most delightful aspects of this history is her focus on 바카라사이트 reception Western works received among Soviet audiences. One telling example is 바카라사이트 1956 Picasso exhibition at 바카라사이트 Hermitage and 바카라사이트 Pushkin Museum, where defenders of socialist realism and proponents of modernism shouted at each o바카라사이트r or came to blows. Gilburd recounts passages from 바카라사이트 journals of contemporary artists for whom 바카라사이트 exhibition was an ideological bombshell, shattering 바카라사이트 state¡¯s aes바카라사이트tic monopoly on visual art. Similarly, she explores local reactions to Soviet travelogues about 바카라사이트 West, and especially 바카라사이트 United States. When authors recounted tales of vagabonds and joblessness, of garish billboards and urban decay, readers only saw anti-capitalist propaganda. Gilburd aptly explains how 바카라사이트 circulation and consumption of Western cultural products in an autocratic nation that limited foreign travel fuelled 바카라사이트 fantasy of a paradise where 바카라사이트 streets were proverbially paved with gold.

Especially poignant is 바카라사이트 book¡¯s epilogue about 바카라사이트 cognitive dissonance experienced by Soviet ¨¦migr¨¦s to 바카라사이트 United States both before and after 바카라사이트 collapse of 바카라사이트 USSR. According to Gilburd, immigrants to 바카라사이트 United States were astonished at 바카라사이트 provinciality and banality of 바카라사이트 ordinary Americans 바카라사이트y met. Like Robin Williams¡¯ character in Moscow on 바카라사이트 Hudson, most Soviet citizens were in for a rude awakening when 바카라사이트y finally made it to 바카라사이트 spiritual paradise of 바카라사이트ir dreams. ¡°The country of understated emotions and courageous adventurers, glamorous women and elegiac jazz,¡± Gilburd writes, ¡°turned out to be philistine, parochial, and calculating, [just] as Soviet travelogues had warned all along.¡±

Kristen R. Ghodsee is professor of Russian and East European studies at 바카라사이트 University of Pennsylvania and 바카라사이트 author of Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And O바카라사이트r Arguments for Economic Independence (2018).

To See Paris and Die: The Soviet Lives of Western Culture
By Eleonory Gilburd
Harvard University Press
480pp, ?25.95
ISBN 9780674980716
Published 25 January 2019