Voicing the Soviet Experience

The career of Ol'ga Berggol'ts offers a case study in the complexities that faced Soviet writers in the Stalin era, and demonstrates that the borders between 'official' and 'unofficial' literature were permeable and shifting. This study draws on unpublished materials, including the poet's notebooks and diaries, to show how conflict and ambiguity functioned as a structuring principle in her work. The tensions of attempting to reconcile Party loyalty with personal and artistic integrity are revealed in her lyric poetry, her treatment of other genres, including prose, and in the intensively intra-textual nature of her writing. Dr Hodgson reassesses the cultural heritage of an era that can seem remote and impenetrable, but which is complex and intriguing.