Reassessing the past

images of Stalin and Stalinism in contemporary Russian literature

Rosalind Marsh

pp. 89-105

in: Sheelagh Duffin Graham (ed), New directions in Soviet literature, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1992

Abstract

Since Gorbachev came to power in 1985 there has been a widespread and unprecedented revaluation of Soviet history and a heated debate about the future development of Soviet society, far surpassing the earlier reassessment which took place under Khrushchev. Literature has played a very important part in this process, opening up new subjects for historical enquiry and challenging historians to produce a deener analysis of their countrv's nast.