Cхід (Apr 2013)
Ukrainian literary movement 'shistdesyatnytstvo' as a phenomenon of the party leadership of the 'thaw'
Abstract
The article considers the origination process of Ukrainian literary movement 'shistdesyatnytstvo' in the light of the Soviet government's literary-artistic policy as well as the changes of the ideological grounding of this policy due to the change of the party leadership. Ukrainian and foreign historiography has been reviewed. A complex of objective historical prerequisites, both inner and outer, that caused the appearance of Ukrainian literary movement 'shistdesyatnytstvo' during the epoch of the Thaw has been defined. The scope of manifestation of liberalization in the sphere of literature and art has been analyzed; the attention has been paid to Soviet leadership inconsistency in pursuing literary-artistic policy. Two dramatically opposite stages of relationship development of literary intellectuals and the authority during the Thaw period have been distinguished: the first (1956 - 1959) is seemingly demonstrational retreat from Stalin's methods of control, criticism of Stalinism, certain liberalization in the sphere of literary-artistic activity in order to consolidate Khrushchev's power; the second (1960 - 1964) is a gradual retreat from the policy of liberalization to centralization of power, a return to Stalin's methodology of control and as a result the limitation of freedom of creative artists within the framework of artistic creative method dominant in the Soviet Union. For the first time in domestic historiography alongside with the traditional, both published and non-published, document base works of prose and poetry have been used as a historical source; these are works of cohort of Ukrainian creative artists called 'shistdesyatnyky' who made themselves widely known during the epoch of the so called Khrushchev's Thaw. The rise of cultural opposition in the circles of literary-artistic intellectuals of Ukraine caused by winding down the process of liberalization in all the spheres of life of the country during the second stage of the Thaw has been proved.
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