Nostalgia for “Golden Age” in Soviet-era culture

Abstract

The prerequisites for the study are the relevant trends in modern humanities that study the “era of nostalgia”, the “demand for the past” in the culture of different regions of the world (Z. Bauman, S. Boym, D. Lowenthal and others), and the interest of the global science in the processes that occur in Russian culture. The “taboo on nostalgia” (S. Boym) should be overcome in the Russian intellectual milieu (the consequence of revising the Soviet sociocultural experience) as a factor that introduces subjectivity into research. The purpose of the study is to identify the prospects for the comprehensive study of the mythologization of the Russian “Golden Age” and the functions of the neomyth in Russian culture of the 20th century; the goal is to define the specific features of the key stages in nostalgic mythmaking (from pre-Soviet to post-Soviet). The initial hypothesis: although different generations have their motives for seeking the ideal in the “Golden” 19th century, each stage can only be interpreted in the context of the single mythmaking process. Research methods are based on the interdisciplinary approach; the authors summarize research data in the field of literature, cultural history, and cultural sociology. The result of the analytical review in the study is the significant elaboration of the notions of the most important nostalgic “plot” of 20th-century Russian culture: 1) over the previous century, the neomyth of the Russian “Golden Age” is actualized almost continuously; 2) the latent stages of the neomyth have been the time of creative individuals’ personal searches, their fruits being later in demand by society; 3) a long cycle of the retrospective search for Russian culture ends with a complete change in the meaning-making social context in the post-Soviet era. In the conclusion, the prospect for scientific discussion is outlined.

Keywords

• nostalgia
• neomyth
• “golden age”