Satirical Discourse of Soviet Prose 1920s-30s

A paradoxical factor in early Soviet culture (1920-1930s) was the flourishing of “smekhevaya kultura” amid the difficulties and poverty of the first years of the new political system. Students will get acquainted with the best examples of satirical prose: humorous stories of M. Zoshchenko; fantastical satire of M. Bulgakov; grotesque novels of D. Kharms, N. Teffi, I. Ilf and E. Petrov; the tragic grotesque in the works of A. Platonov.