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The Ethnic
Avant-Garde
Modernist Latitudes
Jessica Berman and Paul Saint-Amour, Editors
Modernist Latitudes
JESSICA BERMAN AND PAUL SAINT-AMOUR, EDITORS
Modernist Latitudes aims to capture the energy and ferment of modernist studies by continuing to open up the range of forms, locations,
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The series celebrates the growing latitude (scope for freedom of acWLRQ RU WKRXJKW WKDW WKLV EURDGHQLQJ DRUGV VFKRODUV RI PRGHUQism, whether they are investigating little-known works or revisiting
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the texts and contexts of those latitudes (Africa, Latin America, Australia, Asia, Southern Europe, and even the rural United States) that have
long been misrecognized as ancillary to the canonical modernisms of
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Barry McCrea, In the Company of Strangers: Family and Narrative in
Dickens, Conan Doyle, Joyce, and Proust, 2011
Jessica Berman, Modernist Commitments: Ethics, Politics, and
Transnational Modernism, 2011
Jennifer Scappettone, Killing the Moonlight: Modernism in Venice, 2014
Nico Israel, Spirals: The Whirled Image in Twentieth-Century Literature
and Art, 2015
Carrie Noland, Voices of Negritude in Modernist Print: Aesthetic
Subjectivity, Diaspora, and the Lyric Regime, 2015
The
Ethnic
AvantGarde
Minority Cultures and
World Revolution
STEVEN S. LEE
Columbia
University
Press
New York
For my parents
Contents
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The Ethnic
Avant-Garde
Introduction
INTRODUCTION
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$VLQGLFDWHGE\-DFTXHV'HUULGDDIWHUKLVRZQYLVLWVXFKGHVFULStions can be seen as part of a rich, brief, intense, and dense tradition
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tempore DQG HVFKDWRORJLFDO PRVDLF RU PHVVLDQLF VSDFH2 My task is to
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makes little sense in our postsocialist present, accustomed as we are to
dismissing the Soviet Union as a monolith that failed to accommodate
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prescription that culture be national in form, socialist in content, which
blandly meant that Bolshevik decrees were to be published in multiple
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Thus, one basic aim of this book is to recapture the magic behind the
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a growing number of scholars have shown, these pilgrims and would-be
pilgrims were certainly looking for Moscows brand of multiculturalism
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0D\DNRYVN\DQG9VHYRORG0H\HUKROGWKLVOLRQL]HGEUDQFKRIWKHLQWHUnational avant-garde that, as Slavists well know, had itself long been fasFLQDWHGE\PLQRULW\DQGQRQ:HVWHUQFXOWXUHV)URPWKHDOLJQPHQWRIDUW
and revolution emerged many striking, eccentric ways of expressing culWXUDOGLHUHQFHYLVLRQVRISROLWLFDODQGDUWLVWLFYDQJXDUGLVPWKDWGHHSened rather than erased ethnic particularism; visions of world revolution
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to unlock the suppressed utopian potential of minority and avant-garde
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garde, on the other hand, is a military term (the vanguard of a unit)
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FIGURE I.1 Long Live the Fraternal Union and Great Friendship of Peoples of the
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
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To lay this groupings historical and conceptual foundation, this introduction begins with an overview of the Soviet Unions political and artisWLFDOOXUHIRUPLQRULWLHVDQGQRQ:HVWHUQHUVDURXQGWKHZRUOG,LOOXVWUDWH
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intertwined iron spirals that cut through the heavens like a telescope or a
cannon, the never-built tower positions the Soviet Union of the interwar
INTRODUCTION
MoscowCapital of Now-Time
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Moscow, the Fourth RomeUHYHDOVWKDWHYHQDPLGWKH6WDOLQLVWV0RVFRZ
UHPDLQHGDFRVPRSROLWDQFLW\LQGLDORJXHZLWKFXOWXUDOJXUHVDQGGHYHORSPHQWVDURXQGWKHZRUOG/LNHZLVH.DWH%DOGZLQVBeyond the Color Line
and the Iron CurtainVKRZVKRZMRXUQH\VWRWKH6RYLHW8QLRQHQDEOHG$IULFDQ$PHULFDQDFWLYLVWVDQGLQWHOOHFWXDOVWRUHWKLQNUDFHFODVVDQGJHQGHU
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of Clark, to open Pascale Casanovas world republic of letters to Stalinist
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ambitions having long given way to urban redevelopment and monuPHQWVRIWKHERXUJHRLVLH+HKLQWHGWKDWWKHWZHQWLHWKFHQWXU\GHPDQG-
INTRODUCTION
FIGURE I.3
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INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
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iron and glass, the two most primitive [prosteishikh] materials, for which
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perspective, the two spirals evoked not simply a socialist future but also a
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All this points to a vision of revolution sweeping back and forth beWZHHQIXWXUHDQGSDVWDQGEHFRPLQJHYHUPRUHLQFOXVLYHDVDUHVXOW2Q
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traditional monuments, it eschewed a single heroic type and, in line with
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SDVWGLYLVLRQDQGSUHMXGLFHV12+RZHYHUDVLQGLFDWHGE\3XQLQWKHFODVsic tower also gestured to the distant past and, from the moment of its
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ZKLFK7DWOLQPD\KDYHYLVLWHGGXULQJKLV\RXWKDVDVDLORU+HFHUWDLQO\YLVited Syria, Turkey, and Egypt, and some have seen the tower as a composite
RIUXLQVIURPWKRVHSODFHV The suprematist painter El Lissitzky called it a
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has emphasized, the Sargon monument was considered an inspiration for
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peoples in a shared, liberated society; and arguably the result of both failed
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The tower was thus read as advancing a universal form, but one with
vaguely Middle Eastern forebears; it evoked a single world civilization, but
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to broaden revolution beyond modern bounds to its original, astronomiFDO FRQQRWDWLRQVUHYROXWLRQ DV LQ +DQQDK $UHQGWV ZRUGV WKH UHFXUULQJF\FOLFDOPRYHPHQWRIVWDUV7KLVPDNHVWKHQRWLRQRIWKHWRZHUDV
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\HDUFRUUHVSRQGLQJWRWKHFHOHVWLDOUK\WKPVRIHDUWKDQGPRRQ155Hinhart Koselleck similarly expands revolution by linking it to premodern
10
INTRODUCTION
HVFKDWRORJ\ERWKPDUNHGE\H[SHFWDWLRQVRIVDOYDWLRQDQGHRUWVWRDFFHOHUDWHWLPH In short, while revolution is typically understood as a distinctly modern leap into the new, it can also refer to a perspective outside
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apocalyptic moment, as a time not of forward linear progress but of a saFUHGEUHDNLQWHPSRUDOLW\
It is understandable, even predictable that an avant-gardist like Tatlin would evoke such iconoclastic views of revolution, opening the term
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similar, that is, to articulate a vision of revolution able to accommodate
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Leon Trotsky, democratic revolution could immediately give way to socialist revolution (Trotskys theory of permanent revolution); backward
nations could combine and leap over historical stages (Trotskys theory
of combined and uneven development); and countries where capitalism
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serve as the vanguard of world revolution without having to advance
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$FFRUGLQJO\LQDGYDQFHRIWKH&RPLQWHUQV6HFRQG&RQJUHVVLQ/HQin famously called for communists to support revolutionary movements
among the dependent and underprivileged nations (for example, Ireland,
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INTRODUCTION
11
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INTRODUCTION
yet more eccentric, inclusive visions of world revolution, related but not
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allows us to see the vanguard and avant-garde neither as synonymous
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avant-gardes utopian surplus from the abortive histories of the BolsheYLN5HYROXWLRQDQGWKH&RPPXQLVW,QWHUQDWLRQDO$WWKHVDPHWLPHLWHQables us to draw from these histories a revolutionary political horizon that
bolstered the Soviet avant-gardes long-standing interest in other peoples
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My contention is that through works like the tower, Soviet avant-gardLVWV XQVHDWHG WKH +HJHOLDQ QRWLRQ RI KLVWRULFDO GHYHORSPHQW ZKLFK KDG
ORQJSRVHG:HVWHUQ(XURSHDQVDWWKHOHDGRI:RUOG6SLULW5XVVLDQVODJJLQJDQG$IULFDQVH[FOXGHGDOWRJHWKHU Again, the Bolshevik vanguard had
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and romantic anticapitalism, it articulated visions of revolution in which
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most famous for his zaumWUDQVUDWLRQDOSRHWU\DUHKHUHH[HPSODU\0DQ\
have discussed Khlebnikovs eccentric approach to time, namely, his effort to predict the future by measuring the intervals between past historic
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+RZHYHUDV+DUVKD5DPKDVVKRZQVXFKHRUWVDOVROHGKLPWRHPEUDFH
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the unity of the Stars, and through the freedom of the continent to the freeGRPRIWKHHQWLUHSODQHW)RU.KOHEQLNRY$VLDVHUYHVDVWKHNH\WRPDNLQJ
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INTRODUCTION
13
Aryan, the Indian, and the Caspian, the triangle of Christ, the Buddha and
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This is to distinguish once again the Soviet avant-garde from the BolVKHYLN YDQJXDUG EXW DOVR WR GLVWLQJXLVK WKH 6RYLHWV IURP WKHLU :HVWHUQ
counterparts and competitors, many of whom also happened to be drawn
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anticipate Ezra Pounds Cantos LIILXXI ZKLFKFRQQHFWHG&RQIXFLDQ
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bore a racism and Eurocentrism that ultimately kept these cultures at a
GLVWDQFHDGLVWDQFHWKDW.KOHEQLNRYVRXJKWWRRYHUFRPH Indeed, the anWLLPSHULDOLVWXQGHUSLQQLQJVRIKLV,QGR5XVVLDQ8QLRQVHHPWRDOLJQKLP
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GHVWDELOL]HUHFHLYHGQRWLRQVRIWKHUHDOQRUPDODQGEHDXWLIXO'UDZing inspiration from works like Pablo Picassos Les demoiselles dAvignon
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expression through the sense that something new was occurring in the
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H[RWLFRIFRXUVHKHOSHGPDNHLQWHUZDU3DULVDYLEUDQWFXOWXUDOKXELQFOXGLQJIRUPDQ\DUWLVWVDQGZULWHUVRIFRORU+RZHYHULQFRQWUDVWWR7DWlin and Khlebnikov, the ethnographic surrealists lacked the Cominterns
revolutionary politics, directed against the very forces that made African
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VXUUHDOLVWVVRXJKWWRGHFHQWHU(XURSHDQGRHUHGUHVLVWDQFHWRRSSUHVsion and a necessary counsel of tolerance, comprehension, and mercy
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14
INTRODUCTION
it provides on the Soviet avant-gardes relation to minority and non:HVWHUQ FXOWXUHV 7KDW LV ZH PXVW IROORZ .KOHEQLNRY GRZQ WKH UDEELW
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EULHIH[FXUVLRQLVDQLQXHQWLDOJURXSRISDLQWHUVIURPWKHVHFRQGGHcade of the twentieth century who called themselves the neoprimitivLVWV DQG ZKR FRXQWHG .KOHEQLNRY DQG 7DWOLQ DPRQJ WKHLU PDQ\ DOOLHV
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chinoiserie in claiming the beautiful East as the key to disrupting perFHSWLRQDQGFRQWLQXLW\:HDUHVWULYLQJWRVHHNQHZSDWKVIRURXUDUW
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INTRODUCTION
FIGURE I.5
15
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RJQL]HDERYHDOOWKHSULPLWLYHWKHPDJLFIDEOHRIWKHROG(DVWZURWH
WKHSDLQWHU$OHNVDQGU6KHYFKHQNRLQ Accordingly, the Asian faces
in his painting Laundresses from the same year evoke the angled African
masks of Picassos Les demoiselles +RZHYHU DV DUW KLVWRULDQ -DQH 6KDUS
has emphasized, the neo of this primitivism lay in its avowedly anti:HVWHUQVWDQFH,QWKHZRUGVRIDQRWKHURILWVOHDGHUV1DWDOLD*RQFKDURYD,WXUQDZD\IURPWKH:HVWEHFDXVHIRUPHSHUVRQDOO\LWKDVGULHG
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INTRODUCTION
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INTRODUCTION
17
Though far more crude and violent than Khlebnikovs manifesto, these
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the Bolsheviks-as-Scythians leap from premodern tribe to revolutionary
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the revolutionary masses as Asians, Blok came not only to contemplate
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EXWDOVRWRHQGRUVHLWWRVHOILGHQWLI\DV6F\WKLDQ40 This is despite the
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had a particular predilection for looking eastward for apocalyptic renewDO42 The distinctness of this tradition makes all the more remarkable the
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Fourth Congress his senses were stirred by the semi-oriental splendor
and movement of Moscow even before my intellect was touched by the
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18
INTRODUCTION
SUREDEO\XQLQWHQGHGUHVSRQVHWR%ORNVEDUEDULDQO\UHDUHDGLQJUHLQforced by the regular use of rhymes and iambs found in both Scythians
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And yet I saw a bright Byzantine fair,
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A glory painted on the Eastern air,
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All colours laughing richly their delight
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My memory bears engraved the high-walled Kremlin,
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And often now my nerves throb with the thrill
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INTRODUCTION
19
As others have noted, this passage combines racial pride on the one hand
DQGDZLOOLQJQHVVWREHFRPHDQLNRQWKDWLVWRDFFHSWWKH&RPLQWHUQV
ODWHQWHVVHQWLDOLVPWKHUROHRIVWDQGLQ$IULFDQDVVLJQHGWRKLP45 But I
ZRXOGDOVROLNHWRHPSKDVL]HDPRUHVXEWOHDOOXUHRSHUDWLQJKHUHKLVVSHOOing of ikon (as opposed to icon) suggests that, as he was being foisted
above Moscows streets, he imagined himself as a religious icon (ikona)
DQGKHQFHRPHQRIJRRGOXFN-DPDLFDQ$PHULFDQSRHWDV5XVVLDQ2UWKRGR[VDLQWSDLQWHGRQZRRGNLVVHGE\SDULVKLRQHUV In other words,
QRW RQO\ GLG 0F.D\ DGPLUH WKH %\]DQWLQH TXDOLWLHV RI 0RVFRZV MHZHOOHGEXLOGLQJVSLOODUVGRPHVDQGVSLUHVWKDWLV2UWKRGR[FKXUFKHVEXW
DOVR LQ D VHQVH KH KLPVHOI EHFDPH %\]DQWLQH LGHQWLI\LQJ ZLWK 5XVVLD
MXVW DV .KOHEQLNRY DQG %ORN LGHQWLHG ZLWK $VLD McKay was not alone
20
INTRODUCTION
LQGRLQJVRWKH6RYLHW8QLRQVSHUFHLYHGH[RWLFQHVVDOVRLPSUHVVHG/RYHWW
)RUW:KLWHPDQZKRLQEHFDPHWKHUVW$IULFDQ$PHULFDQWRUHFHLYH
&RPLQWHUQWUDLQLQJLQ0RVFRZ8SRQKLVUHWXUQWR&KLFDJRDVDFRPPXQLVWRUJDQL]HUKHDHFWHGD5XVVLDQVW\OHRIGUHVVVSRUWLQJDrobochka (a
mans long belted shirt) which came almost to his knees, ornamental belt,
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by another, a veritable Black Cossack whose high cheekbones gave him
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All this is to present Moscow and the revolution as uncannily inclusive,
DVSURPRWLQJQRWRQO\FODVVEDVHGHTXDOLW\EXWDOVRXQH[SHFWHGFURVVFXOWXUDOHQFRXQWHUV7KHVHHQFRXQWHUVKDGWKHSRZHUWRWUDQVIRUPSHUFHStion, giving rise to these feverish visions of the Bolsheviks as Asian and
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HDUO\VEODFNFRPPXQLVWVLQ1HZ<RUNGLVWULEXWHGEXVWVRI$OHNVDQGU
3XVKNLQDQGDXQWHGKLV(WKLRSLDQDQFHVWU\) To be sure, not all minorLW\YLVLWRUVWRLQWHUZDU0RVFRZIRXQGWKHFLW\VRZHOFRPLQJLQFLGHQWVRI
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the point here is not to gauge the extent to which such visions corresponded with reality but to pursue the imaginative possibilities that they
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XWRSLDQGUHDPVZHQWWRGLH51 Tatlin, Khlebnikov, Blok, and McKay highlight instead the colorful allure of revolution, the magic behind the
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Enlightenment Anatoly Lunacharsky asserted, Yes, we shall rise at the
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WKHSXUSRVHRIFUXVKLQJKHUVNHOHWRQZLWKRXU6F\WKLDQHPEUDFH&RQtra Blok, Lunacharsky insisted that the Bolsheviks were by no means
opposed to European civilization and that the world revolution would
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less hope in their own proletariat than in those phantom hordes which
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INTRODUCTION
21
WKH SUREOHP ZLWK VXFK IDQWDVLHV ZDV WKDW WKH\ ZHUH VWLLQJ UHYROXWLRQ
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Lunacharsky declared, we must absolutely establish our position in this
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SKDQWRPKRUGHVWRWKHZRUOGLQKLVVWXQQLQJOPThe Heir of Genghis Khan
UHOHDVHGLQ(QJOLVKDVStorm Over Asia6HWLQ0RQJROLDGXULQJWKH
5XVVLDQ &LYLO :DU LW VKRZV %ULWLVK H[SHGLWLRQDU\ IRUFHV FDSWXULQJ ZKDW
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with his bare hands, riding on horseback with sword raised, and leading a
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LQ\RXUDQFLHQWVWUHQJWKDQGIUHH\RXUVHOYHVUHDGWKHOPVQDOLQWHUWLWOHV/XQDFKDUVN\VGHFODUDWLRQQRWZLWKVWDQGLQJQRWLRQVRIWKH%ROVKHYLN
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+ + +
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VROLGDULW\WRRSSUHVVHGQDWLRQVZKDWSROLWLFDOIXQFWLRQGLGWKHVHLFRQRFODVWLFYLVLRQVVHUYH":HUHWKH\SURJUHVVLYHRUUHJUHVVLYHLQQRYDWLYHKDUbingers of a liberated culture that would unite the human race, or violent
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OHJLEO\0DU[LVWWUDGLWLRQZLWKWKHDLGRI:DOWHU%HQMDPLQDQGLQSDUWLFXODUKLVRZQLPSUHVVLRQVRIWKH6RYLHW8QLRQGXULQJKLVYLVLWWR
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writing collaborations, but primarily to pursue a fruitless romance with his
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DQG FXOWXUDO HOLWH7URWVN\ =LQRYLHY /XQDFKDUVN\ 0D\DNRYVN\54) NoneWKHOHVV%HQMDPLQVH[SHULHQFHZDVVLPLODUWR0F.D\VLQWKDWKHIRXQGD
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22
INTRODUCTION
theoretical framework that helps us to see them as both radical and porWDEOHWKDWLVQRWH[FOXVLYHWRWKHGLVWLQFWWUDGLWLRQVRI5XVVLDQPRGHUQLVP
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resulted in part from the astounding degree to which the exotic surges
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VXUUHDOLVP UHFDOOLQJ QHDU WKH VWDUW RI KLV HVVD\ RQ WKH JURXS VXUrounding Andr Breton,
In Moscow I lived in a hotel in which almost all the rooms were occupied
by Tibetan lamas who had come to Moscow for a congress of Buddhist
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DOZD\VOHIWDMDU:KDWKDGDWUVWVHHPHGDFFLGHQWDOEHJDQWREHGLVWXUELQJ , IRXQG RXW WKDW LQ WKHVH URRPV OLYHG PHPEHUV RI D VHFW ZKR KDG
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bridging of distant realities to enable new forms of expression, and acFRUGLQJO\%HQMDPLQOLNHQVWKLV0RVFRZHQFRXQWHUWRWKHVKRFNRIUHDGing Bretons NadjaERWKSURYLGLQJDQLQWR[LFDWLRQDPRUDOH[KLELWLRQLVPWKDWZHEDGO\QHHG2IFRXUVHLWZDV%HQMDPLQVSURMHFWWRKDUQHVV
such intoxication and exhibitionism for socialism, to show how the avantJDUGHV PDJLFDO H[SHULPHQWV ZLWK ZRUGV FRXOG KHOS VSDUN UHYROXWLRQ
The key was to see beyond veneers and get at the true face of a city,
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had Paris in mind, but it seems he found the inconceivable more readily
SUHVHQWLQ0RVFRZ+HDSSUHFLDWHGWKHFLW\DVDSODFHWKDWZDVDQGUHmains) spatially disorienting, with labyrinthine streets, shoving crowds,
DVZHOODVPDSQDPHVDQGERUGHUVVKLIWLQJZLWKRXWZDUQLQJ+HGHVFULEHG
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INTRODUCTION
23
also disorienting in the broader sense that this was the furthest he would
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Meyerholds experimental production Give Us Europe (Daesh Evropu
it seems to have anticipated by several years the famous Surrealist Map
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:KDW,DPVXJJHVWLQJKHUHLVWKDW%HQMDPLQV6RYLHWVWD\LQIRUPHGKLV
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According to him, his Moscow writings concentrate less on visual than
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EOHQGVLQWRDZKROHZLWKWKHQHZUK\WKPVRIWKH5HYROXWLRQ+HHODERrates on this blend in his essay Moscow, where for the locals minutes
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7KXVKHUHDJDLQZHQGDQDVVRFLDWLRQEHWZHHQ5XVVLDDQG$VLDWKRXJKDW
UVWJODQFHWKLVLVPHUHO\D:HVWHUQHUVFRPSODLQWDERXW6ODYLFEDFNZDUGQHVVEDHPHQWWKDWWKHUHYROXWLRQFRXOGKDYHXQIROGHGKHUH
6LPLODUWR7URWVN\WKRXJK%HQMDPLQZDVDEOHWRWUDQVIRUPWKLVVHHPLQJGHFLHQF\LQWRDYLUWXH,Q0RVFRZKHZDVDEOHWRUHWKLQNWKHPRYHment of time, to stretch and imbibe minutes so that time itself became an
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would deliver his morning wake-up knock (presumably he kept his door
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The real unit of time is the seichas7KLVPHDQVDWRQFH<RXFDQKHDULW
ten, twenty, thirty times, and wait hours, days, or weeks until the promise
24
INTRODUCTION
7KURXJKWKLVGLVWLQFWO\5XVVLDQHPSKDVLVRQWKHseichas%HQMDPLQLGHQWLHV DQ XQUXO\ WHPSRUDOLW\ PDUNHG E\ GHQVLW\WKH FROOLVLRQ DQG DFFXPXODWLRQRIGLVWLQFWPRPHQWVRIWLPH)RULQVWDQFHKHGHVFULEHVWKH
public transport system as evincing the complete interpenetration of
technological and primitive modes of life, with conductresses standLQJIXUZUDSSHGDWWKHLUSODFHVOLNH6DPR\HGZRPHQRQDVOHLJK+H
encounters similar collisions of time in the everyday consumer goods
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side by side, and handmade wooden folk toys that captured the diverse
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GLVDSSHDULQWKHIDFHRISURJUHVV As art historian Christina Kiaer has
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OLWHUDWXUHZKDWDWWUDFWHG%HQMDPLQLQ0RVFRZZDVWKLVXELTXLWRXVLQWHUPLQJOLQJRIROGDQGQHZ+LVWRULFDOSRVVLELOLWLHVFDPHLQWKHIRUPRI
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is this use of seichas, which, as he indicates, when spoken can be translated
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(an eccentric cousin to combined and uneven development) interrupts
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INTRODUCTION
25
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,QKLVWKHVHV%HQMDPLQLOOXVWUDWHVQRZWLPHWKURXJK5REHVSLHUUHV
HPEUDFHRIDQFLHQW5RPHWKHIDFWWKDWWKH)UHQFK5HYROXWLRQYLHZHGLWVHOIDV5RPHLQFDUQDWH:HFDQDGGWRWKLVKLVDFFRXQWVRI$VLDWLF5XVVLDQVDQG6DPR\HGFRQGXFWUHVVHVWKHVHLQVWDQFHVRIseichas that take on
UHYROXWLRQDU\VLJQLFDQFHZKHQUHFDVWDVJetztzeit7KURXJKWKLV%HQMDPLQian lens, they become constellations of past and present that serve to shatter the continuum of history, or as he famously calls it, homogeneous,
HPSW\WLPH
%HQMDPLQV 6XUUHDOLVP SLHFH VLPLODUO\ GHFRXSOHV WKH DYDQW
JDUGHIURPSURJUHVV,Q3HWHU2VERUQHVZRUGVRQHRIWKHHVVD\VDFKLHYHments is its reintroduction of historical time into the conceptualization
RI6XUUHDOLVWH[SHULHQFHLWVHPSKDVLVRQWHPSRUDODVZHOODVVSDWLDOHVWUDQJHPHQW 6SHFLFDOO\ %HQMDPLQ SUDLVHV %UHWRQ DV WKH UVW WR SHUFHLYHWKHUHYROXWLRQDU\HQHUJLHVWKDWDSSHDULQWKHRXWPRGHGLQWKHUVW
LURQFRQVWUXFWLRQVWKHUVWIDFWRU\EXLOGLQJVWKHHDUOLHVWSKRWRVWKHREMHFWVWKDWKDYHEHJXQWREHH[WLQFWJUDQGSLDQRVWKHGUHVVHVRIYH\HDUV
DJRIDVKLRQDEOHUHVWDXUDQWVZKHQWKHYRJXHKDVEHJXQWRHEEIURPWKHP
$FFRUGLQJWR%HQMDPLQHPEHGGHGLQVXFKUHOLFVDUHGHVWLWXWLRQWKZDUWHG
GHVLUHVDQGWKXVUHYROXWLRQDU\QLKLOLVP,QVKRUWKHSUDLVHVVXUUHDOLVP
IRULWVGLVUXSWLYHLQYRFDWLRQVRIWKHSDVWPRUHVSHFLFDOO\LWVDELOLW\WR
VXEVWLWXWHDSROLWLFDOIRUDKLVWRULFDOYLHZRIWKHSDVWZKLFKIRUKLPLV
ZKDWPDNHVWKLVEUDQFKRIWKHDYDQWJDUGHUHYROXWLRQDU\+RZHYHU%HQMDPLQHODERUDWHVRQWKLVRQO\PXFKODWHULQWKHWKHVHVDVZHOODVLQ
3DULV&DSLWDORIWKH1LQHWHHQWK&HQWXU\WKURXJKKLVQRWLRQRIWKHGLDOHFWLFDOLPDJHZKLFKKHGHQHVDVLPDJHVLQWKHFROOHFWLYHFRQVFLRXVness in which the new and the old are intermingled, and more cryptically
DVWKHLQYROXQWDU\PHPRU\RIUHGHHPHGKXPDQLW\:KLOHZHFDQODEHODV
VXUUHDODQ\LPDJHWKDWEULGJHVGLVWDQWUHDOLWLHV%HQMDPLQVGLDOHFWLFDOLPage is more ambitious, running across the whole horizon of the past like
ball lightning in order to arrest historical progress, in order to capture
QRZWLPH
In the dream in which every epoch sees in images the epoch which is to
VXFFHHGLWWKHODWWHUDSSHDUVFRXSOHGZLWKHOHPHQWVRISUHKLVWRU\WKDW
LVWRVD\RIDFODVVOHVVVRFLHW\7KHH[SHULHQFHVRIWKLVVRFLHW\ZKLFKKDYH
26
INTRODUCTION
2QH YLYLG LOOXVWUDWLRQ RI WKLV FRXSOLQJ LV %HQMDPLQV MX[WDSRVLWLRQ RI WKH
PRGHUQERPEHUSODQHZLWK/HRQDUGRGD9LQFLVGUHDPRIDLUSODQHVWKDW
ZRXOGGHOLYHUPRXQWDLQVQRZRQWRVZHOWHULQJFLWLHVLQWKHVXPPHU7KDW
is, the dialectical image refers not to an actual image but to a particular
ZD\RIVHHLQJRUUHDGLQJRQHDEOHWRGHWHFWSDVWWKZDUWHGXWRSLDVLQD
WKRXVDQG FRQJXUDWLRQV RI SUHVHQWGD\ OLIH IURP 3DULVLDQ DUFDGHV WR
6DPR\HGFRQGXFWUHVVHVWRZRRGHQWR\V7KHGLDOHFWLFDOLPDJHUHYHDOVLQ
these fragments of the everyday traces of a communistic society at the
GDZQRIKLVWRU\,WFDSWXUHVKLVWRU\VGLVDSSRLQWPHQWVEXWDOVRWKHXQIXOOOHGKRSHVWKDWSHUVLVWDORQJVLGHWKHPGUHDPVLQ0LFKDHO/|Z\VZRUGV
RIDORVWSUHKLVWRULFSDUDGLVH
6HYHUDOKDYHQRWHGWKHDYDQWJDUGLVWXQGHUSLQQLQJVRI%HQMDPLQVGLDOHFWLFDO LPDJHLWV PRQWDJHOLNH MX[WDSRVLWLRQ RI SUHVHQW DQG SDVW LWV UHOLDQFHRQGLVFRQWLQXRXVPXOWLSOLFLW\LWVH[SHULPHQWDOHRUWWRXQFRYHU
ZKDWLVWUXO\QHZLQWKHSUHVHQW At this point, though, it is necessary
WRSUHVHQWDPRUHSUHFLVHGHQLWLRQRIDYDQWJDUGHYLVjYLVJetztzeit and
WKH GLDOHFWLFDO LPDJH 2I FRXUVH WKH PRVW SURPLQHQW GHQLWLRQV RI WKLV
WHUPWXUQRQWKHDOLHQDWLRQRIDUWLVWVDV5HQDWR3RJJLROLKDVLWWKHWHDULQJ
down of art institutions (Peter Brger), and the dismantling of high-low diYLGHV$QGUHDV+X\VVHQ+RZHYHULQKLVGLVFXVVLRQRI%HQMDPLQ2VERUQH
DGGVDQRWKHUGHQLWLRQWKDWFRPSOHPHQWVUDWKHUWKDQUHSODFHVWKRVHWKDW
ZHQWEHIRUHDQGWKDWKHUHSURYHVXVHIXOWKHDYDQWJDUGHDVWKDWZKLFKLQ
WKHDVKRIWKHGLDOHFWLFDOLPDJHGLVUXSWVWKHOLQHDUWLPHFRQVFLRXVQHVV
RISURJUHVVLQVXFKDZD\DVWRHQDEOHXVOLNHWKHFKLOGWRGLVFRYHUWKH
QHZDQHZDQGDORQJZLWKLWWKHSRVVLELOLW\RIDEHWWHUIXWXUH In short,
2VERUQHGHQHVDYDQWJDUGLVPDVWKHDEDQGRQPHQWRIHPSLULFDOKLVWRU\
WKDWLVRIWKHFKURQRORJLFDOVXFFHVVLRQIURPROGWRQHZ,QLWVSODFHWKLV
avant-gardism reimagines the movement of time, indeed, imagines the
FHVVDWLRQRIWLPHRUDWWKHYHU\OHDVWNHHSVDOLYHPHPRULHVRIWKRVHSDVW
WKZDUWHGXWRSLDVIRUWKHVDNHRIIXWXUHUHGHPSWLRQ7KLVUHTXLUHVRSHQLQJ
QRWLRQVRIWKHDYDQWJDUGHWRERWKQHZDQGROGVSHFLFDOO\WRSUHPRGHUQ
QRQOLQHDUXQGHUVWDQGLQJVRIWLPHDV6XVDQ%XFN0RUVVSXWVLWWKHXU
ROGWKHRORJLFDOP\WKRIZRUOGO\XWRSLDDVWKHRULJLQDQGJRDORIKLVWRU\
INTRODUCTION
27
7KXV2VERUQHVFRQQHFWLRQRIGLDOHFWLFDOLPDJHDQGDYDQWJDUGHHQDEOHV
XVWRUHFRQFLOHWKHODWWHUWRWKHDUFKDLFDQGWUDGLWLRQDO
%ULQJLQJWKLVEDFNWR0RVFRZ%HQMDPLQVHQFRXQWHUZLWKWKH7LEHWDQ
ODPDVQRZDVVXPHVDGGHGVLJQLFDQFH1RWRQO\LVWKLVDVXUUHDOHQFRXQWHU
but with the lamas refusal of closed doors, it also hints at that communisWLFVRFLHW\DWWKHGDZQRIKLVWRU\ODWHUUHIHUHQFHGE\KLP+HUHZHQGD
FRQVWHOODWLRQRISDVWDQGSUHVHQWROGHUIRUPVRIFRPPXQLVPLQWKHKHDUW
RIWZHQWLHWKFHQWXU\FRPPXQLVP,QGHHG%HQMDPLQQRWHVLQKLVGLDU\WKH
ODPDVUHGDQG\HOORZFRDWVWKHVDPHFRORUVDVWKH6RYLHWDJ:HFDQ
DSSO\DVLPLODUUHDGLQJWR0F.D\V0RVFRZ(YHQWKRXJKLWVVRQQHWIRUP
is not discernibly experimental, it can still be considered avant-gardist
LQ2VERUQHVVHQVHRIWKHWHUP%OXUULQJ%\]DQWLQHKXHVZLWKFRPPXQLVW
UHGWKHSRHPKDVWKHHHFWRIXQGHUFXWWLQJHPSLULFDOKLVWRU\DQGLQGHHG
from this perspective, McKays traditional use of form only accentuates
WKHSRHPVFRPELQDWLRQRIDUFKDLFOHJHQGDQGVRFLDOLVWUHYROXWLRQ6LPLODU
UHDGLQJVFDQEHDSSOLHGWR%ORNV6F\WKLDQV.KOHEQLNRYV,QGR5XVVLDQ
8QLRQDQGRIFRXUVH7DWOLQV7RZHU7KRXJKKDLOLQJIURPGLVWLQFWDUWLVWLF
WUDGLWLRQV5XVVLDQV\PEROLVPIXWXULVPDQGFRQVWUXFWLYLVPUHVSHFWLYHO\
each of these examples constellate past and present so as to estrange but
DOVRDGYDQFHWKHSURMHFWRIZRUOGUHYROXWLRQ,QVKRUW%HQMDPLQVGLDOHFWLFDOLPDJHHQDEOHVXVZLWK2VERUQHVKHOSWRJURXSWKHVHYHU\GLHUHQW
JXUHV LQWR D VKDUHG DYDQWJDUGH 2ULHQWHG WRZDUG ERWK IXWXUH DQG SDVW
WKLVZDVDQDYDQWJDUGHWKDWZDVRSHQWRFXOWXUDOGLHUHQFHLQGHHGRQH
LQZKLFK$VLDWLF5XVVLDQVDQG7LEHWDQODPDVFRXOGSOD\OHDGLQJUROHV
28
INTRODUCTION
$V QRWHG D JURZLQJ QXPEHU RI VFKRODUVSUHGRPLQDQWO\ $PHULFDQLVWVKDYHVKRZQKRZ0RVFRZVSURPLVHVRIHTXDOLW\DSSHDOHGWRDYHULtable whos who of black activists and intellectuals, including McKay,
+XJKHV3DXO5REHVRQDQG:(%'X%RLV/DUJHO\PLVVLQJIURPWKLVZRUN
KRZHYHUKDVEHHQDQHPSKDVLVRQWKHMDUULQJDQG,WKLQNSURGXFWLYHJDSV
EHWZHHQ$PHULFDQDQG6RYLHWFRQFHSWXDOL]DWLRQVRIGLHUHQFH,QWKLVVHFond part of the introduction, I highlight these gaps in order to arrive at a
QHZGHIDPLOLDUL]HGXQGHUVWDQGLQJRIHWKQLFLW\RQHDOVRRULHQWHGWRZDUG
both past and future and therefore well suited to the avant-gardism spelled
RXWLQWKHSUHFHGLQJ0DNLQJWKLVFODLPUHTXLUHVDGHWRXUIURPDYDQWJDUGLVWGLVFRXUVHVWRWKRVHRIUDFHHWKQLFLW\DQGQDWLRQDOLW\7REHVXUHWKHUH
is historical overlap among these discourses, beginning with the fact that
WKHQRZXELTXLWRXVWHUPHWKQLFDQGWKHHWKQLFLW\SDUDGLJPFDPHLQWR
formation in the early decades of the twentieth century, that is, at roughly
WKHVDPHWLPHWKDWWKHOLNHVRI7DWOLQDQG%HQMDPLQVRXJKWQHZZD\VRI
VHHLQJ+RZHYHUWKHHWKQLFLW\SDUDGLJPHPHUJHGLQDYHU\GLHUHQWSODFH
QDPHO\WKH8QLWHG6WDWHVZKLFKH[SODLQVWKLVERRNVSDLULQJRIWKH86
DQGWKH86657KURXJKPXFKRIWKHWZHQWLHWKFHQWXU\WKHVHYDVWGLYHUVH
countries laid competing claims to global preeminence by touting domesWLFLQFOXVLRQDQGDVVDLOHGHDFKRWKHUVIDLOXUHVWROLYHXSWRVWDWHGLGHDOV
)URPWKHSHUVSHFWLYHRIWKHSRVW&ROG:DUSUHVHQW$PHULFDQFLYLOULJKWV
and multiculturalism apparently prevailed over Soviet nationalities
policy and multinationalness (mnogonatsionalnost1RQHWKHOHVV6RYLHW
approaches to countering racism still provide useful, estranging counterSRLQWVWRWKHQRZJOREDOL]HGGLVFRXUVHRI$PHULFDQHWKQLFLW\
Simply because it does seem so familiar today, my starting point is ethQLFLW\'XULQJWKHLQWHUZDU\HDUVLWUHPDLQHGDPDOOHDEOHDQGRSHQHQGHG
FRQFHSWHPHUJLQJIURPWKHHRUWVRIVRFLDOVFLHQWLVWVWRXQVHDWWKHQRtion that biological racial divides were intractable and that races could
EH UDQNHG DV VXSHULRU RU LQIHULRU (WKQLFLW\ LQVWHDG HPSKDVL]HG FXOWXUDO
GLHUHQFHV WKDW ZHUH VRFLDOO\ UDWKHU WKDQ ELRORJLFDOO\ DFTXLUHG %H\RQG
WKLVDQWLUDFLDOLVWVWDQFHKRZHYHUWKHUHZDVPXFKURRPIRUYDULDQFH7KH
anthropologist Franz Boas, for instance, valorized distinct cultures and
VRXJKWWRDSSUHFLDWHWKHPRQWKHLURZQWHUPV$JDLQVWWKHOLQHDUHYROXtionist notion that some were advanced and others backward, he inVWHDGGLVSHUVHGGLHUHQWJURXSVVSDWLDOO\LQDVLPXOWDQHRXVSUHVHQWWKDW
DOORZHG IRU FXOWXUDO LQWHUPL[WXUH +RZHYHU VHYHUDO KDYH QRWHG D ODWHQW
INTRODUCTION
29
assimilationism in his work, with Johannes Fabian charging Boass synchronic, culturalist emphasis with simply ignoring rather than remedyLQJWKHSUREOHPRI:HVWHUQDQWKURSRORJ\VGHQLDORIFRHYDOQHVV The
VRFLRORJLVW5REHUW3DUNRQWKHRWKHUKDQGHPSKDVL]HGWKHDELOLW\RIFXOtures to adapt and transform, especially in urban settings, and viewed asVLPLODWLRQDVDPHDQVRIVRFLDOSURJUHVV+LVDVVLPLODWLRQLVPLQFRQWUDVW
to Boass, was overt, though several have noted a latent nostalgia for culWXUHVORVWLQWKHSURFHVV7KXVDV0LFKDHO2PLDQG+RZDUG:LQDQWKDYH
QRWHGIURPLWVHDUOLHVWDUWLFXODWLRQVLQWKHVDQGVWKH$PHULFDQ
ethnicity paradigm has been marked by tensions between pluralism and
DVVLPLODWLRQLVPRUZKDW5H\&KRZKDVPRUHUHFHQWO\FDOOHGSDUWLFXODULVWLFSUDFWLFHVDQGXQLYHUVDOLVWDVSLUDWLRQV&KRZGHVFULEHVWKLVWHQVLRQLQ
WHUPVRIWLPHHYHQWRGD\LQWKHH\HVRIWKHGRPLQDQWVRFLHW\WKHHWKQLF
2WKHULVFRQQHGWRDQHDUOLHUWHPSRUDOO\DUFDQHFRQGLWLRQRIKXPDQity but also cast as politically avant-garde and future-oriented, always
looking ahead to the time when the United States will have fully realized
LWVXQLYHUVDOLGHDOV
Chows use of avant-garde emphasizes the terms typical, forwardlooking connotation, something I have complicated through the dialecWLFDOLPDJHDQG%HQMDPLQLQ0RVFRZ+RZHYHUVKHDOVRXQGHUVFRUHVWKH
GLHUHQWWHPSRUDOLWLHVRIHWKQLFLW\ZKLFKKHUHJHVWXUHVWRZDUGERWKGHscent-based identities and forward-looking politics, to both past and fuWXUH7KLVVXJJHVWVWKDWRQHZD\WROLQNHWKQLFLW\DQGDYDQWJDUGLVPDV
framed in the preceding) would be to emphasize their similarly variegated
WHPSRUDOLWLHV+RZHYHUIRU&KRZWKLVDVSHFWRIHWKQLFLW\LVQRWVRPHWKLQJ
WRFHOHEUDWHEXWDQH[SUHVVLRQRILWVFRQWUDGLFWRU\LUUDWLRQDOQDWXUH+HU
SURMHFWLVWRFRUUHFWWKLVE\VLWXDWLQJHWKQLFLW\YLVjYLVFODVVLQDJOREDOL]HGSUHVHQW7KXVLQRUGHUWROLQNHWKQLFLW\DQGDYDQWJDUGLVPGXULQJWKH
LQWHUZDU\HDUV,QGLWQHFHVVDU\WRIROORZDGLHUHQWURXWHWRWXUQDZD\
from American discourses of ethnicity and to channel this term through
0RVFRZMXVWDV,GLGZLWKWKHDYDQWJDUGH0RUHVSHFLFDOO\LQWKHIROORZLQJ,MX[WDSRVHWKH$PHULFDQHWKQLFLW\SDUDGLJPZLWKLWV6RYLHWDQDORJXH
6RYLHWQDWLRQDOLWLHVSROLF\
If American ethnicity was wrought by tensions between pluralism and
assimilationism, the particular and universal, the past and future, what I
would like to suggest is that the Soviet concept of nationality allowed for,
LIQRWUHVROYHGWKHVHWHQVLRQV)RU$PHULFDQPLQRULWLHVGUDZQWRWKH8665
30
INTRODUCTION
WKLVFRQFHSWPDGHLWSRVVLEOHWRORRNERWKEDFNZDUGDQGIRUZDUGWRHPEUDFHGHVFHQWEDVHGSDUWLFXODULVPLQDZD\WKDWDGYDQFHGXQLYHUVDOHTXDOLW\7KLVLVHYLGHQWIRULQVWDQFHLQ5LFKDUG:ULJKWVPXFKFLWHGHQFRXQWHU
with the writings of Joseph Stalin, himself a minority (Georgian) who served
DVWKH%ROVKHYLNVUVWFRPPLVVDUIRUQDWLRQDOLWLHVDDLUV,Q&KLFDJRRIWKH
HDUO\V6WDOLQVHVVD\VRQWKHQDWLRQDODQGFRORQLDOTXHVWLRQSURPSWHG
:ULJKWVFRQYHUVLRQWRFRPPXQLVPEXWDOVRLQ:LOOLDP0D[ZHOOVZRUGV
KLVPRYHPHQWIURPIHDUWRUHODWLYHIDLWKRQWKHVXEMHFWRI$IULFDQ$PHULFDQIRONFXOWXUH7KDWLVZKHUHDV:ULJKWXQGHU3DUNVLQXHQFHKDG
previously disdained both this culture and his own southern roots, Stalins
ZULWLQJVSURPSWHGDUHFRQVLGHUDWLRQ$VKHUHFDOOVLQDHVVD\
I had read with awe how the Communists had sent phonetic experts into
WKHYDVWUHJLRQVRI5XVVLDWROLVWHQWRWKHVWDPPHULQJGLDOHFWVRISHRSOH
RSSUHVVHGIRUFHQWXULHVE\WKHWVDUV,KDGPDGHWKHUVWWRWDOHPRWLRQDO
commitment of my life when I read how the phonetic experts had given
WKHVHWRQJXHOHVVSHRSOHDODQJXDJHQHZVSDSHUVLQVWLWXWLRQV,KDGUHDG
how these forgotten folk had been encouraged to keep their old cultures, to see in their ancient customs meaning and satisfactions as deep
DVWKRVHFRQWDLQHGLQVXSSRVHGO\VXSHULRUZD\VRIOLYLQJ$QG,KDGH[FODLPHGWRP\VHOIKRZGLHUHQWWKLVZDVIURPWKHZD\LQZKLFK1HJURHV
ZHUHVQHHUHGDWLQ$PHULFD
7REHVXUH:ULJKWQHYHUPDGHWKHPDJLFSLOJULPDJHPHDQLQJKLVJUDVS
of Soviet nationalities policy was limited largely to Stalins word; he was
IDUIURPDQDXWKRULW\RQWKHWRSLF+RZHYHU0RVFRZGLGLQGHHGGHSOR\
teams of linguists and ethnographers to make sense of the diverse peoples
LWKDGLQKHULWHGIURPWKH5XVVLDQ(PSLUHDVZHOODVWREROVWHUWKHFXOWXUDO
GHYHORSPHQWRILWVPLQRULWLHV3DUWLFXODUO\LQWKHVWKH6RYLHWVWDWH
SURPRWHG D UHPDUNDEOH GHJUHH RI FXOWXUDO GLYHUVLW\LQ KLVWRULDQ <XUL
Slezkines words, a feast of ethnic fertility, an exuberant national carniYDO7KLVZDVGRQHSDUWO\WRFRQYLQFHWKHZRUOGRIWKH%ROVKHYLNVDQWL
imperialist credentials but also to rush their own backward minorities
WKURXJKKLVWRULFDOVWDJHVIURPIHXGDOWULEHVWRFDSLWDOLVWQDWLRQVZKLFK
ZRXOGSDYHWKHZD\IRUVRFLDOLVWXQLW\ That is, in contrast to Boass synchronic emphasis, Soviet nationalities policy was diachronic and, indeed,
XQDEDVKHGO\HYROXWLRQLVW,WVORQJWHUPDLPZDVDVVLPLODWLRQLQWRD6RYLHW
INTRODUCTION
31
32
INTRODUCTION
language and behaving like an American in matters economic and poOLWLFDODQGFRQWLQXHVWRGRVR7KHLQVWLWXWLRQVRIWKH5HSXEOLFKDYHEHcome the liberating cause and the background for the rise of the cultural
consciousness and social autonomy of the immigrant Irishman, German,
6FDQGLQDYLDQ-HZ3ROHRU%RKHPLDQ2QWKHZKROH$PHULFDQL]DWLRQKDV
QRWUHSUHVVHGQDWLRQDOLW\$PHULFDQL]DWLRQKDVOLEHUDWHGQDWLRQDOLW\
In short, one could become both more American and more ethnic, though as
many commentators have noted, this vision relied on a latent racialist logic
WKDWZLOOIXOO\LJQRUHGEODFNV3XWGLHUHQWO\.DOOHQIDLOHGWRGLVHQWDQJOHKLV
vision of culture from race,DIDLOXUHWKDWLVUHHFWHGLQKLVLQFRQVLVWHQWXVH
RIWHUPV$VVHHQLQWKLVSDVVDJHKHSUHVHQWHGHWKQLFDQGQDWLRQDODV
synonyms, and elsewhere used national group in place of ethnic group
+HDOVRHYLGHQWO\OLQNHGQDWLRQWRDFRPELQDWLRQRIEORRGDQGFXOture, and in the same essay coined the term natio to identify each groups
LUUHGXFLEOHNHUQHOWKHUHVXOWKHZURWHRIELRORJLFDOSURFHVVHVDQGPDQV
SV\FKRSK\VLFDO LQKHULWDQFH $FFRUGLQJ WR .DOOHQ H[WHUQDO
factors, such as economic and political ties, only masked the internal
constant of the natio, expressed in inevitable aesthetic and intellectual
IRUPV WKDW LV SDUWLFXODU FXOWXUHV DQG ODQJXDJHV ,Q UHVSRQVH $PHULFD
should strive to be a symphony of civilization that combined harmony
DQGGLVVRQDQFHVDQGGLVFRUGVLQWRDQRUFKHVWUDWLRQRIPDQNLQG
0RUH WKDQ KLV SVHXGRVFLHQWLF HVVHQWLDOLVP .DOOHQV ZDYHULQJ EHWZHHQHWKQLFDQGQDWLRQDOZRXOGKDYHLUNHG6WDOLQZKRVHHVVD\
VRXJKWSUHFLVHO\WRGLVWLQJXLVKDQGFKDPSLRQWKHODWWHUWHUP3XEOLVKHG
ZKHQ WKH %ROVKHYLNV ZHUH MXVW D EUDQFK RI WKH ODUJHU (XURSHDQ OHIW DQG
directed against an Austrian social democrats endorsement of culturalQDWLRQDODXWRQRP\WKHHVVD\GHQHGWKHQDWLRQDVDVWDEOHKLVWRULFDOO\
constituted community of people with a shared (1) language, (2) territory,
HFRQRPLFOLIHDQGSV\FKLFDOGLVSRVLWLRQPDQLIHVWHGLQDFRPPXQLW\RIFXOWXUH According to him, neither a tribe nor a race (which
KH UHJDUGHG DV SUHPRGHUQ JURXSLQJV FRXOG IXOOO DOO IRXU FULWHULD WKH
PRVWLPSRUWDQWEHLQJWHUULWRU\(DFKQDWLRQDPRGHUQJURXSLQJZDVWR
EHJUDQWHGLWVRZQ[HGWHUULWRU\DOWKRXJKKHDGGHGWKDWYDULRXVQDWLRQV
VKRXOGEHUHTXLUHGWRFRH[LVWZLWKLQODUJHUDXWRQRPRXVUHJLRQVWKDWLV
such crystallized units as Poland, Lithuania, the Ukraine, the Caucasus,
HWFHDFKZLWKLWVRZQQDWLRQDOPLQRULWLHV&RH[LVWHQFHZLWKLQDVLQJOH
INTRODUCTION
33
UHJLRQZRXOGVSXUWKHJUDGXDOGLVSODFHPHQWRIQDWLRQDOE\FODVVGLYLVLRQV
+RZHYHU6WDOLQVHPSKDVLVRQWHUULWRU\GLGQRWPHDQDFRPSOHWHGLVPLVVDO
RIFXOWXUHDQGSV\FKLFDOGLVSRVLWLRQZKHQOD\LQJRXWWKLVSDUWRIKLVGHIinition, he noted that while national character changed with the conditions of life, nonetheless it exists at every given moment, it leaves its
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HDFKQDWLRQD[HGLQQHUHVVHQFHRUHWKQRVDV6RYLHWHWKQRJUDSKHUV
ODWHUFDOOHGLW
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based identities (natio and ethnos, respectively), and both stressed the
SHUVLVWHQFHRIODQJXDJH2QWKHRWKHUKDQGDVQRWHG.DOOHQGRZQSOD\HG
WKHLPSRUWDQFHRIHFRQRPLFOLIHWKRXJKLQWHUHVWLQJO\LQDUHSXEOLFDWLRQRI'HPRFUDF\9HUVXVWKH0HOWLQJ3RWKHVXEWO\UHYLVHGKLVHDUOLHU
GLVPLVVDORIFODVVYLVjYLVQDWLR This leaves the fourth and most imSRUWDQWSDUWRI6WDOLQVGHQLWLRQWHUULWRU\ZKLFKDQWLFLSDWHGWKH6RYLHW
8QLRQV GLYLVLRQ DQG XOWLPDWH GLVVROXWLRQ LQWR QDWLRQDO UHSXEOLFV HJ
5XVVLD8]EHNLVWDQ$UPHQLDDQGZLWKLQHDFKUHSXEOLFVPDOOHUQDWLRQDOPLQRULW\UHJLRQVHJ&KHFKQ\D7DWDUVWDQ:LWKLQWKHVHWHUULWRULHV
PHPEHUVRIWKHWLWXODUQDWLRQDOLW\HJWKH8]EHNVLQ8]EHNLVWDQZHUH
given preferential treatment in government hiring and university admisVLRQVDSROLF\NQRZQDVQDWLYL]DWLRQkorenizatsiia) and described by one
KLVWRULDQDVDSUHFXUVRUWR86DUPDWLYHDFWLRQ Stalins emphasis on
WHUULWRU\DOVRDQWLFLSDWHGWKH&RPLQWHUQVDQGFDOOVIRUDQDXtonomous African American republic stretching from Maryland to ArkanVDVWKH VRFDOOHG %ODFN %HOW HHULO\ VLPLODU LQ VKDSH WR 8]EHNLVWDQ 5Hmembered today mostly as a historical oddity, this assertion that African
Americans constituted a Stalinist nationality might seem to emphasize
WKHJXOIVHSDUDWLQJ$PHULFDQDQG6RYLHWFRQFHSWXDOL]DWLRQVRIGLHUHQFH
+RZHYHU.DOOHQVSOXUDOLVWYLVLRQDOVRHPSKDVL]HGWHUULWRU\VLWXDWLQJGLIIHUHQWJURXSVJHRJUDSKLFDOO\WKH,ULVKLQ0DVVDFKXVHWWVDQG1HZ<RUN
WKH*HUPDQVLQ:LVFRQVLQWKH6FDQGLQDYLDQVLQ0LQQHVRWD$FFRUGLQJWR
him, each group settled not in small, diverse units but in a series of stripes
or layers, which made it possible to delineate discrete ethnic territories in
ERWKUXUDODQGXUEDQVHWWLQJV
To be sure, Kallen did not then conclude that each American ethnicity
VKRXOGEHJUDQWHGLWVRZQUHJLRQRUUHSXEOLF1RQHWKHOHVVZKHQKHYLVLWHG
WKH 8665 LQ KH LPPHGLDWHO\ VHL]HG RQ WKH LPSRUWDQFH RI WHUULWRU\
34
INTRODUCTION
SDUWLFXODUO\IRU6RYLHW-HZV$FFRUGLQJWRKLPDQDXWRQRPRXVUHJLRQZRXOG
enable them to cease being an alien minority among suspicious neighbors
DQGWRLQVWHDGEHFRPHIDUPHUVRUDV6OH]NLQHKDVVLQFHSXWLW WRWUDQVIRUPIURPURRWOHVV0HUFXULDQVWRURRWHG$SROORQLDQV In Kallens words,
the granting of territory would mark the emergence of a Soviet Promised
/DQGPDUU\LQJFRPPXQLVPDQG=LRQLVP
7KH KRPHODQG RI ,VUDHO VD\ WKH 5XVVLDQ -HZLVK &RPPXQLVWV LV ZKHUH
FROOHFWLYH,VUDHOFDQKROGODQGDQGEXLOGLWVHOIKRPHV7KLVDOVRLVWREH
OLNH3DOHVWLQHDQDJULFXOWXUDOKRPHODQG7RPDNHIDUPHUVRI,VUDHO
was not merely the aspiration of Jews who inherited this aspiration from
their fathers and their fathers fathers, to whom it had been an article of
religion since nomad days in the Arabian desert; to make farmers of the
Jews was a program of Lenins and a plan of the Central Executive Committee of the Communist Party early in the development of revolutionDU\5XVVLD
The promise of this new homeland is what prompted Kallen to declare the
6RYLHW8QLRQD-HZLVKIURQWLHURIKRSH$WWKHWLPHRIKLVYLVLWLWVORFDtion had not yet been established, but Kallen visited a few new agricultural settlements in Ukraine established with the aid of a Jewish AmeriFDQSKLODQWKURSLFRUJDQL]DWLRQ+HUHKHZLWQHVVHGWKHHPHUJHQFHRID
new kind of Jew, one who combined revolutionary ideology and the
QDWXUDOVFHQH
,QWKH\RXQJLWVHHPHGOLEHUDWLQJ7KH\LPSUHVVHGPHZLWKDFKDUPLQJ
HDJHUQHVV7KH\KDGVRPHWKLQJRIWKDWKHDOWKLQHVVDQGEXR\DQF\RIWRQH
WKDWRQHFRXOGREVHUYHLQWKHFKDOXW]LPLQ3DOHVWLQH,IHOWLQWKHSUHVence of the children and the young Jews on the farms of the new settlePHQWVDV,KDGKDGRFFDVLRQWRIHHODJDLQDQGDJDLQLQ5XVVLDWKH-HZV
are being transformed more radically, more completely than any of the
RWKHUVXEMHFWVRIWKH&RPPXQLVW3DUW\)RUWKHPPRUHWUXO\WKDQIRUDQ\
SHRSOHXQGHUWKH6RYLHWVDQHZOLIHLVEHJLQQLQJ
+RZHYHUHYHQDPLGWKLVWUDQVIRUPDWLRQ.DOOHQLQVLVWHGWKDW6RYLHW-HZV
would maintain their distinctness, their natio, thanks to the wise naWLRQDOLVWSROLF\RIWKH6RYLHW5HSXEOLF
INTRODUCTION
35
Thus, according to Kallen, the Bolsheviks had achieved his vision of culWXUDOSOXUDOLVP6RYLHW-HZVZHUHSRLVHGWREHFRPHRQHPRUHXQLTXHFRQtributor to Moscows own symphony of civilization (451), which he himVHOIVHHPHGWRHQY\.DOOHQDQWLFLSDWHGWKDWWKHQHZ5XVVR-HZLVKZRUOG
would be far more Jewish than the Jewry of America and to be the matrix
RIFXOWXUDOO\IDUPRUHVLJQLFDQW-HZLVKYDOXHVWKDQWKH-HZU\RI$PHULFD
Jewish religion, though prohibited, would remain a part of this worlds
moral and intellectual climate, traditions would continue through secularized memories of the past, and the predominant language would be
<LGGLVK
The rather sensational conclusion to be drawn from Kallens travelogue
is that the founder of American cultural pluralism himself looked to StalinLVW QDWLRQDOLWLHV SROLF\ DV D SRVLWLYH PRGHO :LWK WKHLU IRXUSDUW GHQLtion of the nation and emphasis on territorial autonomy, the Bolsheviks
seemed to him well suited to the task of reconciling universalism and parWLFXODULVPRIPDNLQJ6RYLHW-HZVERWKPRUH6RYLHWDQGPRUH-HZLVK7KH
fact that Jews were proportionally overrepresented among the Bolsheviks ranks, unmentioned by Kallen, may have lent credence to this conFOXVLRQ$FFRUGLQJO\KLVWRULDQ)UDQFLQH+LUVFKKDVKHOSIXOO\GHVFULEHG
6RYLHW QDWLRQDOLWLHV SROLF\ DV SURPRWLQJ GRXEOH DVVLPLODWLRQ WKH DVsimilation of a diverse population into nationality categories and, simultaneously, the assimilation of those nationally categorized groups into the
6RYLHWVWDWHDQGVRFLHW\ Thus, the Soviets could have their cake and eat
LWWRRPDLQWDLQ[HGQDWLRQDOLGHQWLWLHVZLWKLQDPHOWLQJSRWVW\OHZKROH
$VQRWHGWKHRFLDOFXOWXUDOH[SUHVVLRQRIWKLVEDODQFHZDVQDWLRQDO LQ IRUP VRFLDOLVW LQ FXOWXUH 7KLV ZDV WKH ULJLG SUHVFULSWLRQ WKDW IRU
instance, plays staged in Moscow be translated into Uzbek and adorned
ZLWK$VLDWLFFRORXULQJDVDGLVDSSRLQWHG/DQJVWRQ+XJKHVHQFRXQWHUHG
36
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
37
SURPLQHQWDQGSRZHUIXO6RYLHWDFDGHPLFVRIWKHVDQGV This
is despite the fact that his eccentric theories have long been discredited,
and indeed, as Slezkine, Clark, and others have shown, it might be best to
FKDUDFWHUL]H0DUUPRUHDVDSRHWRUIDQWDVLVWWKDQDVFKRODU+DLOLQJIURP
Georgia and dismayed by the dearth of linguistic research on the Georgian
language, he claimed to discover a new, ancient family of languages that
happened to originate in Georgia and that found its purest contemporary
PDQLIHVWDWLRQV LQ *HRUJLDQ DQG $UPHQLDQ 7KLV -DSKHWLF ODQJXDJH
named after the biblical Noahs third son (according to legend, the ancesWRU RI *HRUJLDQ NLQJVZDV PHDQW WR XQVHDW :HVWHUQ OLQJXLVWLFV DQG LWV
HPSKDVLVRQ,QGR(XURSHDQODQJXDJHV2YHUWLPHWKHVFRSHRIWKHWKHRU\
JUHZ EROGHU DQG EURDGHU 0DUU SURFHHGHG WR GLVFRYHU -DSKHWLF WUDFHV LQ
all the languages of the world, from Native American tongues to Chinese,
and asserted the existence of a previously unknown Japhetic civilization
that, in ancient times, spanned from the Iberian Peninsula to the Caucasus
WR$VLD0LQRU$V0DUUKLPVHOIVXJJHVWHGLQWKLVXQLHGFLYLOL]DWLRQ
which superseded racial, ethnic, and national divides, was comparable to
WKDWZKLFKFXOPLQDWHGLQWKH7RZHURI%DEHO7KHELEOLFDOWDOHZDVLQKLV
words, the tale of Japhetic reality, though according to him, the Japhetic
civilization was scattered not by the hand of God but by Indo-European
LQYDGHUVWKH IRUHEHDUV RI FRQWHPSRUDU\ :HVWHUQ (XURSHDQV ZKRP KH
QHYHUIDLOHGWRFRQGHPQDVRSSUHVVRUVDQGLPSHULDOLVWV This was proYLQFLDOL]LQJ(XURSHSDUH[FHOOHQFHLQUHVSRQVHWRWKHSHUFHLYHGVOLJKWLQJ
RI*HRUJLDE\WKH:HVW0DUUFODLPHGWKH&DXFDVXVDVWKHVHDWRIDZRUOG
FLYLOL]DWLRQWKDWSUHFHGHG,QGR(XURSHDQEDUEDULVP
If Marr had what we would now call a subaltern perspective, one of its
distinguishing features was the expectation that Soviet power would reVWRUHWKLVORVWFLYLOL]DWLRQZRXOGUHVWRUHWKH%DEHOOHJHQGVVLQJOHGLYLQH
ODQJXDJH$OUHDG\DUHVSHFWHGVHQLRUDFDGHPLFE\DIWHUWKHUHYROXWLRQ
KLVYLHZVUHFHLYHGRFLDOHQGRUVHPHQWDQGZHLJKHGKHDYLO\RQDOOVFKRODUO\
HRUWV WR WKLQN DERXW PLQRULW\ ODQJXDJHV DQG FXOWXUHV +LV PRQXPHQWDO
success resulted from his ability to align his theories with the new politiFDOODQGVFDSHLQWKHVKHZHGGHGKLV-DSKHWLFWKHRU\WRDFUXGH0DU[ist evolutionism positing that languages were mere superstructure, which
meant that class and economic base determined language more than race,
HWKQLFLW\RUQDWLRQDOLW\%\WKLVORJLFLWZDVEHFDXVHRIHFRQRPLFGHYHORSPHQW WKDW WKH HDUOLHVW VRXQGV HQXQFLDWHG E\ SULPLWLYH PDQZKLFK 0DUU
38
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
39
40
INTRODUCTION
IXWXUHWUDGLWLRQDQGVRFLDOLVP7KHZULWLQJVRI1LNRODL0DUUSXVKHGWKLV
IXUWKHULPDJLQLQJGLHUHQFHLQVXFKDZD\WKDWVKDWWHUHGUHFHLYHGQRtions of time and history, combining visions of ancient past and liberated
IXWXUH7KLVH[SDQVLYHDSSURDFKWRWLPHVKRXOGULQJDIDPLOLDUEHOOJLYHQ
its resonance with the modernists and avant-gardists discussed earlier
LQ WKLV LQWURGXFWLRQIRU H[DPSOH WKH QHRSULPLWLYLVWV LGHQWLFDWLRQ
ZLWK$VLDDQGWKHQRWLRQRIWKH%ROVKHYLN5HYROXWLRQDV$VLDQ:KDWWKLV
SRLQWVWRLVDFRQYHUJHQFHRIDYDQWJDUGLVPDQGHWKQRJUDSK\ERXQGE\
HVWUDQJLQJ\HWHPSDWKHWLFYLHZVRIWKH2WKHUDQGWKHVXQGHULQJRIKRPRJHQHRXV HPSW\ WLPH ,QGHHG %HQMDPLQ KLPVHOI ZDV GUDZQ WR ZKDW
he called Marrs generally rather strange ideas, which he saw as invalidating the concept of race, and indeed of peoples, in favor of a history
RI ODQJXDJH EDVHG RQ WKH PRYHPHQWV RI FODVVHVEXW DOZD\V ZLWK DQ
H\HWRZDUGWKHSDVW%HQMDPLQVRXJKWWRXVH0DUUDQGRWKHUOHIWLVWOLQguists to unlock the ancient truth of languages inherently expressive
character, its physiognomic powers, the goal being to articulate a new,
QRQFDSLWDOLVWFRQYLYLDOLW\$FFRUGLQJO\LQWKHODWHV0DUUZDVLQD
VWXG\JURXSZLWK6HUJHL(LVHQVWHLQDQGRWKHUVSXUVXLQJVXFKTXHVWLRQV
DVWKHVXUYLYDORISULPLWLYHH[SUHVVLYHIRUPVLQRXUODQJXDJHVRIWRGD\
/LNHZLVHDV&ODUNSRLQWVRXW0DUUKLPVHOIIUHTXHQWO\IRUHJURXQGHGWKH
Scythians in his work at a time when Scythianism was a dominant litHUDU\ PRYHPHQW LQ WKH 6RYLHW 8QLRQD PRYHPHQW WKDW LQFOXGHG RI
FRXUVH$OHNVDQGU%ORNZKRZDVDQDYLGUHDGHURI5XVVLDQ2ULHQWRORJ\
And, as one more instance of Marrism converging with the avant-garde,
WKHUHDUHFOHDUDQLWLHVEHWZHHQKLVWKHRULHVRIDXQLHGODQJXDJHDQG
futurist zaum SRHWU\ Marrs four original, prelogical sounds (sal, ber,
yon, rosh) themselves seem to echo zaum HJ $OH[HL .UXFKHQ\NKV IDPRXV'\UEXOVKFK\OIURP
:KLOHWKHUVWSDUWRIWKLVLQWURGXFWLRQWLHGWKHHWKQLFDYDQWJDUGHERWKWR
WKH&RPLQWHUQDQGWRWKH6RYLHWDYDQWJDUGHVRXWUHDFKWRWKHQRQ:HVWHUQ
2WKHUWKLVVHFRQGSDUWKDVHPSKDVL]HGKRZ6RYLHWSROLF\DQGVFLHQFHFRQFHSWXDOL]HG QDWLRQDO OLQJXLVWLF DQG FXOWXUDO GLHUHQFH , KDYH FRPSOHPHQWHG9ODGLPLU7DWOLQV7RZHURI%DEHOLWHUDWLRQZLWK1LNRODL0DUUVYHUVLRQ
RILWRUSXWGLHUHQWO\WXUQHGIURPP\UHDGLQJRI7DWOLQVVSLUDOVDVDYDQW
JDUGHYLVjYLVYDQJXDUGWRWKHVSLUDOVDVDYDQWJDUGHYLVjYLVHWKQRJUDSK\
In any case, the goal here has been to articulate new ways of seeing both the
INTRODUCTION
41
DYDQWJDUGH DQG WKH HWKQLF WKH IRUPHU DV HPEUDFLQJ DQFLHQW FXOWXUHV WR
bolster artistic innovation and political revolution (itself recast as historical
arrest), the latter as pressing national homelands for the sake of socialist
XQLW\DQGMRLQLQJURPDQWLFPLOOHQDULDQLVPWR0DU[LVWHYROXWLRQLVP7DNHQ
together, these alternative understandings of ethnicity and avant-gardism
SURYLGHWKHFRQFHSWXDOVFDROGLQJIRUWKHHWKQLFDYDQWJDUGH7KH\DOORZXV
to group together the transnational, cross-ethnic encounters covered in this
ERRNHQFRXQWHUV KLJKOLJKWLQJ WKH DELOLW\ RI PLQRULW\ FXOWXUHV WR FROODSVH
SDVWDQGIXWXUHPRGHUQDQGSUHPRGHUQ(DVWDQG:HVW
$UJXDEO\WKHVHLFRQRFODVWLFZD\VRIVHHLQJVLPSO\FRXOGQRWKROG$V
Buck-Morss has suggested, the Bolshevik regime ultimately had little use
IRUWKHDYDQWJDUGHVLUUXSWLYHWHPSRUDOLW\XVHIXOIRUUHYROXWLRQEXWOHVV
VR IRU VWDWH EXLOGLQJDQG LQ HQVKULQHG VRFLDOLVW UHDOLVP DV RFLDO
GRJPD7KURXJKWKHVOLQJXLVWVDQGHWKQRJUDSKHUVDOOLHGWR0DUU
VXHUHGDVLPLODUIDOOIURPVWDWHVDQFWLRQHGJUDFHDQGLQ6WDOLQKLPVHOI H[SOLFLWO\ UHMHFWHG 0DUUV 3URPHWKHDQ OLQJXLVWLFV LQ IDYRU RI PRUH
FRQYHQWLRQDOXQGHUVWDQGLQJVRIODQJXDJHDQGLGHQWLW\,WWKXVVHHPVWWLQJWRORRNWR7DWOLQV7RZHUQRWMXVWDVWKHFRQFHSWXDOVFDROGLQJEXWDOVR
DVDQHPEOHPIRUWKHHWKQLFDYDQWJDUGH%HFDXVHWKHWRZHUZDVQHYHUUHDOL]HGLWWRGD\HYRNHVWKHHHWLQJDVSLUDWLRQWKDWDUWLVWLFH[SHULPHQWDWLRQ
FRXOGDGYDQFHLQKDUPRQ\ZLWKUHYROXWLRQDU\SROLWLFV,QGHHGWKHUHZHUH
VRPHZKRFODLPHGWKDWWKHWRZHUFRXOGQHYHUKDYHEHHQEXLOWWKDWLWOLNH
0DUUVWKHRULHVZDVXQVRXQG/LNHZLVHWKHHWKQLFDYDQWJDUGHDVDKLVtorical formation was momentary and stunted, but as will be seen, it perVLVWHGDQGSHUVLVWVDVDXWRSLDQDVSLUDWLRQORQJDIWHUWKHLQWHUZDU\HDUV
To varying extents, each of the chapters draws from the tower in order
WR LOOXVWUDWH GLHUHQW DVSHFWV RI WKH HWKQLF DYDQWJDUGH &KDSWHU WDNHV
DVDVWDUWLQJSRLQWWKHWRZHUVOLNHQHVVWRWKH7RZHURI%DEHOWKHHWKQLF
DYDQWJDUGHDVWKHMRLQLQJRIODQJXDJHV7KHFDVHLQSRLQWKHUHLVWKHIXWXULVW9ODGLPLU0D\DNRYVN\VGLVWLQFWLYHSRHWLFIRUP6RYLHWFULWLFVEHOLHYHG
that his fragmented, staircase lines (visually reminiscent of Tatlins Tower) and irregular rhymes and rhythms could incorporate minority voices
ZLWKRXWVDFULFLQJWKHLUSDUWLFXODULWLHV7KHFKDSWHUWHVWVWKLVSRWHQWLDOE\
IROORZLQJ0D\DNRYVN\RQKLVYLVLWWRWKH8QLWHG6WDWHVYLD&XEDDQG
0H[LFR GXULQJ ZKLFK KH ZURWH WZR 5XVVLDQODQJXDJH SRHPV GHSLFWLQJ
+DYDQDV$IUR&XEDQFRPPXQLW\/DQJVWRQ+XJKHVODWHUWUDQVODWHGWKHVH
SRHPV LQ 0RVFRZ LQ GLVFDUGLQJ 0D\DNRYVN\V VLJQDWXUH IRUP DQG
42
INTRODUCTION
LQGRLQJVRWKURZLQJLQWRTXHVWLRQWKHIXWXULVWVDELOLW\WRVSHDNIRUWKH
2WKHU+RZHYHUE\KLJKOLJKWLQJWKHJDSVVHSDUDWLQJ5XVVLDQDQG(QJOLVK
(QJOLVKDQG6SDQLVK+XJKHVFDQDOVREHVHHQDVUHDOL]LQJ0D\DNRYVN\V
HRUWVWRFURVV\HWPDLQWDLQOLQJXLVWLFGLVWLQFWLRQV'UDZLQJIURPYDULRXV
theories of translation, I argue that the two poets are best seen as collaboUDWRUVLQZKDW:DOWHU%HQMDPLQFDOOHGWKHWDVNRIWKHWUDQVODWRUQDPHO\
WKHLQWHJUDWLRQRIPDQ\WRQJXHVLQWRRQHWUXHODQJXDJHZLWKRXWVDFULFLQJWKHIUHHGRPRIOLQJXLVWLFX[
&KDSWHUWXUQVIURPODQJXDJHDQGWUDQVODWLRQWRDIXWXULVWWHFKQLTXH
NQRZQDVIDFWRJUDSK\DQRWKHUELQGLQJDJHQWIRUWKHHWKQLFDYDQWJDUGH
,Q OLQH ZLWK 7DWOLQV 7RZHU WKLV WHFKQLTXH VRXJKW WR EULQJ DUW LQWR OLIH
EXWLWGLGVRE\WXUQLQJIURPLFRQRFODVPWRWKHSUHFLVH[DWLRQRIIDFWV
+RZHYHUIDFWRJUDSK\XQGHUVWRRGIDFWVDVWKHUHVXOWRISURFHVVUDWKHUWKDQ
UHHFWLRQ DQG WKLV OHIW URRP IRU H[SHULPHQWDWLRQ DQG HVWUDQJHPHQW
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This self-critical open-endedness allowed for innovative representations
RIZRUNHUVSHDVDQWVDQG&KLQHVHSHRSOHWKHVXEMHFWVRIFKRLFHIRUOHDG
IDFWRJUDSKHU 6HUJHL 7UHWLDNRY 7KH FDVH VWXG\ KHUH LV 7UHWLDNRYV SOD\
Roar ChinaDQLQGLFWPHQWRI:HVWHUQLPSHULDOLVPDQGH[RWLFLVPLQV
&KLQD'UDZLQJIURPDFWXDOHYHQWVLWZDVRQHRIWKHPRVWVXFFHVVIXODQG
ZHOOWUDYHOHGZRUNVRILWVWLPHOHDYLQJDODVWLQJLPSULQWRQLQWHUQDWLRQDO
3RSXODU )URQW FXOWXUH DQG LQ EHFRPLQJ WKH UVW PDMRU %URDGZD\
SURGXFWLRQWRIHDWXUHDSUHGRPLQDQWO\$VLDQ$PHULFDQFDVW,DUJXHWKDW
a close examination of the play, however, reveals factographys contradicWLRQV IRU H[DPSOH GHVSLWH 7UHWLDNRYV LQWHQW WR IUHH &KLQD IURP EDFNZDUGQHVVZKHQZULWLQJWKHVFULSWKHSUHVFULEHGDQDQWLTXDWHGQDWXUDOLVWLFVW\OHIRUWKHDFWRUVLQ&KLQHVHUROHV,Q1HZ<RUNKRZHYHUWKH$VLDQ
$PHULFDQDFWRUVUHIXVHGWKLVLQVWUXFWLRQ7KURXJKDFRPELQDWLRQRIODFNRI
experience and (South Brooklyn) accented English, these actors exceeded
the roles assigned to them, proving the most vivid and alienating aspect of
WKHSHUIRUPDQFHDQGWKXVDFKLHYLQJWKHGLVUXSWLYHDLPVRIIDFWRJUDSK\
:KLOHFKDSWHUVDQGIRUHJURXQGWKHXWRSLDQSURPLVHRIWKHHWKQLF
DYDQWJDUGHFKDSWHUVDQGUHYHDOKRZDQGZK\ZHKDYHFRPHWRIRUJHW
WKLV JURXSLQJFRPSULVLQJ QHYHUFRPSOHWHG SURMHFWV OLNH 7DWOLQV 7RZHU
DQG OHDYLQJ PDQ\ ERGLHV LQ LWV ZDNH +RZHYHU ERWK FKDSWHUV DOVR HPSKDVL]HKRZHWKQLFDYDQWJDUGLVPFDUULHGRYHULQWRWKH&ROG:DU\HDUV
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INTRODUCTION
43
44
INTRODUCTION
RXULVKLQWKHIRUPRIHWKQLFGLYHUVLW\DQGDUWLVWLFLQQRYDWLRQ,QVKRUW
WKLVQDOFKDSWHUWUDFHVKRZWKHHWKQLFDYDQWJDUGHFDPHWREHRYHUVKDGRZHG E\ IDPLOLDU &ROG :DU ELQDULHV 7KH IRFXV KHUH LV RQ WKH 1HZ <RUN
Intellectuals articulation of a Jewish cultural authenticity that advanced
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was partly in response to the emergence of Stalinist anti-Semitism after
:RUOG:DU,,ZKLFKZDVHVSHFLDOO\GLVLOOXVLRQLQJJLYHQWKHOHDGLQJUROHV
WKDW-HZLVKDUWLVWVZULWHUVDQGWKLQNHUVSOD\HGLQLQWHUZDUOHIWLVWFXOWXUH
+RZHYHUDPLGWKLVWXUQ,QGWUDFHVRIDPHVVLDQLF6RYLHW-HZLVKDYDQW
JDUGHIURPWKHVDQGVIRULQVWDQFHLQ,UYLQJ+RZHVHPEUDFH
of the author Sholem Aleichem as someone able to bridge Jewish identity
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revive one fragment of the ethnic avant-garde, here again smuggled into
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7KHFORVLQJLPDJHRIFKDSWHULV3DXO5REHVRQLQ0RVFRZLQPHHWLQJZLWKKLVFORVHIULHQGWKH6RYLHW-HZLVKZULWHU,W]LN)HHUDWWKHKHLJKW
RI6WDOLQLVWDQWL6HPLWLVP6RYLHWRFLDOVWULHGWRFRQFHDO)HHUVLPSULVRQPHQW E\ VHQGLQJ KLP WR 5REHVRQV EXJJHG KRWHO URRP EXW WKURXJK
QRWHV DQG JHVWXUHV )HHU PDGH FOHDU WKDW KH ZRXOG VRRQ EH H[HFXWHG
Such tragedies, present throughout the book, highlight the bloodstained
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temporalities and languages, the desire to bring art into life, and notions
of the authentic versus inauthentic, but also by a shared confrontation
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the rise-and-fall narratives typically applied to the Soviet avant-garde and
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such schemes by tracing renewed, postwar iterations of the ethnic avantJDUGHLQSDUWLFXODUWKHHPHUJHQFHRI&KLQDDVDQHZUHYROXWLRQDU\FHQWHU
Maoism expanded European Marxist discourse through its focus on local
FRQWH[WVDQGWKHFRQVFLRXVWUDQVIRUPDWLRQRIHYHU\GD\OLIHWKHSHUVRQDODVSROLWLFDOZKLFKSURYHGFRQGXFLYHWRLGHQWLW\SROLWLFVDQGWRUDGLFDO UHDUWLFXODWLRQV RI FXOWXUDO DXWKHQWLFLW\ +RZHYHU XQGHU 0DR WKHUH
ZDV QR&KLQHVHHTXLYDOHQWWRWKH6RYLHW DYDQWJDUGHDQG%HLMLQJODFNHG
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DYDQWJDUGH"$V,VKRZWKURXJKDGLVFXVVLRQRI.DUHQ7HL<DPDVKLWDV
novel I Hotel, traces of it can still be found in contemporary minority writ-
INTRODUCTION
45
LQJ)RFXVLQJRQFURVVHWKQLFDFWLYLVPLQWKH%D\$UHDRIWKHVI Hotel
WUDYHUVHVUHYROXWLRQDU\FLUFXLWVIURP0RVFRZWR%HLMLQJ&XEDWR9LHWQDP
DQGDOVRMRLQVWKHSRVWZDU1HZ/HIWWRWKHLQWHUZDU2OG/HIW:KLOHWDNLQJ
into account revolutionary failures and defeats, it resuscitates many of the
features of the interwar ethnic avant-garde, adding to it a host of formal
innovations as well as heightened emphases on local resistance and genGHUHTXDOLW\
,QVKRUWWKLVLVQRQRVWDOJLFFHOHEUDWLRQ:KLOHPLQLQJWKHHWKQLFDYDQW
garde for new constellations of identity, art, and politics, the book provides
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WKH JURXS H[FHHGV WKLV ULVHDQGIDOO QDUUDWLYHWKURXJK IUDJPHQWV WKDW
survived the transition, and also through an enduring sense of hope coupled with failure, of revolutionary pathos, that still resonates around the
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RIJOREDOPRGHUQLVPRQHWKDWDGYDQFHVWKHDYDQWJDUGLVWSURMHFWRIVHHLQJ
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1
Translating the Ethnic Avant-Garde
Da bud ia
And if I
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i to,
even then,
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chto im
Lenin conversed
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Vladimir Mayakovsky (from To Our Youth [Nashemu iunoshestvu]
he introduction presented two visions of the Tower of Babel risLQJIURPWKH6RYLHW8QLRQRIWKHV9ODGLPLU7DWOLQVMonument to the Third International and Nikolai Marrs New Theory of
/DQJXDJH7RJHWKHUWKH\SRLQWHGWRWKHUHVWRUDWLRQRIDXQLHGKXPDQLW\
through socialist revolution, a revolution linking ancient past to liberated
future, and in doing so appealing to every people at every stage of historiFDOGHYHORSPHQW7KLVFKDSWHUIRFXVHVRQWKHSODFHRIODQJXDJHDQGWUDQVODWLRQLQFUHDWLQJWKLVXQLW\
%DEHOHYRNHVERWK%DE\ORQDQGWKH+HEUHZZRUGIRUFRQIXVLRQ,Q
Dantes elaboration of the legend, Nimrods hubris prompted the replacement of a single divine language with a multiplicity of tongues that corUHVSRQGHGWRWKHGLHUHQWVNLOOVRIWKHWRZHUVEXLOGHUV*RGKDGWKHDUchitects speak one language, stone carriers another, and so on for all the
GLHUHQWRSHUDWLRQV$VPDQ\DVZHUHWKHW\SHVRIZRUNLQYROYHGLQ
the enterprise, so many were the languages by which the human race was
IUDJPHQWHG DQG WKH PRUH VNLOO UHTXLUHG IRU WKH W\SH RI ZRUN WKH PRUH
UXGLPHQWDU\ DQG EDUEDULF WKH ODQJXDJH WKH\ QRZ VSRNH1 Dante thus
LPSDUWHG WR WKH OHJHQG D FODVV GLPHQVLRQ ODQJXDJHV ZHUH GROHG RXW DFFRUGLQJWRGLYLVLRQRIODERUDQGWKRVHZKRZHUHUVWEHFDPHODVWDSURWR
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48
WDQWDOL]LQJDERXWWKH7RZHURI%DEHOZKDWPDNHVLWUHOHYDQWIRUWKH6RYLHWFHQWHUHGHWKQLFDYDQWJDUGHLVWKDWLWFDSWXUHVODQJXDJHDVDVRXUFH
RIERWKXQLW\DQGIUDJPHQWDWLRQ7KHOHJHQGSRLQWVWRDVLQJOHODQJXDJH
transcending human divisions but also to the origins of linguistic confuVLRQDQGPLVFRPSUHKHQVLRQ$VDZULWHU'DQWHKLPVHOIVRXJKWWRUHFODLP
WKLVORVWVLQJOHODQJXDJHDQGWKHLQWURGXFWLRQQRWHG0DUUVVLPLODUHRUW
to theorize a new, socialist language of supreme beauty that would unite
DOOSHRSOHV7KLVFKDSWHUEULQJVVXFKHRUWVGRZQWRHDUWKE\IRFXVLQJRQD
VSHFLFSRHWLFIRUPWKDWVHHPHGDEOHWRFURVVQDWLRQDODQGHWKQLFERXQGDULHVDQGLQGHHGVHUYHDVDPRGHOIRUPLQRULW\ZULWLQJ7KLVZDVWKHIXWXULVWIRUPGHYHORSHGE\9ODGLPLU0D\DNRYVN\DQRWKHUWRZHULQJLFRQRI
the Soviet avant-garde, whose stature and voice elicited rapt admiration
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This chapter unearths not only Mayakovskys imprint on minority and
QRQ:HVWHUQFXOWXUHVEXWDOVRKRZKHVRXJKWWRLQFRUSRUDWHWKHPLQWR
KLVRZQZRUN7KDWLVLWH[DPLQHVKRZ0D\DNRYVN\LQVSLUHGDUWLVWVDQG
ZULWHUVRIFRORUEXWDOVRKRZKLVHQFRXQWHUVZLWKWKHVHJXUHVDQGWKHLU
FXOWXUHVDHFWHGKLVRZQZULWLQJ7KHNH\KHUHLVKLVMRXUQH\WRWKH
United States via Cuba and Mexico and his accounts of these places in
ERWKDWUDYHORJXHSXEOLVKHGLQDVMy Discovery of AmericaDQGSRHWU\'XULQJWKHWULSKHZURWHSRHPVLQDQ$IUR&XEDQYRLFHDGPLUHG
WKHPXUDOVRI'LHJR5LYHUDDQGIRXQGWKDWKLVPRVWGHGLFDWHG$PHULFDQ
IDQVKDSSHQHGWREH5XVVLDQDQG-HZLVKpPLJUpVDOOXQH[SHFWHGGHYHOopments for the futurist author, who made the trip primarily to witness
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bask in American technology and industry, but as I show, Mayakovskys
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+LV $IUR&XEDQ SRHPV LQ SDUWLFXODU OD\ RSHQ WKH SRVVLELOLW\ WKDW KLV
GLVWLQFWLYHSRHWLFIRUPIUDJPHQWHGVWDLUFDVHOLQHVPDUNHGE\LUUHJXODU
UK\PHDQGUK\WKPFRXOGLQFRUSRUDWHPLQRULW\YRLFHVZLWKRXWVDFULFLQJWKHLUVSHFLFLWLHV
:KDW,VXJJHVWLVWKDW0D\DNRYVN\SUHVHQWVXVZLWK\HWDQRWKHULWHUDtion of the Tower of Babel, namely, with an avant-gardist form capable
RIMRLQLQJPXOWLSOHODQJXDJHVFXOWXUHVDQGSHRSOHVZLWKLQD6RYLHWRUELW+RZHYHULQNHHSLQJZLWKWKH%DEHOOHJHQGKHDOVRSUHVHQWVXVZLWK
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49
UVWSDUWRIWKLVFKDSWHUSURYLGHVDQRYHUYLHZRI0D\DNRYVN\DVDPRGHO
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WROHDUQ5XVVLDQLQFRUSRUDWHVVRPHRIWKHPDQ\FXOWXUHVDQGODQJXDJHV
RIWKH8665,WKHQXVH0D\DNRYVN\VMRXUQH\WRDSSO\VXFKHRUWV
WRQRQ6RYLHWSHRSOHV0\IRFXVLVRQWKHJD]HWKDWKHDSSOLHGLQSDUWLFular to Cuba and Mexico, where, I argue, he articulated a new, progresVLYHNLQGRIH[RWLFLVPRQHXQGHUJLUGHGE\&RPLQWHUQDQWLLPSHULDOLVP
DQG WKDW LQ WXUQ XQGHUJLUGHG WKH 6RYLHWFHQWHUHG HWKQLF DYDQWJDUGH
The chapters second part then tests Mayakovskys ability to transcend
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to Mayakovsky as a model for balancing proletarian internationalism
ZLWKDGLVWLQFWQDWLRQDO>LHEODFN@DWPRVSKHUH+RZHYHU+XJKHVGHparts drastically from the originals and in doing so highlights the limits
RI0D\DNRYVN\VYRLFHDQGIRUP,H[SODLQWKLVE\HPSKDVL]LQJWKHLQevitable gaps that emerge from translation, which, as will be seen, ultimately opened a space for the ethnic avant-garde to balance multiple
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grouping within the historical avant-garde, its connection to the past, deVFHQWDQGWKHHWKQLFVHHPVFRXQWHULQWXLWLYH)70DULQHWWLVIRXQGLQJ
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archaeologists, ciceroni DQG DQWLTXDULDQV YLD VSHHGLQJ DXWRPRELOHV DQG
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Ship of Modernity, thus enabling poets to achieve the Summer Lightning
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50
of chaos, motion, and simultaneity, the larger goal being to tear down canRQVDQGLQVWLWXWLRQVDQGWRDGGUHVVWKHPDVVHVGLUHFWO\ The futurists, of
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3HUORVIXWXULVWH[HPSODU%ODLVH&HQGUDUVDQG6RQLD'HODXQD\VYHUEDO
visual La prose du Transsibrien et de la petite Jehanne de FranceWUDLQ
WUDYHO WKURXJK VSDFH IURP 0RVFRZ WR 6LEHULD WR 3DULV EHFRPHV D MRXUQH\WKURXJKWLPH0RVFRZZLWKLWVRQHWKRXVDQGDQGWKUHHEHOOWRZHUV
evokes Arabian Nights; Siberia menaces with Mongol hordes; and the North
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revolution as messianic arrest, Cendrars explicitly anticipates the coming
RIWKHJUHDWUHG&KULVWRIWKH5XVVLDQ5HYROXWLRQ5 The indication here is
that the futurist moment, which found its most powerful expressions in
WKHHFRQRPLFDOO\EDFNZDUGFRXQWULHVRI,WDO\DQG5XVVLDDFWLYHO\LQFRUSRUDWHGH[RWLFVHHPLQJO\UHWURJUDGHFXOWXUHV$V3HUORSXWVLWORFRPRtive technology could paradoxically go hand in hand with an insistence
on GLHUHQFH 7KXV HYHQ ZKLOH ZDUGLQJ R 0\WKRORJ\ DQG WKH 0\VWLF
Ideal, Marinetti also pushed poets to swell the enthusiastic fervor of the
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of a trend in art and literature who looked back to prehistory in order to
EXLOGWKHIXWXUH Indeed, in place of the foreign term futurist, KhlebQLNRYKLPVHOIFRLQHGDQGSUHIHUUHGWKH5XVVLDQbudetliane (people of the
future), which one critic described as distinct from futurism in its embrace
RIWKHSDVWLWVFUHDWLRQRIQHZWKLQJVJURZQRQWKHPDJQLFHQWWUDGLWLRQVRI5XVVLDQDQWLTXLW\ This was in line with Khlebnikovs stated goal
of enabling the human brain to grasp the ever-elusive fourth dimension,
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independent nation of timeIUHHIURPHYHU\GD\OLIHDQGFRQVXPHULVP
Such eccentric understandings of time made it possible for Soviet futurLVWVWRHPEUDFHIDUXQJWUDGLWLRQVDQGFXOWXUHV+RZHYHUWKH\GLGVRLQ
51
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his memory of the blessed black breast of my Sudanese nurse with the
QRXULVKLQJVOXGJHRIDIDFWRU\GUDLQ10 Against this repellent mixture of
primitivism, misogyny, and industry, the Soviet futurists concocted a way
RIHPEUDFLQJWKHQRQ:HVWHUQ2WKHUZLWKRXWUHOHJDWLQJKHURUKLP$JDLQ
WKHNH\JXUHKHUHLV0D\DNRYVN\ZKRDWUVWJODQFHZRXOGVHHPDQXQOLNHO\FDQGLGDWHIRUDQ\EDFNZDUGORRNLQJIXWXULVP$PRQJWKH+\ODHDQV
.KOHEQLNRYZDVWKHRQHPRVWLQWHUHVWHGLQSUHKLVWRU\DQG5XVVLDVFRQQHFWLRQWR$VLD0D\DNRYVN\LQFRQWUDVWZDVWKHJURXSVXUEDQLVWZKRHYHQ
EHIRUHWKHUHYROXWLRQSUHVVHGWKHDEROLWLRQRIQDWLRQDOGLHUHQFHVLQKLV
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2QWKHRWKHUKDQG0D\DNRYVN\ZDVERUQLQ*HRUJLDDQGRFFDVLRQDOO\LQWHUVSHUVHG KLV GUDPDWLF UHDGLQJV ZLWK *HRUJLDQD FRLQFLGHQWDO HFKR RI
0DUUVRZQ-DSKHWLFLQHFWHGODQJXDJHRIWKHIXWXUH$QGGHVSLWHKLVXUbanist, cosmopolitan stance, Mayakovsky was also able to advance toward
WKHIXWXUHZLWKDQH\HWUDLQHGRQWKHSDVW)RUH[DPSOHDV&KULVWLQD.LDHU
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curly-headed Negroes in order to imply a connection between the BolVKHYLN5HYROXWLRQDQGXQVSRLOHG$IULFDQFXOWXUH12 The suggestion here
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means of overtaking both time and death, poetry as springing from some
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play in verse titled 0\VWHU\%RXHZKLFKUHLPDJLQHGWKH%ROVKHYLN5HYROXWLRQDVD1RDKVDUNMRXUQH\IURPDRRGHGEURNHQZRUOGWKURXJKDQLQQRFXRXVKHOOWKHQDQLQVLSLGKHDYHQDQGQDOO\WRDUHGHHPHGZRUOGWKH
heroes inspired by the brief appearance of a new Messiah walking on water
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This messianic futurism becomes clearer when turning to the actual
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one of Mayakovskys hosts in Mexico City (though the poet stayed at the
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Mexican artists, writers, and political types, Mayakovsky
52
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scene (which seemed more like the actions of madmen than the sane),
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puts it, continuing the interrupted tradition of troubadours and minVWUHOV +LV VLJQDWXUH VWHSODGGHU OLQHV SURYH ZHOO VXLWHG WR FDSWXULQJ
movement from Moscow to Ukraine and then the Caucasus, as well as the
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watching
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A papakha is a Caucasian fur hat, and elsewhere in the poem MayaNRYVN\OLNHQVWKHVLOYHU\'RQ5LYHUWRDQRWKHUNLQGRIWUDGLWLRQDOKHDGgear (kubanki) and also references colorful, straw-roofed Ukrainian huts
(mazanki +RZHYHU WKHVH REYLRXV HRUWV DW LQFOXVLRQ DUH FRXQWHUHG E\
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at these peoples, and his lines seem poised to scatter amid the movePHQWDQGLUUHJXODUUK\WKPV$VLQDOPRVWDOOKLVSRHWU\WKHSODFHPHQW
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Accordingly, the poem later focuses on language as a distinguishing markHUWKURXJKWKHLQVHUWLRQRIQRQ5XVVLDQWRQJXHV:HDUHWROGWKDWHYHU\RQH
learns the alphabet in their own way (po-svoemu), and the poet declares
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zabyl,
I forgot,
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Ia
I asked
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previously without alphabets should use the freedom of Soviet power
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Mayakovsky presents to us a fast-paced, futurist form that emphasizes the
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on its resonance with non-Soviet peoples, including, as it happens, blacks
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rather unfortunately fell in line with the Soviet policy of double assimilaWLRQWKDWLVDVVLPLODWLQJLQWRERWKQDWLRQDOXQLWVDQGD6RYLHWZKROH7KLV
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in the development of the socialist-in-content, national-in-form cultures
RIWKHSHRSOHVRIWKH8665 In other words, there is a dubious precedent
for reading Mayakovsky as a model for minority writers, one bearing the
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was transformed by his American travels, as well as by encounters with the
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work as double-dyed stupidity and pretentiousness, though the fortunes
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the revolution the futurists had reorganized as the Moscow-centered Left
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ULYDOPRUHDFFHVVLEOHJURXSRISUROHWDULDQZULWHUV24 Thus, he was ambassador of an avant-garde movement that was increasingly embattled, someWKLQJKLVRYHUVHDVDXGLHQFHVWHQGHGWRPLVV
If his American audiences had little sense of what was happening in the
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sense of distance between himself and his surroundings that we previously
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RI0DF25 This is an outsiders perspective, grasping at outlandish claims absent intimate knowledge, and accordingly, a sense of bemused estrangement
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idiosyncratic and amazing way of life (12), places that prompted for him
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Mayakovsky developed an exoticist interest in preserving traditional cultures
FIGURE 1.1 Mayakovskys travel sketches of Mexico and Cuba, published with his
poem Tropics in KRASNAIA NIVA, 1R
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national boundaries, this rebuke of the poet, this admission of ignorance
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KRPHRI.XWDLV*HRUJLDWRWKH$PHULFDV:LWK+DZNV&ODZVGHURJDtory terms for Spaniards and Americans, Mayakovsky likewise brings in a
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fantasies by relating how those not killed were ravaged by alcoholism and
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not only 0\VWHU\%RXHDQG.KOHEQLNRYEXWDOVR:LOOLDP&DUORV:LOOLDPVV
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to the ancient past, what distinguishes the Soviet futurist is his choice to
identify with the defeated Aztecs after he describes the death of one of their
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his travelogue, particularly his observations from his two-day stay in Cuba
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In a completely blue, ultramarine night, the black silhouettes of the
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with printed Aztec calendars, postcards of parrots from real parrot feathHUV7KLVLVWKHH[RWLFDVNLWVFKERXQGWR86H[SORLWDWLRQZKLFK
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Everything to do with traditional exoticism is colourfully poetic and nonSURWDEOH$QH[DPSOHLVWKHYHU\EHDXWLIXOFHPHWHU\RIWKHPXOWLWXGLnous Gomez and Lopez breeds, with its dark alleys, even in daytime, of
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language, preserving these through the decades in unadulterated puULW\ $Q HQLJPDWLF SLFWXUH ZKRWKHQHVVHQWLDOO\ DUH WKH $PHULFDQV
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idiots who board a car adorned with fancy lights to Chinatown, where
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In contrast, Mayakovsky embarked on more intimate encounters with
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ambivalence toward industry, this was the other unexpected aspect of his
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63
visit proved a sensation and moral boost for the vibrant writing circles
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Mayakovskys, sponsored his lectures and ran newspaper reports on
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To escape New Yorks primitive futurism, he thrice visited a Frayhaytsponsored summer camp, where he indefatigably read his poems before an attentive workers auditorium, his lions voice often resounding
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and the third in Yiddish), it featured a wide range of pieces on American
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that there the languages were mixed so that no one understood them,
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America thus enables Mayakovsky to imagine a new iteration of the legend
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But Mayakovsky himself was ID]HG+HUHWXUQHGWRWKH8665HDJHUWREH
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as he describes in an essay about his return, relief soon gave way to confuVLRQDQLQDELOLW\WRUHODWHZLWKIHOORZWUDLQSDVVHQJHUVDQGDKRWHODWWHQGDQWVXVSHFWLQJKLPRIPDNLQJVH[XDODGYDQFHV42+LVOLPLWHGFRPPXQLcation abilities in the Americas, it seems, somehow followed him home, a
development he anticipated in a poem that he wrote while crossing back
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the embattled position of LEF, something he could momentarily forget
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of his language and poetry to overcome his sense of distance and alienDWLRQ3HUKDSVQRVWDOJLFIRUKLV5XVVLDQ-HZLVKKRVWVLQ1HZ<RUNDVSDUW
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cross linguistic boundaries, which in turn evoke Mayakovskys often frusWUDWLQJHQFRXQWHUVZLWKWKH$PHULFDQ%DEHO+RZHYHULQDGHSDUWXUHIURP
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he wrote to a young poet in a letter, this is precisely why he chose, someWLPHEHWZHHQKLVUHWXUQDQGWRH[FLVH+RPHZDUGVTXRWHGFRQFOXVLRQLQKLVZRUGVDSDUDGLVLDFDOWDLO>raiskii khvostik] that was too facilely plaintive [noiushchii@45 Prior to this turn, however, Mayakovskys
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of the arts, as well as the increasing prominence of what would become
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key to this model was a fragmented, irregular form that incorporated
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racial and linguistic barriers between Mayakovsky and persons of AfriFDQGHVFHQW1RQHWKHOHVVE\MX[WDSRVLQJ%OHNHQGXDLWDQG+XJKHVV
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-vis the originals makes it possible to imagine the two authors as part of a
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the way in which Mayakovsky conveys this message, namely, through his
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Filatova, a young Soviet critic of African American literature, applauded
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Yet there is danger here of lacking proportion, of falling into schematism
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while retaining the concrete individual substance may be seen in the
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impregnated with the spirit of proletarian internationalism, which
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obliterating national boundaries and to some extent destroys the speFLFQDWLRQDODWPRVSKHUHRIKLVSRHWU\LQWKLVVHQVHLWLVDVWHSEDFNZDUGLQFRPSDULVRQZLWKKLVHDUOLHUZRUNV:HDUHIRUDQDUWWKDWLVQDWLRQDOLQIRUPDQGVRFLDOLVWLQFRQWHQW+XJKHVUVWRIDOOLVDSRHWRIWKH
1HJURSUROHWDULDW7KHIRUFHRI+XJKHV>sic] poems will be stronger,
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depictions in his translations, which he produced with Filatovas assisWDQFH0RVWQRWDEO\WKHIUDJPHQWHGTXDOLW\RI0D\DNRYVN\VZULWLQJVDOORZV WKH SRHPV WR EH VLPXOWDQHRXVO\ H[RWLFLVW DQG DQWLH[RWLFLVW )RU LQVWDQFHKHGLVWDQFHVDQGREMHFWLHVWKHZLIHVERG\LQ6\SKLOLVOLNHQLQJ
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in a fetish for black, female bodies, but then provides a detailed, repellent
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Thus, for Mayakovsky, the exotic serves as a source of both allure and
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returns, contracts syphilis himself, and he, his wife, and future children
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diminutive chernenkogo miastsaKHUHEHFRPHVQHXWUDOEODFNHVKFRQveyed through the nondiminutive chernogo miasa 7KHRXWFRPH RI FRORQLDODQGFDSLWDOLVWH[RWLFLVPRSHUDWLQJXQGHUWKHJXLVHRIFLYLOL]DWLRQ
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before switching to Spanish, I beg your pardon (as opposed to, say,
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does Mayakovsky deny his character a distinctive voice and a developed
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reveal the limits of Mayakovskys fragmented form and, in turn, political
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literal translations as the best way to avoid limiting the poetic potential
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romantic past of the eponymous stone fortress repelling pirates and ends
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both poets could present Cuba only from the outside, and both applied to
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Given their limited perspectives on Cuba, what I would like to suggest
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sense of the distance between the Soviet Union and Cuba, the second
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maintains the originals bubbly repetition (white, white) but also adds
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translation as a tangent touching a circle, the original, and, by this light
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translation reveals the innermost kinship of languages (255) and thus
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In translation the original rises into a higher and purer linguistic air, as
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and circle (Mayakovskys Blek end uait) approximate some of the comSRQHQWVSLUDOVDQGWUXVVHVRI7DWOLQV7RZHU
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takes Mayakovskys iconoclastic form and perspective as a starting point
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God
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Beyond these obvious readings, I would like to suggest that Cubes
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of each word, though if Mayakovskys lines seem to approximate Tatlins
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I walk through the streets of Bukhara, eastern city of song and story, place
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how, as a boy in far-away Kansas, I dreamed of seeing this fabulous city of
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of a Soviet newspaper throughout Central Asia, and seeing for myself all
the dusty and wonderful horrors that feudalism and religion created in the
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instances of the exotic in harmony with revolution, beyond the limits of
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revolution, he explains, women were forbidden to dance, and several unveiled theater performers were murdered in the early days after the revoOXWLRQ,QVWHDG\RXQJER\VSOD\HGWKHUROHVRIZRPHQDQGDV.DWH%DOGZLQ
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best of the old dances of the former boy-dancers, and has created new patWHUQVRIKHURZQ
This synthesis of new and old is precisely what Mayakovsky found in
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wandered the Central Asian steppe Eisenstein was in the Mexican desert,
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elaborated, This is a remarkable Mexican day, when Mexicans recall the
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of a new Uzbekistan in traditional Uzbek dance, Eisenstein sought to harness this vestige of pre-Columbian culture to usher in a new growing
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politics; ethnic identity with socialist internationalism; exoticism with
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makes it possible to at least begin to discern the visions and languages of
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2
The Avant-Gardes Asia
Factography and Roar China
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there cofounding the Far Eastern futurist group Tvorchestvo (Creation),
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literature at Peking University and wrote several works based on his obVHUYDWLRQVWKHUH2QHRIWKHPDSOD\FDOOHGRoar China, is the focus of this
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be attributed to growing political and aesthetic constraints in the Soviet
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similar in concept to Que viva M[LFR As might be expected in light of the
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instance, he celebrated how Chinese ideograms created meaning through
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shown, for him Chinese ideograms also pointed to the overcoming of linJXLVWLFGLYLGHVGHPDQGHGE\D0RVFRZFHQWHUHGZRUOGRUGHU,QKLVZRUGV
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land must be poured into the hearts and emotions of the millions of naWLRQVVSHDNLQJGLHUHQWODQJXDJHV2IFRXUVHWKLVH[RWLFLVWHPEUDFHRI
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both Ezra Pounds own embrace of Chinese as well as the ethnic avantJDUGHVVHDUFKIRUDXQLHGODQJXDJHYLDSDVWSUHVHQWFRQVWHOODWLRQV
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Eisensteins exoticism, that is, Eisensteins emphasis on Chinese backZDUGQHVV,QKLVZULWLQJVRQ&KLQD7UHWLDNRYVJRDOZDVWRSUHVHQW&KLna as it really was, eschewing the exotic and revealing the most pressLQJLVVXHIDFLQJWKHFRXQWU\DFFRUGLQJWRKLP:HVWHUQLPSHULDOLVP,Q
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ethnic avant-garde, one that broke from fanciful, mythological notions
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was on contemporary China, and accordingly, Roar China was based on acWXDOHYHQWVWKDWRFFXUUHGLQ:DQ[LDQDVPDOOWRZQRQWKH<DQJW]H5LYHU
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and his circle sought a middle ground of sorts, art that was legible to workers, but that also destabilized perception and undercut received notions of
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emphasis on precise facts translated to a shift from painting to photograSK\ PRUH VSHFLFDOO\ IURP QRQUHSUHVHQWDWLRQDO ZRUNV WKDW KLJKOLJKWHG
their own constructedness to iconic photos that seemed to render aspects
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Now the maximum of the left movement has transferred over to the
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VRFLDOLVWUHDOLVP7UHWLDNRYFDOOHGIRUUHSRUWDJHRQVXFKWDVNVDVUDLVLQJOLWeracy, doubling the harvest, collectivization of agriculture, raising the proGXFWLYLW\RIODERUDQGRWKHUHYHU\GD\PDWWHUV Likewise, he pressed for
new books with titles like Forest, Bread, Coal, Iron, )OD[, Cotton, Paper, Locomotive, FactoryHVFKHZLQJKDJLRJUDSKLHVRIUHYROXWLRQDU\KHURHV
Factography was to enable art and literature to catch up to enormously developing reality, namely the massive transformations brought by SoYLHWLQGXVWULDOL]DWLRQ20 It was to allow the viewer or the reader to experiHQFHWKHH[WHQGHGPDVVLYHQHVVRIUHDOLW\LWVDXWKHQWLFPHDQLQJ21 Again,
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but rather the disruptive combination of facts that themselves were unGHUVWRRGDVHPHUJLQJIURPDFWLRQDQGSURFHVV4XRWLQJ9LNWRU6KNORYVNLL
Dickerman notes that the role of the factographic author was to return
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$FFRUGLQJO\WKLVWHFKQLTXHSULYLOHJHGWKHIUDJPHQWORVWGHWDLOVDQGOLPLWHGSRLQWVRIYLHZVWKXV7UHWLDNRYVHDUOLHUQRWHGSUHIHUHQFHIRULQFRPSOHWHZULWLQJVHJWKHWUDYHOQRWHDQGVNHWFK,QDGGLWLRQWKLVWHFKQLTXH
combined various forms, styles, and genres; for instance, the literature of
fact was to be an explicitly photographic mode of writing, and Tretiakov
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To help illustrate these claims and intents, let us now turn to Roar China,
ZKLFKDSSURSULDWHO\DVVXPHGPXOWLSOHIRUPV7KHSOD\ZDVSUHFHGHG
E\DIXWXULVWSRHPFDOOHG5RDU&KLQDZKLFK7UHWLDNRYGHVFULEHVLQ
KLVLQWURGXFWLRQWRLWDVDUVWHQFRXQWHUZLWK&KLQDRUPRUHDFFXUDWHO\
ZLWKD3HNLQJVWUHHW7KHEDVLVRIWKHSRHPVVRQJVLVDVRXQGVLJQboard of the vagrant artisans and sellers of Peking, that is, either hawker
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The knife grinder makes himself known with a long, thin pipe, the
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The axle of a water-carriers wheelbarrow is rubbed with rosin and
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RQWKHJURXQG
Manure collectors with particular ladles on long handles gather every
grain of manure from the Peking streets and khutings (alleys), which is
GHIWO\WKURZQRYHUWKHVKRXOGHULQWRWXEVRUEDVNHWVFDUULHGRQWKHEDFN
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92
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.DNLIUXLWVDNLQWRVZHHWWRPDWRHV25
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short sentences and sentence fragments, the aim being to capture the exSHULHQFHRIZDONLQJGRZQD%HLMLQJVWUHHW,QNHHSLQJZLWK%HQMDPLQV$Xthor as Producer, Tretiakov inserts himself into the world he depicts, and
WRHPSKDVL]HREMHFWLYLW\KHNHHSVHPEHOOLVKPHQWVWRDPLQLPXP:HQG
MXVWRQHXVHRIVLPLOHOLNHDEDWWOHVLJQDODQGQRFOHDUDJLWDWLRQDOFRQWHQWDVLGHIURPWKDWUHIHUHQFHWRUHGGHYLOV
The poem itself bears similar features, though with more emphasis on
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93
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IRUHLJQHUV,QUHVSRQVHWRWKLVH[RWLFLVWWURSHKHSUHVHQWVPXQGDQHDJULFXOWXUDOVFHQHVWKHPRYHPHQWRIUHVHUYRLUZKHHOVDQGR[FDUWVWKHVORZ
JURZWKRIULFH
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7UHWLDNRYVHRUWWRUHWXUQWRDVWDWHRIUVWVLJKWLVHYLGHQWLQWKHRSHQing indexs unconnected details and sounds, as well as in the poems short
lines, evocative of Mayakovskys American writings taken up in the previRXV FKDSWHU 2QFH DJDLQ IUDJPHQWV DUH XVHG WR FDSWXUH DUULYDO LQ D QHZ
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tries to remove the barrier between self and reader, relaying his immediate
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Mayakovskys Cuba and Mexico, there are no traces of a premodern utoSLD7KHFRXQWU\VLGHLVH[KDXVWHGUDWKHUWKDQDOOXULQJSURPLVHOLHVLQWKH
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a place that is distant and estranging, for him it becomes comprehensible
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factography, namely, its claim but inability to overcome artistic mediaWLRQ2IFRXUVHWKHLQGH[VVHOHFWLRQRIGHWDLOVWRVLJQLI\&KLQDLVLWVHOIDQ
LQVWDQFHRIOLWHUDU\HPEHOOLVKPHQWWKDWLVPHWRQ\P\/LNHZLVHWKHSRHP
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FDPHWRGLVDYRZVXFKSRHWLFRXULVKHVDQGLQGHHGSRHWU\HQWLUHO\LQIDvor of photography, newspaper reportage, and kolkhozVRMRXUQV,QD
manifesto, he noted a sharp decline in the readers appetite for verse and
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the young organization members knowing him by heart and loving him,
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MRXUQDOLVW$QG0D\DNRYVN\DSSODXGHGWKLVRXWEXUVW2UJLYLQJDQRUGHU
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94
FIGURE 2.2
FRYHURIWKHSOD\Roar China
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WLPH7UHWLDNRYKDGDOUHDG\UHZRUNHG5RDU&KLQDWKHSRHPLQWRRoar
ChinaWKHSOD\ZKLFKDJDLQKHHQYLVLRQHGDVDQHZVSDSHUDUWLFOHRQVWDJH
+RZHYHULQLWVWUDQVIRUPDWLRQIURPSRHPWRSOD\Roar China maintained
LWVVHQVHRIERWKSURPLVHDQGFRQWUDGLFWLRQDWHQVLRQEHWZHHQHVWUDQJLQJDQGUHHFWLQJUHDOLW\7KLVZDVSDUWLFXODUO\WKHFDVHLQLWVGHSLFWLRQVRI
QRQ:HVWHUQSHRSOHVDQGFXOWXUHV
96
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&RPLQWHUQWKLVLVDSOD\DERXWPDNLQJ&KLQDYLVLEOHH[SOLFLWO\UHMHFWLQJ
WKHIHWLVKLVWLFHRUWVRI:HVWHUQHUVWRFDSWXUHWKLVSODFHRQOP
7UHWLDNRYV VWDJHG QHZVSDSHU VWRU\ UHSRUWV WKH LQFLGHQW DV WKH
EDVLVIRULPPLQHQWUHYROXWLRQWKHIDFWVRIWKHLQFLGHQWSUHVHQWHGVRDVWR
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WKHSOD\GHEXWHGDW0H\HUKROGDUWDQGOLIHVHHPHGWRPHUJHWZR%ULWLVK
gunboats (including the CockchaferGHVWUR\HGWKHWRZQRI:DQ[LDQNLOOLQJ
KXQGUHGVRIFLYLOLDQV7KHGLUHFWFDXVHRIWKHLQFLGHQWZDVWKH%ULWLVKDWtempt to retrieve forcibly two merchant ships that, blamed for crushing two
sampans carrying Chinese soldiers across the Yangtze, had been commanGHHUHGE\WKH&KLQHVHLQODWH$XJXVW Roar China thus assumed a prophetic
TXDOLW\ZKLFKEROVWHUHGLWVVXFFHVVERWKDWKRPHDQGDEURDG,WZDVSDUWLFXlarly popular among foreigners in the Soviet Union, with one Englishman
calling it the leading show piece of Moscow to which every visitor who
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Instead of exotic chinoiserie the audience saw unusually lifelike tabOHDX[7KHFURZGVFHQHVUHFDOOHGWKRVHRIWKHHDUO\>0RVFRZ$UW7KHDWHU@
and in the reviews the word naturalism cropped up accompanied by
WKH HSLWKHWV HWKQRJUDSKLF GLVPDO HDUWKERXQG DQG VR RQ 7KH
scene of the execution of the two Chinese, shown in all its repugnant
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VWULNLQJLPSUHVVLRQWKDQWKHVKDUSO\FDULFDWXUHG(XURSHDQHSLVRGHV
5XGQLWVN\KHUHWRXFKHVRQWKHSOD\VWHQVLRQEHWZHHQQDWXUDOLVPDVVRFLated with Stanislavsky and the Moscow Art Theater) and caricature (for
ZKLFKWKHH[SHULPHQWDO0H\HUKROG7KHDWHUZDVIDPRXVPRUHVSHFLFDOO\EHWZHHQMRXUQDOLVWLFGHSLFWLRQVRIWKH&KLQHVHDQGVW\OL]HGGHSLFWLRQV
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now, one of the plays innovations was indeed its nonexoticist depictions
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actors, the production incorporated such ethnographic details as musiFDOLQVWUXPHQWVFRVWXPHVULFNVKDZVDQGIDQYHQGRUV$FFRUGLQJWR5XGQLWVN\DJUHDWYDULHW\RIJHQXLQHREMHFWVZDVEURXJKWIURP&KLQD&KLnese students in Moscow were invited to rehearsals and asked to check
97
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the same time, Tretiakov sought to avoid chinoiserie by insisting that the
stage must not be decorated with pretentious curved roofs, screens, dragRQVRUODQWHUQV7KH0RVFRZSURGXFWLRQEHJDQZLWKDIXOOWHQPLQXWHVRI
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This brings us to Roar China as a departure from the avant-gardist repUHVHQWDWLRQV RI WKH 2WKHU SUHVHQWHG LQ FKDSWHU $JDLQ WKH NH\ KHUH LV
Tretiakovs abandonment of exoticism, something he lays out in the plays
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false and exotic ideas about China, with its wonderful vases, embroidered
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cruel mandarins, dancers (who, by the way, do not exist in China, as China
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Particularly interesting here is the absurd notion that dancing did not exist
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GDQFHDVZHOODV+XJKHVVHPEUDFHRI8]EHNGDQFH$VZHVDZERWKVRXJKW
to harness these exotic traditions for socialist revolution, and arguably
Tretiakov pushes too hard here against exoticism and any ensuing denial
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the boatmen holy silk, promising that the prayer written on it will proWHFWWKHPIURPEXOOHWV:KLOH0F.D\0D\DNRYVN\(LVHQVWHLQDQG
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98
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DHVWKHWLFSRVVLELOLWLHV6WULNLQJO\Roar China, particularly as it was staged in
0RVFRZIXOOOHG%HQMDPLQVSUHVFULSWLRQVIRUDWHFKQLTXHRYHUULGLQJWKH
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RXWUDWKHUWKDQRHUDVWUDLJKWIRUZDUGVHTXHQFHRoar China relies instead
on discontinuities, including retardation, reverse chronology, overlapSLQJDQGHFKRLQJ For instance, Ashlays drowning is presented in two
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RIWKHDWULFDOPRQWDJH,QGHHGVHYHUDOIDFWRJUDSKHUVKDGEHHQWUDLQHGLQ
cinematic montage, and Tretiakov himself had worked closely with Eisenstein on Battleship PotemkinWKHSLRQHHULQJH[HPSODURIWKLVWHFKQLTXH,Q
turn, Eisenstein, who had directed three of Tretiakovs earlier plays, was
originally slated to direct Roar ChinaV0RVFRZSURGXFWLRQ
7KHVFULSWVPRQWDJHHHFWZDVKHLJKWHQHGE\LWVVWDJLQJDW0H\HUKROG
which, as an experimental space, famously lacked a proscenium and esFKHZHGUHDOLVP$VRQH$PHULFDQFULWLFGHVFULEHGLW
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stage as a symbol of imperialism, and the scene itself was divided into three
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ship to the pier and occasionally into a tank of water, blackouts gave the
single episodes a greater emphasis; the settings stood bare upon the stage,
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WKDWZDVK\SHUEROLFVW\OL]HGDQGDOLHQDWLQJIRUWKHIRUHLJQHUVVRPHthing easily accomplished at Meyerhold given the directors innovation of
a bio-mechanical acting style that, in Alaina Lemons words, aimed to
deactivate those forms of realism that stimulated sympathy too habitually,
WRDOORZQHZZD\VWRVHHVRFLDOUHDOLW\,QFRQWUDVWDQGDVDOOXGHGWRHDUlier, Tretiakov suggested that the Chinese characters be presented using a
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100
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eschewed exoticism and the denial of coevalness, namely, by allowing for
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VXJJHVWWKDWWKH&KLQHVHFRXOGEHSRUWUD\HGRQO\LQDGDWHGVW\OH)RUDOO
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as the Comintern deemed China itself still too backward for a Soviet-style
UHYROXWLRQ42 This problem is compounded by the mentioned fact that the
Chinese roles were performed by non-Asian actors, which raises the posVLELOLW\ WKDW WKH SOD\ ZDV DQ LQVWDQFH RI ZKLWH PRGHUQLVW PLQVWUHOV\ 0\
VHQVHKRZHYHULVWKDWVXFKMXGJPHQWVRIRoar China would be too hasty, and
that Tretiakov was not interested in the spectacle of whites performing in
EODFNIDFHRU\HOORZIDFH5DWKHUWKHXVHRI$VLDQDFWRUVZDVOLNHO\QRWDSRVsibility in Moscow, and the naturalistic acting may have served precisely to
GRZQSOD\UDFLDOFURVVLQJ Also, in context this acting style was not merely
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MXVWSRUWUD\DOVof Asians but also by$VLDQVWKDWLVWKH&KLQHVHDQG.RUHDQ
American actors who performed in Roar Chinas New York production, as
well as the Chinese actors who staged the play in China, both before and
101
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DOVRLQWHQGHGWRKDYHDQDWXUDOLVWLFHHFWZKLFKLVDGGLWLRQDOO\SUREOHPatic given the strained historical relationship between Asian Americans
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there proved avant-gardist in ways that neither the plays American diUHFWRUQRU7UHWLDNRYKLPVHOIFRXOGKDYHDQWLFLSDWHG
+ + +
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who would be in Mexico by years end, was in the audience, and Langston
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EXGGLQJSOD\ZULJKW&OLRUG2GHWVZDVDPRQJWKHDFWRUV7KHGLUHFWRUZDV
+HUEHUW%LEHUPDQZKRKDGVHHQWKH0RVFRZSURGXFWLRQPXOWLSOHWLPHV
LQDQGZKRZRXOGJRRQWROHDGDVXFFHVVIXOOPFDUHHU+HLV
EHVWNQRZQQRZDVDOHDGHURIWKH+ROO\ZRRG7HQDJURXSRILQGXVWU\
OHIWLVWVZKRZHUHEODFNOLVWHGDQGEULH\LPSULVRQHGDIWHUUHIXVLQJWRDQVZHU TXHVWLRQV EHIRUH WKH +RXVH 8Q$PHULFDQ $FWLYLWLHV &RPPLWWHH LQ
,QVKRUWRoar China was very much part of the Cultural Front that
HPHUJHGLQV$PHULFDWKH1HZ<RUNSURGXFWLRQDQWLFLSDWLQJWKHODboring of American culture that arose during the Popular Front years and
WKHQGHFOLQHGXQGHU0F&DUWK\LVP,QGHHGDVRQHPLJKWH[SHFW7UHWLDNRY
was a writer for the living newspapers staged by Moscows Blue Blouse
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6RYLHW8QLRQWRWKH8QLWHG6WDWHVLQWKHHDUO\VDQGWKDWEHFDPHFHQWUDOWRWKH1HZ'HDOV)HGHUDO7KHDWUH3URMHFWRI Biberman, in
WXUQVHUYHGDVDFRQGXLWEHWZHHQ6RYLHWDQG$PHULFDQWKHDWHU+HZDVRQH
of the many Jewish Americans who made the magic pilgrimage to the
6RYLHW8QLRQLQWKHVDQGVDQGDV7KHDWUH*XLOGIRXQGHU/DZrence Langer recounts, he came into the Guild replete with such words as
'\QDPLF$JLWSURSDQGVRPHRWKHUUHVRXQGLQJQHZZRUGV FactograSK\DQGOLWHUDWXUHRIIDFWZHUHOLNHO\DPRQJWKHP
+RZHYHUZKDWZDVPRVWLQQRYDWLYHDERXWRoar China in New York was its
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102
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ZHUH DOVR SUHVHQW For the most part, these actors were nonprofessionals, selected by Biberman with the assistance of the Chinese Dramatic and
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long acting career with the play and would go on to write the pioneering
Asian American proletarian novel And China Has Hands 2WKHUDFWRUV
LQFOXGHGUHVWDXUDQWDQGODXQGU\ZRUNHUVVKRSNHHSHUVDQGMRXUQDOLVWV$Fcording to the New York Times, ten of the actors did not understand English,
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The use of amateur actors blurred the boundary between art and life,
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sympathetic reviewers from the left press, this made the play all the
PRUHFRPSHOOLQJNew Masses called the acting superb, asserting that
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Myra Page, writing for the Daily Worker, praised the sincerity and inWHQVHHDUQHVWQHVVRIWKH$VLDQDFWRUV7RWKHP>WKHSOD\@LVHYLGHQWO\
a living embodiment of the wrongs and struggles of the four hundred
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Biberman recalls,
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not only as actors, but as an oppressed people, and this faithfulness to the
theme and orientation of the play created such a solidity, such a group
cohesion, which made any member of this group much higher than any
of the white actors, and the professional cohesion of the group of European actors could not oppose the mastery borne from the depths of pasVLRQDQGKXPLOLDWLRQ51
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actors were passionate, not necessarily talented, and certainly rough
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Time, which praised the New York staging but expressed skepticism about
Tretiakovs claim to factuality, recognized Biberman for capably managing
KLVPRERIPRVWO\$VLDQDFWRUV7KHNew York Times was more skeptical
still, calling the play a failure as an expression of drama, and the Asian actors the most unwieldly [sic] element in the production, throttling down
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104
Still, there are clear indications that, thanks to the Asian actors, the
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IDFWRJUDSK\,QGHHGLWVHHPVWKDWWKHDFWRUVSHUIRUPDQFHVZHUHLQWHQGed to be unwieldly for mainstream audiences, with the New York script
rendering, for instance, very as velly in scenes featuring the Chinese
FKDUDFWHUVXVLQJ(QJOLVKZLWKWKH:HVWHUQHUV That is, though certainly
many of the actors were nonnative English speakers, the script sought to
DFFHQWXDWHUDWKHUWKDQKLGHWKLVDJHVWXUHDUJXDEO\WR7UHWLDNRYVHWKnographic precision, and likewise, the Moscow production used gramPDWLFDOO\ LQFRUUHFW 5XVVLDQ WR VLPXODWH WKH &KLQHVH FKDUDFWHUV EURNHQ
(QJOLVK54 +RZHYHU LQ OLJKW RI 7UHWLDNRYV LQWHUHVW LQ LQWHUPL[WXUH LW
VHHPVPRUHWWLQJWKDWDFFRUGLQJWRWKHNew York Americans reviewer, the
$VLDQDFWRUVZHUHGLFXOWWRXQGHUVWDQGEHFDXVHRIWKHLUJULHYRXV6RXWK
%URRNO\Q VRUW RI (QJOLVK VSHHFK%URRNO\Q QRW &KLQHVH DFFHQWV55 This
wonderful, stereotype-defying detail provides a perfect distillation of facWRJUDSK\VDLPWRSUHVHQWIDFWVWKDWXQGHUPLQHGUDWKHUWKDQDUPHGUHFHLYHGQRWLRQVRIDUWDQGUHDOLW\$VDQRWKHUUHYLHZHUQRWHGWKHSOD\JDYH
the Asian actors an opportunity to belie traditions concerning the stolid
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$FFRUGLQJO\MXVWDVLQ0RVFRZWKH%URDGZD\SURGXFWLRQIHDWXUHGWKHHYHU\GD\WDVNVRID&KLQHVHSRUW'XULQJWKHLQWHUPLVVLRQVHYHUDORIWKHDFtors remained on the proscenium to perform these tasks, and curious audiHQFHPHPEHUVZHUHDOORZHGWRFOLPEXSDQGVSHDNZLWKWKHP+HUHDJDLQ
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with three and a half in Moscow, and the redactions were primarily those
interludes of local color that Biberman regarded as stunning and rich
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In contrast to the Moscow productions use of montagelike interruption to
separate ship and wharf, in New York the movement between the dock,
WKHGHFNDQGWKHZDWHULVLQWHUUHODWHGDQGFRQWLQXRXV Biberman was
aided here by an elaborate stage design in which the British ship moved
forward and backward atop a large pool of water, looming over the plays
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wharf, the EuropaFRXOGEHOLNHZLVHVXEPHUJHGZLWKVDPSDQVRDWHGLQ
IURQWWRFRQFHDOWKHVKLSVSUHVHQFH)RUWKHQDOVFHQHWKHVKLSPRYHG
IRUZDUGLWVFDQQRQVSRLQWHGGRZQWRZDUGWKHSURVFHQLXP7KHWZRVHWtings thus merged into one, setting the stage for the concluding execution
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The seamlessness of the New York production would have struck Tretiakov
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FRQWDLQHGZRUNFXWRIURPWKHZRUOG7KHYHU\SUHVHQFHRIDSURVFHQLXPLQ
1HZ<RUNSRLQWVWRWKLVGLVFRQQHFW%LEHUPDQVRoar China could be and often
ZDVDSSUHFLDWHGDVDFODVKEHWZHHQWZRPHUHO\WKHDWULFDOVSDFHVXSSHUEuropaYHUVXVORZHUZKDUIZLWKWHFKQLFDOZL]DUGU\HQDEOLQJWKHLUQDOFRQIURQWDWLRQ7KHIDFWRJUDSKHUVVXVSLFLRQVZRXOGKDYHEHHQIDQQHGE\WKHIDFW
WKDW/HH6LPRQVRQVXLGDQGPXOWLOHYHOGHVLJQJDUQHUHGSUDLVHHYHQDPRQJ
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triumph of representational scenery, while Times reviewer conceded, Any
spectator will probably be moved by the scenic grandeur, the bold theatrics
RIWKHSURGXFWLRQ7KXVWKH1HZ<RUNSURGXFWLRQFRXOGEHHQMR\HGIRULWV
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FIGURE 2.7
107
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Thus, Biberman removed many of the estranging touches that were the
KDOOPDUNVRIWKH0H\HUKROGSURGXFWLRQIRUH[DPSOHWKHFRQWUDVWLQJDFWLQJVW\OHVDOLHQDWLQJYHUVXVQDWXUDOLVWLFXVHGLQWKHRULJLQDO+HH[SOLFLWO\
GLGWKLVWRGHHFWFKDUJHVWKDWRoar China was mere propaganda, which as
he later explained to Tretiakovs widow was also why he originally chose
WRZRUNZLWK$VLDQDFWRUV
It occurred to me that in order for this play to touch [New York] viewers,
on the whole representatives of the ruling class, it was necessary to make
WKHSHUIRUPDQFHDVQDWXUDOLVWLFDVSRVVLEOH,JXUHGWKDWWROOWKH&KLnese roles with Europeans wearing wigs and speaking with accents would
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108
109
tify with the worker, Foster writes that the postmodern artist seeks to
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that the other, here postcolonial, there proletarian, is somehow in reality,
in truth, not in ideology, because he or she is socially oppressed, politiFDOO\WUDQVIRUPDWLYHDQGRUPDWHULDOO\SURGXFWLYH It would be simple
WRDSSO\WKLVSRVWVWUXFWXUDOLVWFULWLTXHWR7UHWLDNRYZKRXQEHNQRZQVW
to Foster aspired to be both producer and HWKQRJUDSKHUDQG FRQFOXGH
that he was beholden to this realist assumption; that he fetishized (if not
exoticized) both kolkhozniki and Chinese, which perhaps explains his actLQJ LQVWUXFWLRQV IRU WKH &KLQHVH UROHV +RZHYHU WKLV FULWLTXH ZRXOG RFclude the strange afterlife of Roar China, which ultimately transcended
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American actors in New York, the ethnic avant-garde was able to advance
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This last section of the chapter proceeds as a factographic experiment
RIVRUWV,WMX[WDSRVHVDGGLWLRQDOHFKRHVDQGIUDJPHQWVRIRoar China so as
WRHQDEOHXVWRVHHDQHZERWKPLQRULW\QRQ:HVWHUQFXOWXUHVDQGWKH6RYLHWDYDQWJDUGHWRGUDZDGGLWLRQDOXQH[SHFWHGOLQNVEHWZHHQWKHWZR
:HDUHKHOSHGKHUHE\KRZPXWDEOHDQGZHOOWUDYHOHGWKHSOD\SURYHGWR
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critic called it the greatest event in the theatrical world), England, PoODQGDQG&DQDGD,QLWZDVSURGXFHGLQ,QGLDZKHUHLWZDVDGDSWHGWR
expose the persecution of the peaceful Chinese by the Japanese and the
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'XULQJ:RUOG:DU,,WKHSOD\DSSHDUHGDJDLQLQ3RODQGWKLVWLPHLQ<LGdish at Tzchenstochov concentration camp, primarily a labor camp for the
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The commandant of this camp permitted a drama club and a theatre in a
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FRXOG KROG UHKHDUVDOV LQ WKH HYHQLQJV 'HVSLWH WKH LQH[SOLFDEOH OLEHUDOness of the camp commandant, Roar ChinaZDVDSOD\RISURWHVW:KHQWKH
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the eve of the second anniversary of the Mukden Incident (which led to
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&KLQD" In an apparent reply to this call, it was around this time that
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boundary between the visual and the aural for the sake of turning the
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+RZHYHUWKH&KLQHVHLWHUDWLRQVRIRoar China depart from factography
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woodblock prints lack markers and representational details of social, cultural, or national particularities, even as they press for national action
DJDLQVW:HVWHUQDQG-DSDQHVHLPSHULDOLVP To follow Fosters line of reasoning, this apparent post-ethnic turn eschews Tretiakovs reliance on
Asianness as a source of agency, and perhaps this is why Roar China assumed
DSRWHQF\LQ&KLQDWKDWLWODFNHGHOVHZKHUH:KHUHDVHYHQLQ0RVFRZWKH
SOD\NHSWWKH&KLQHVHFKDUDFWHUVLQFKHFNDJDLQWKURXJK7UHWLDNRYVLQstruction that they be presented in a naturalistic, sober, and poignant
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Roar China was again staged, this time in the Canidrome of Shanghai in
a large open-air set with rapid scene changes made possible by lighting
WHFKQLTXHV:LWKWKLVSURGXFWLRQRoar China perhaps found its ultimate appeal among the people whose sad plight originally stimulated
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By this account, the Shanghai production restored some of the originals sense of interruption, namely, through its unorthodox setting and
112
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From this perspective, Roar China ushers in a new chapter in the ethnic
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Since when did you ever steal anything
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Sleepy wise old beast
Known as the porcelain-maker,
Known as the poem-maker,
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A long time since you cared
About taking other peoples lands
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present of an enormous poster, showing a gigantic Chinese coolie breaking
his chains, and he gave me a copy of Roar ChinaLQVFULEHGLQ(QJOLVK:KHQ
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and image, the Volunteer for Liberty SODFHG +XJKHVV SKRWR DORQJVLGH WKH
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no lofty claims to present China as it really is, despite his travels there after
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uses such ready-made tropes to form agitational slogans, which follow
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course, we can read these tropes as reverting to another iteration of Soviet
futurism, covered in chapter 1, in which the exotic referenced premodHUQ XWRSLDV DQG IRUZDUGHG DQ DQWLLPSHULDO SROLWLFV 0LVVLQJ IURP WKHVH
lines, however, is the estranging enchantment of Mayakovskys American
writings, as well as that poets subversion of tropes like Black Lion (in his
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WKHOPVSURGXFWLRQLVZHOONQRZQ$IWHUEHLQJVKXQQHGE\WKHPDMRUVWXdios as a communist, Biberman formed an independent company made up
RIRWKHUEODFNOLVWHG+ROO\ZRRGW\SHVDQGDPXOWLUDFLDOFUHZLQFOXGLQJ$Irican Americans, who had long been excluded by the industrys discriminaWRU\SUDFWLFHV,QWKH\VKRWSalt of the Earth in Silver City, New Mexico,
despite sometimes violent harassment by local red-baiters; edited it at variRXVVHFUHWORFDWLRQVLQ6RXWKHUQ&DOLIRUQLDDJDLQVWVWXGLRDQGXQLRQHRUWV
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:KDW,ZRXOGOLNHWRVXJJHVWLVWKDWSalt of the EarthRHUVDPRUHDXVSLFLRXVEXWQRQHWKHOHVVIUDXJKWHFKRRIRoar ChinaWKDQ+XJKHVVUHQGLWLRQ RI LW 7KH OP ZDV EDVHG RQ D UHFHQW SURORQJHG VWULNH WKDW KDG LQvolved predominantly Mexican American workers at a zinc mine near
115
Silver City, and many of the strikers served as both script consultants and
DFWRUVZLWKVRPHSOD\LQJWKHPVHOYHV7KDWLVOLNHRoar ChinaWKHOPZDV
torn from newspaper headlines and featured predominantly amateur,
PLQRULW\ DFWRUV $FFRUGLQJO\ MXVW DV ZLWK 7UHWLDNRY %LEHUPDQ VRXJKW D
dynamic presentation of the facts, explicitly eschewing both hackneyed
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resonance with Italian neorealism, which, as Masha Salazkina has shown,
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DLP IRU D UDGLFDO FRQJXUDWLRQ RI IDFWV UDWKHU WKDQ SDVVLYH UHSUHVHQWDtion also points to his factographic credentials, which are most evident in
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China, he presents this community in a respectful but nonpatronizing way
and, indeed, granted the workers and their families veto power over the
VFULSW The result is a remarkably subtle depiction of the culture that esFKHZVH[RWLFLVP$V'HERUDK6LOYHUWRQ5RVHQIHOWZULWHV
7KH6SDQLVKODQJXDJHLVZRYHQLQWRWKHWH[WXUHRIWKHOP5HIHUHQFHV
to the RULFDQWRRZHUDQGVRQJDGGDSRHWU\WRWKHVFUHHQSOD\ZKLOH
HYRNLQJWKH/DWLQREDFNJURXQGRIWKHSHRSOH6LPLODUO\6RO.DSODQVPXsical score conveys the Mexican heritage by using variations of la AdeliWDDVRQJRIZRPHQLQWKH0H[LFDQ5HYROXWLRQ
,QRWKHUZRUGVWKHOPWULHVWRFDSWXUH&KLFDQDRFXOWXUHEXWQHYHUUHGXFHVLWWRDQH[RWLFVSHFWDFOHMXVWDVZLWK7UHWLDNRYVWUHDWPHQWRI&KLQHVHFXOWXUH,QVWHDGORFDOODQJXDJHDQGFXOWXUHVHUYHWRGLVWLQJXLVKWKH
VWULNHUVIURPWKHZKLWHRZQHUVWKHIDFWRIHWKQLFGLHUHQFHPRVWSHUvasively, the main characters lightly accented English) bolsters class moELOL]DWLRQDQGWKHUHIRUHWKHWUDQVIRUPDWLRQRIUHDOLW\7KHOPOLNHZLVH
IRFXVHVRQWKHOHDGLQJUROHRI0H[LFDQ$PHULFDQZRPHQLQWKHVWUXJJOH
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with ethnicity, Salt of the Earth presents gender as dynamic and transforPDWLYH7KHOPVUHVSHFWIXOGHSLFWLRQVRIGLHUHQFHVHUYHWRUHVROYHWKH
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can potentially use SaltDVD7URMDQKRUVHRIVRUWVVPXJJOLQJIDFWRJUDSK\
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mitigate Roar ChinaV H[SHULPHQWDO WRXFKHV $V 5RVHQIHOW QRWHV WKH OP
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It is, ultimately, a well made story with a tightly, carefully organized
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which prompts the lead male to thank the lead female for her perseverDQFH That is, Salt of the Earth is marked by a seamlessness similar to that
in Bibermans Roar China$QGWKRXJKWKDWSURGXFWLRQVFODLPWRIDFWRJUDphy was saved by the disruptive use of Asian American amateur actors, and
although Biberman again used amateur actors based on his favorable Roar
China experience, the SaltDFWRUVLQFRQWUDVWZHUHUHPDUNDEOHIRUMXVWKRZ
SROLVKHGDQGSURIHVVLRQDOWKH\VHHPHG This was likely because they were
playing themselves, as opposed to Chinese and Korean Americans playing
coolies in China; a less-pronounced language barrier may have been anRWKHUIDFWRU,QDQ\FDVHWKLVUHVXOWHGLQPRUHSODXVLEOHDFWLQJEXWDFRPplete absence of Roar ChinaVXQLQWHQGHGVXEYHUVLRQRIQDWXUDOLVP7KLV
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Nonetheless, SaltGRHVDEHWWHUMREWKDQ+XJKHVV5RDU&KLQDRIFDUU\LQJ IRUZDUG IDFWRJUDSK\V SURPLVH IRU PLQRULW\ QRQ:HVWHUQ FXOWXUHV
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117
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to hold the various iterations and echoes of Roar ChinaLQMX[WDSRVLWLRQ
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exercise in factography, I would like to suggest that we look at each of
these iterations as discrete facts that, taken together, can be seen as unGHUJLUGLQJDQHZXQH[SHFWHGJURXSLQJRIDUWLVWVDQGZULWHUV&URVVLQJ
multiple places, times, and backgrounds, this grouping is made up of all
those who performed in, translated, or adapted Roar ChinaDJURXSLQJ
bound by Tretiakovs multifaceted work as well as by varying degrees of
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Factographys commitment to reporting the facts and combining disSDUDWHIUDJPHQWVWKHPRUHGLVRULHQWLQJWKHEHWWHULVZHOOVXLWHGWRWKH
FRPELQDWLRQRIDOOXUHDQGWUDJHG\WKDW,KDYHLQPLQG7KHMX[WDSRVLtion of, on the one hand, the international circulation of Tretiakovs Roar
China DQG RQ WKH RWKHU WKH WUDJHG\ RI KLV H[HFXWLRQ SRLQWV WR DQ
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sense of loss but also endurance in the face of the failed utopias of the
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and when he wrote this letter, he was in the middle of a ten-year lawsuit
against the studios over their coordinated assault on Salt+HXOWLPDWHO\
ORVWDQGPDGHRQO\RQHPRUHOPEHIRUHG\LQJLQ2OJD7UHWLDNRYD
118
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Like many persecuted during the terror, her husband was posthumously
H[RQHUDWHGGXULQJWKH.KUXVKFKHYWKDZ,QVKRUWKHUHZHQGWZRSHRple corresponding in the wake of, respectively, McCarthyism and StalinLVPWREHVXUHWZRLQFRPSDUDEOHLQVWDQFHVRIVWDWHUHSUHVVLRQ+RZHYHU
in the wake of Roar China and Salt of the Earth %LEHUPDQV HRUW WR OLQN
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his closing words to Tretiakova, we can discern an attempt to salvage past
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measure, to pay a very old debt of gratitude, in fact, several debts, which
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SHRSOHIURP0RVFRZWKHDWHURIWKHVZKRHYHU\GD\JHQHURXVO\SUHsented me with warmth and inspiration from that great richness and diYHUVLW\IRUZKLFKWKHLQVSLUHGWKHDWHURIWKDWWLPHZDVIDPRXV6HFRQGO\
I am deeply grateful to the colossal creative genius of Meyerhold, for the
countless number of the brilliant theatrical achievements of our time,
ZKLFKDUHDVIUHVKLQP\PHPRU\DVWKH\ZHUHWKLUW\\HDUVDJR7KLUGly, I want to express my gratitude to Sergei Tretiakov for his play, which
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DQGZKLFKXQLWHGWKLVDHFWLRQZLWKP\GHVLUHWRH[SUHVVP\VHOILQWKHater, and uniting these elements, laid the basis of my worldview, which
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against terror and persecution strikes me as a model for reexamining
the ruins of the Soviet-centered ethnic avant-garde; for carrying forward
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3
From Avant-Garde to Authentic
Revisiting Langston Hughess Moscow Movie
HSLFNXSZKHUHFKDSWHUOHIWR/DQJVWRQ+XJKHVLQ6RYLHW&HQWUDO$VLDDXWXPQ+HDQGWZHQW\RQHRWKHU$IULFDQ$PHULFDQVKDGDUULYHGLQWKH8665WKDW-XQHWRPDNHD
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toured Uzbekistan to witness Moscows elimination of czarist-era discrimiQDWLRQ +RZHYHU RQO\ +XJKHV HOHFWHG WR DOVR VHH 7XUNPHQLVWDQ DQG DIWHUDEDQGRQLQJWKHRWKHUVHQGHGXSLQ$VKJDEDWLQDUXQGRZQRFLDO
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KDSSHQHGWREHVWD\LQJWKHUHDVZHOODQGNQRFNHGRQKLVGRRU,QKLV
autobiography, Koestler claims he did so because he heard Sophie Tuckers
0\<LGGLVKH0RPPDSOD\LQJRQ+XJKHVV9LFWUROD+XJKHVZRXOGODWHU
GLVSXWHWKLVDFFRXQWFODLPLQJKHQHYHURZQHGWKHUHFRUG1 They agreed,
though, that they became travel companions in Central Asia and, along
with a Turkmen poet and Ukrainian ex-sailor, formed an impromptu tourLQJ,QWHUQDWLRQDO3UROHWDULDQ:ULWHUV%ULJDGH2
I begin with this uncanny episode because of the discrepancies beWZHHQ.RHVWOHUDQG+XJKHVVUHFROOHFWLRQVWKHGLHUHQWZD\VLQZKLFK
WKH6RYLHWFHQWHUHGHWKQLFDYDQWJDUGHRIWKHHDUO\VDSSHDUVIURP
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WKDWGD\.RHVWOHUQRZPRVWIDPRXVIRUKLVDQWL6WDOLQLVWQRYHODarkness
at Noon XVHVKLVDXWRELRJUDSK\WRUHSXGLDWHKLVGD\VDVD\RXQJ
120
121
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authenticity is better seen as a recalibration, for in fact the interwar ethQLFDYDQWJDUGHZDVFRQYHUVDQWLQFXOWXUDODXWKHQWLFLW\DOEHLWDQRWLRQRI
DXWKHQWLFLW\ODFNLQJWKHH[FOXVLYLW\+XJKHVKHUHLPSDUWVWRLW)URPD6RYLHWDQGDYDQWJDUGLVWSHUVSHFWLYHWREHDXWKHQWLFPHDQWWRUHMHFWPDVV
FXOWXUH DQG FRPPHUFLDOL]DWLRQRQH FRXOG EH DXWKHQWLFDOO\ EODFN E\ EHLQJDQWLFDSLWDOLVWOHDGLQJWRDYHU\VSHFLFHPEUDFHRI$IULFDQ$PHULFDQ
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see, the terms of the ethnic avant-gardes replacement (by discrete, auWKHQWLFFXOWXUHVZHUHLQIDFWWKHWHUPVRILWVSRVWZDUVXUYLYDODOEHLWLQD
VHYHUHO\GLPLQLVKHGIRUP
I show this by trying to solve a puzzle, one that emerges from a part of
+XJKHVVDXWRELRJUDSK\ZKHUHKHPRUHFOHDUO\GHSOR\VWKHODQJXDJHRI
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Black and White (Chernye i belyeZKLFKDJDLQZDVWKHUHDVRQZK\+XJKHV
WUDYHOHG WR WKH 8665 LQ ,W ZDV TXLFNO\ FDQFHOHG WKDW VXPPHU RVWHQVLEO\EHFDXVHRIVFULSWGLFXOWLHVEXWLWZDVRQO\LQI Wonder as I Wander WKDW +XJKHV ZKR VHUYHG DV D VFULSW FRQVXOWDQW SURYLGHG D GHWDLOHG
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authenticity traced in this chapter and to thereby satisfy both sides of the
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Nested within this argument is the more basic point that Black and
WhiteV5XVVLDQODQJXDJHVFULSWZRXOGKDYHPDGHIRUDIDVFLQDWLQJOP7R
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it undoubtedly would have opened new ground for both African AmeriFDQFRPPXQLVPDQGWKHFLQHPDWLFSRUWUD\DORIEODFNV7KHVFULSWSRLQWV
to paths not taken, inviting us to reconsider established historical narUDWLYHVLQWKLVFDVHWKHRQHSURYLGHGE\+XJKHV0RUHVSHFLFDOO\WKLV
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122
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YLD $VLDGHVFULEHG LW DV DUWLVWLFDOO\ ZHDN DQG XQVRXQG PLUHG E\ GHfects of the plot and continuity and thus failing to pass the muster of the
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WKHQ WR ODXJKHU WKHQ WR WHDUV &OHDUO\ WKH 5XVVLDQ VFHQDULVW had never
been to America, resulting in a pathetic hodgepodge of good intentions
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RI LWV GHWDLOV ZHUH ZURQJ DQG LWV DFFHQWV PLVSODFHG +H UHSRUWV WHOOLQJ
0H]KUDESRPOP,WLVMXVWVLPSO\not true to American life, and then deWDLOVIRUWKHUHDGHUDIHZNH\VFHQHVGHI\LQJHYHQSODXVLEOHIDQWDV\ In
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DQG$UWEHDUVQRQHRIWKHJODULQJLQDFFXUDFLHVVSHFLHGE\+XJKHV1Rwhere does a hot-blooded white aristocrat at an upscale party proposiWLRQDEODFNVHUYDQWZLWKWKHZRUGV+RQH\SXWGRZQ\RXUWUD\FRPHOHWV
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comes to this is a drunken white man assaulting a black woman by a river at
QLJKW7KHUHDUHQR1HJURFDSLWDOLVWVZKRRZQUDGLRVWXGLRVDQGEURDGFDVWWRZHUVXVHGWRFDOOWRWKH1RUWKIRUKHOS,QVWHDGEODFNZRUNHUVLQD
boardinghouse have access to a shortwave radio and for a brief moment
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a race riot in which the poor whites attack both rich and poor Negroes
DOLNH7KLVDWWDFNZDVWRKDYHSURPSWHGDQDOOLDQFHDFURVVFODVVOLQHV,Q
fact, black workers remain hostile to the black bourgeoisie throughout the
OPDQGWKHFOLPD[LVDPXOWLUDFLDOZRUNHUVGHPRQVWUDWLRQSURWHVWLQJD
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and Klansmen prevail, shooting dead a handful of main characters and arUHVWLQJPRVWRIWKHRWKHUV
124
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EHWZHHQ$XJXVWDQG)HEUXDU\*UHEQHUVQDOVRXQGYHUsion, which is the focus of this chapter; and an English-language sound
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ask a black servant woman to dance with them, she complies, and one of
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as I Wander12
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KDQGOHFURZGVLQOPV,PDJLQHWKHZKLWHZRUNHUVRIWKH1RUWKFODVKing with the Southern mobs of Birmingham on the road outside the city,
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The momentary allure of the passage points to what I think is the corUHFWH[SODQDWLRQIRUWKHIDEULFDWHGDFFRXQW+XJKHVVRXJKWWRGLVWDQFH
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DVDEHDFRQRIKRSH,QGHHGWKHSDVVDJHFDQEHUHDGDVDUHHFWLYHO\QRVWDOJLFJOLPSVHRIWKHLQWHUZDU6RYLHWFHQWHUHGHWKQLFDYDQWJDUGH The
125
montage of white workers and militant Negroes evokes the pioneerLQJ OP WHFKQLTXHV RI 6HUJHL (LVHQVWHLQ DQG WKH RSHQLQJ MDE DW 6RYLHW
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the closing dismissal of the script as both too forward and backward can
be read as echoing the multiple temporalities of Tatlins Tower, another
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These readings become less far-fetched when we turn to the actual
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Grebner proposes a montage for the sake of both visual and auditory
defamiliarization [ostraneniia@HYRNLQJKHUH(LVHQVWHLQDQG9LNWRU6KNORYVNLL7KLVLVIRUDVFHQHLQZKLFKZHUVWVHHWKHPDLQFKDUDFWHUVOLYLQJ
TXDUWHUV(DFKFRUQHURIWKHHPSW\URRPLVPDUNHGE\GLVWLQFWVRXQGVDQG
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of Lenin hangs in the third; and a large radio receiver and technical books
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logical and intriguing revelation [raskrytiia] of the main characters, suggesting that Grebner indeed sought to harness Soviet technical and artisWLFGHYHORSPHQWVWREUHDNIURPSDVWFDULFDWXUHV14
*UHEQHUVHRUWVWRGRVRUHVRQDWHZLWKDVSHFLFLWHUDWLRQRIWKH6Rviet avant-garde, namely, Sergei Tretiakovs futurist emphasis on facts
WKHIRFXVRIWKHSUHYLRXVFKDSWHU7KDWLVZKLOHRoar China was a factographic rendering of China, Black and White can be seen, at least in part,
DVDIDFWRJUDSKLFUHQGHULQJRI$IULFDQ$PHULFDQV7KHVFHQDULVW*UHEQHU
ZDVQRWDPHPEHURI/()EXWZDVDSSDUHQWO\MXVWDVFRPPLWWHGWRDFFXUDF\DV7UHWLDNRY$OOHYHQWVDUHEDVHGRQUHDOIDFWVERUURZHGIURP
OLWHUDU\DQGQHZVSDSHUVRXUFHV*UHEQHUZULWHVLQKLVQRWHV15 Countering
+XJKHVVFODLPWKDWWKHVFULSWZDVEDVHGRQWKHYHU\IHZERRNVDERXW1HJUROLIHLQRXUFRXQWU\WKDWKDGEHHQWUDQVODWHGLQWR5XVVLDQWKHVFHQDULVWVSDSHUVPHQWLRQDWOHDVWWZRRIWKHVHVRXUFHVWKHOHIWLVWHarlem Liberator and the New MassesZKLFKLQWKHVGHYRWHGFRQVLGHUDEOHDWWHQWLRQ
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126
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and the script itself is interspersed with several asides detailing African
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music, to the tendency of black pastors to address God directly in their sermons, to the founding and rise of the KKK, to the number of lynchings in
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In short, Grebner did not take lightly his stated task of presenting for the
UVWWLPH in world cinema blacks as people rather than tearful and sugDU\ RU WKH IDLWKIXO VHUYDQW RU KDOI LGLRWV ,Q KLV LQVWUXFWLRQV WR WKH
director, he insists on the integration of statistical, historical, and other
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This is all to say that Grebner viewed Black and White as a vehicle not only
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DQGKHODFNHG7UHWLDNRYVLQWHUHVWLQOLPLWHGSRLQWVRIYLHZ+LVVFHQDULR
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DFTXDLQW6RYLHWYLHZHUVZLWK$IULFDQ$PHULFDQVKHSURSRVHVRSHQLQJWKH
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an ocean straining to break through storm clouds, followed by a close-up
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and children begging for water, and corpses thrown overboard by white
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labor, including overseers cracking whips, after which we are returned to
WKHVODYHDXFWLRQZKHUHWZRQHDUO\ZKLWHVLVWHUVDUHXSIRUVDOH*UHEner here informs the director, There is an entire gamma of shades from
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127
128
in Kelley, for instance, has shown that the Communist Party of the USA
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though led by white northerners, it attracted black workers through
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RYHUYHKXQGUHGZRUNLQJSHRSOHSRSXODWHGWKH3DUW\VPDVVRUJDQL]DWLRQVRIZKRPEHWZHHQDQGSHUFHQWZHUHEODFN20 These numbers swelled further following the CPUSAs defense of the Scottsboro
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WZRZKLWHZRPHQDERDUGDWUDLQ,QBlack and White, the Brooker subplot,
called a second Scottsboro at one point in the script, clearly evokes
this case, which received considerable attention in the presses of both
WKH $PHULFDQ OHIW DQG WKH 6RYLHW 8QLRQ21 To be sure, revisionist work
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IRUPHGZRUNHUVDOOLDQFH,QIDFWWKH&386$VVXFFHVVZLWKEODFNVODUJHO\
alienated white workers, who occasionally accused the party of a proEODFN ELDV ,Q FRQWUDVW WR WKH VFULSW EODFNZKLWH DOOLDQFHV ZHUH RIWHQ
UHOXFWDQWDQGFRXOGHYHQOHDYHUDFLVWDWWLWXGHVLQWDFW0RUHRYHUYLROHQW
confrontations involving black communists were rare, far outweighed
E\HYDVLYHFXQQLQJIRUPVRIUHVLVWDQFH22 Nevertheless, Grebners deSLFWLRQVRIEODFNVDUHIDUIURPWKHOXGLFURXVQHVVGHVFULEHGE\+XJKHV
DQG PLUURU WKH MRXUQDOV DQG QHZVSDSHUV RI WKH $PHULFDQ OHIW ,QGHHG
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0D\FRYHURINew Masses
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skewed source on southern blacks, and the cover cited by Grebner, featuring two perfect lines of demonstrating workers, now conveys an unVHWWOLQJXQLIRUPLW\([FHSWIRUWKHLUHYHQO\DOWHUQDWLQJEODFN DQGZKLWH
heads, the workers are identical, with the same black pants, white shirts,
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that the foremost worker on Grebners New Masses cover has a black face
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simple oversight, it is possible to read this incongruity as acknowledgLQJZKDW5DOSK(OOLVRQKDVFDOOHGWKHLQWHUUHODWHGQHVVRIEODFNQHVVDQG
ZKLWHQHVVWKH QRWLRQ WKDW WKH FDWHJRULHV EODFN DQG ZKLWH GR QRW
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FIGURE 3.1
130
131
Competing Authenticities
7KLVDOWHUQDWLYHDXWKHQWLFLW\LVPHDQWDVDFRXQWHUSRLQWWR+XJKHVVPRUH
IDPLOLDUXVHRILWLQKLVDXWRELRJUDSK\WKDWLVDQDXWKHQWLFLW\WKDW
JXDUGVFXOWXUDOERXQGDULHVWKDWZDUGVRRXWVLGHUVWU\LQJWRSUHVHQWRU
VSHDNIRUDSDUWLFXODUJURXS%\WKHWLPHRI+XJKHVV0RVFRZWULSWKLVIDmiliar authenticity had been forcefully articulated by African American
ZULWHUVDQGVFKRODUVSDUWLFXODUO\:(%'X%RLV)RUH[DPSOH'X%RLVV
&ULWHULDRI1HJUR$UWQRWHGKRZUDFLDOSUHMXGJHPHQWKDGOLPLWHG
white writing on blacks, writing that tended to focus on human degradaWLRQ/LNHZLVHLQThe Souls of Black Folk KHDVVHUWHGWKDWEODFNVRUURZ
songs descended from primitive African music and that debasements
DQGLPLWDWLRQVFRXOGQHYHUQGWKHUHDO1HJURPHORGLHV,QWXUQMXVWDV
'X%RLVHPEUDFHGVRUURZVRQJV+XJKHVLQKLVHVVD\7KH1HJUR$UWLVWDQGWKH5DFLDO0RXQWDLQHVWDEOLVKHG1HJURIRONVRQJVDQGWKHHWHUnal tom-tom beating in the Negro soul as the provenance of black modHUQLVP7KLVLVDOOWRVD\WKDWWKHDFFRXQWRIBlack and White must be
situated within a long-running discourse of black authenticity, a discourse
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basically repeats Du Boiss claim about debasement and imitations and
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5REHUW *RRGLQJ:LOOLDPV KDV UHFHQWO\ XQSDFNHG WKH FRQWRXUV RI WKLV
discourse, noting how the sorrow songs chapter in The Souls of Black Folk
HPHUJHGIURP'X%RLVVRZQGLVWDQFHIURPWKHYDVWPDMRULW\RIEODFNVKRZ
he presented the songs as the basis of a racially distinctive spiritual identity in order to legitimate his claims of connection to, and thus leaderVKLS RYHU $IULFDQ $PHULFDQV DV D ZKROH ,Q VKRUW Souls deploys notions
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press for black rights solely within the framework of American democracy
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designed to be compatible with American democratic ideals, thus excludLQJDSULRULEURDGHUFULWLFLVPVRIFDSLWDOLVWPRGHUQLW\
132
133
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draw closer to the Negro masses and talk their language and use MayaNRYVN\DVDPRGHOIRUGRLQJVR+RZHYHUDV,HPSKDVL]HGLQP\GLVFXVVLRQ
RI +XJKHVV 0D\DNRYVN\ WUDQVODWLRQV VXFK DSSOLFDWLRQV ZHUH QRW D RQH
way street, not simply a case of Stalinist policies or Soviet discourses playLQJRXWLQWKH8QLWHG6WDWHV,QGHHGDQWLFDSLWDOLVWUHYROXWLRQDU\QRWLRQV
of black authenticity very much emerged in dialogue with African AmeriFDQVDQGWKH$PHULFDQOHIW-DPHV6PHWKXUVWRHUVXVHIXOFRQWH[WXDOL]Dtion here, showing how this Soviet notion of authenticity gelled with longstanding desires to free black vernacular from minstrelsy and plantation
OLWHUDWXUH 6HHNLQJ WR UHFODLP WKHLU FXOWXUH VHYHUDO $IULFDQ $PHULFDQ
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Smethurst writes,
Left oppositions of bourgeois culture, including mass culture, to workingclass and peasant cultures, however fragmentary and skeletal, could be used
to reappropriate vernacular expressive forms, including dialect, without
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In other words, radicalism was to cleanse black folk of minstrelsys conWDPLQDWLRQ WKH LPSOLFDWLRQ EHLQJ WKDW PDUNHW LQXHQFHV ZHUH LQWULQVLFDOO\ FRUUXSWLQJ 7KURXJK WKLV OHQV EODFN YHUQDFXODU DSSURSULDWHG E\
the bourgeoisie was inauthentic, serving only to reinforce stereotypes,
ZKLOH EODFN YHUQDFXODU WKDW RSSRVHG PDVV FXOWXUH ZDV DXWKHQWLF $QWLcapitalism was to rescue black culture from inauthenticity, a construcWLRQWKDW6PHWKXUVWLOOXVWUDWHVYLD6WHUOLQJ%URZQVSRHWU\5HMHFWLQJWKH
KLJK GLFWLRQ RI QRUWKHUQ EODFNV DQG WKH ZKLWHVSRQVRUHG MD]] RI 1HZ
York, Browns Southern Road SUHVHQWVDGLVWLQFWVRXWKHUQYHUQDFXODUDSSDUHQWO\XQWDLQWHGE\PDUNHWVDQGEHQWRQUHVLVWDQFH%URZQWKXV
romanticizes the Black Belt as the authentic, anticapitalist foundation of
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The yoking of vernacular to resistance yielded a clear criterion for
evaluating black authenticity, which led white radicals on both sides of
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134
LQFKDSWHU)LODWRYDLQ0RVFRZEHOLHYHGKHUVHOITXDOLHGWRGHQHWKH
1HJUR PDVVHV DQG WKHLU ODQJXDJH 6LPLODUO\ New Masses editor Mike
Gold derided New York nightclubs for peddling a false black voice, spoiled
E\ ZHDOWK\ ZKLWH SDWURQV VXFK DV &DUO 9DQ 9HFKWHQ 7KH +DUOHP FDEDret no more represents the Negro mass than a pawnshop represents the
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Gold embraced spirituals as untouched by markets and, as such, promising
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later suggested, though, that in order for this to happen, religious lyrics
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SUDLVHGEODFNZRUNHUVLQ&KLFDJRIRUWUDQVIRUPLQJ*LPPH7KDW2OG7LPH
5HOLJLRQLQWR*LPPH7KDW1HZ&RPPXQLVW6SLULW
/LNHZLVH WKURXJKRXW WKH HDUO\ V New Masses published a series
on Negro Songs of Protest, in which their white compiler, Lawrence
Gellert, emphasized southern black dialects as well as a shift from reliJLRXVWKHPHV
7KHVH QHZ VRQJV RI WKH 1HJUR GLHU IURP WKH ZHOONQRZQ VSLULWXDOV
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WKH1HJURIRUWKHUVWWLPHZLWKKLVPDVNR7KHPDVNKHKDVIRUJHQHUDtions been constrained to assume in order to pick up the crumbs from the
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135
Gellert here makes the too hasty assumption that he himself has access
to this woodchoppers mind, that the song is not being directed against
KLPDVZHOO<HWWKHVRQJKDUPRQL]HVZLWKWKHUDFLDOYHLODQGGRXEOH
FRQVFLRXVQHVVLGHQWLHGE\'X%RLVLQThe Souls of Black Folk, this sense
of always looking at oneself through the eyes of others, of measuring
ones soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and
SLW\ According to Gellert and Gold, the key to shattering this duplicity (both inward and outward) was a turn from religion to radicalism,
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PDNHWKH$IULFDQ$PHULFDQVXEMHFWZKROHERWKLQKLVRZQH\HVDQGLQ
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In hindsight, the problems with this understanding of the authentic
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IRUFHGDWEHVW1HYHUWKHOHVVLQVRXWKHUQEODFNYHUQDFXODUDQGPXVLF86
communists (both black and white) believed that they had located authenWLF$IULFDQ$PHULFDQFXOWXUH,QWXUQWKH$PHULFDQOHIWVHPEUDFHRIEODFN
IRONFXOWXUHLQXHQFHG6RYLHWYLHZV,QDHQWU\RQ1HJUROLWHUDWXUH
for a Soviet literary encyclopedia, Filatova draws from New Masses, menWLRQLQJWKHDUWLFOHVDQGVWRULHVRI(XJHQH*RUGRQDQGTXRWLQJIURP*HOOHUWV1HJUR6RQJVRI3URWHVW+HUELEOLRJUDSK\LQFOXGHVDFROOHFWLRQRI
WKHVHVRQJVWUDQVODWHGLQWR5XVVLDQ7KXV)LODWRYDVOLNH*UHEQHUVDXthority on African Americans was based, at least in part, on American comPXQLVWZULWLQJVWKDWWKHPVHOYHVGUHZLQVSLUDWLRQIURPWKH6RYLHW8QLRQ
The result was a similar understanding of black culture among AmeriFDQ DQG 6RYLHW FRPPXQLVWV &LWLQJ +XJKHV )LODWRYD GHVFULEHV $IULFDQ
American literatures most recent revolutionary examples as possessing
136
WKH IROORZLQJ FRPSRQHQWV FRQWHQW WKDW KLJKOLJKWV WKH UDFLVP FRQfronting blacks, in response tending toward class consciousness and
away from religious themes; (2) form that draws from black national
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Black and WhiteWULSDQGE\DOOLQGLFDWLRQVKLJKO\YDOXHGKHUUHDGLQJV
$UQROG5DPSHUVDGVXJJHVWVWKDWKHUFULWLFLVPRIKLVUHOLJLRXVUHODSVHV
SURPSWHGKLPWRZULWHIURP0RVFRZLQ0DUFK1HYHUPXVWP\VWLcism or beauty be gotten into any religious motive when used as a proleWDULDQZHDSRQ40
)LODWRYDVUHPDUNDEO\FOHDUGHQLWLRQRIODXGDEOHDXWKHQWLFEODFNFXOture was the product of a transatlantic, cross-racial leftist exchange that,
LQUHWURVSHFWEHOLHV+XJKHVVFDULFDWXUHRIXQLQIRUPHG6RYLHWV7KLVGHnition resonates well with Black and White,WDNHXSODWHU*UHEQHUVRZQ
rendering of Negritianskii narodnyi bliuz1HJURQDWLRQDOEOXHVEXWVXFH
it for now to note the scripts antireligious thrust, enacted through a Negro preacher character who, calling to mind a fox, speaks at a deceased
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that his blue river refers to the famously brown Mississippi, adding,
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In his defense, it is necessary to remember that while Grebner was not
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provides for cultural diversity and an anticapitalist authenticity, but as
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sing among themselves to mark the funeral of one of their own, then
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promotion of national cultures, territories, and elites streamlined the
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was meant to see, and upon his return to the United States, he had no way
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preferable to betrayal; I Wonder as I Wander merely provided the details,
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Such political delineations can be seen as analogous to this chapters
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hours later, this brings to mind both Jewish and African Americans who
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from such neuroses (further explored in chapter 4), loyal to the United
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many people of color from around the world who once sought hope from
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racism, and after urging the Comintern to do more to organize blacks,
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Prior to becoming a communist, he had published theater reviews and
short stories in the black socialist Messenger and played the title role
in a touring production of Othello Accordingly, his leadership over
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clothing that gave him the appearance of a Buddhist monk and veriWDEOH%ODFN&RVVDFNDQLQVWDQFHRI$IUR2ULHQWDOLVPDNLQWR&ODXGH
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Pushkin, whose African roots, once again, were widely touted by early
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to support the Black Belt thesis, disputing the idea that African Americans
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mentioned in I Wonder as I Wander, he greeted the Black and White delegation
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not have been surprised, well aware that he had been assisting with the
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and seems to have supported those who called the cancellation a political
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turns out to be an awful person and such a person that one can only have
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he worked as a teacher, but this sentence was changed to hard labor in May
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this scholarship, which makes it all the more admirable that Glenda Gilmores recent 'HI\LQJ'L[LH places him at the forefront of African American
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as she concludes, the study of historical failures leaves open the possibility
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such, it is appropriate that Grebners script concludes with a failed upULVLQJDQGYLFWRU\SRVWSRQHGWRDQXQGHWHUPLQHGIXWXUH)RUWKHOLNHVRI
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148
4
Cold War Pluralism
The New York Intellectuals Respond to
Soviet Anti-Semitism
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Pan Comrade, he said, getting up, his top hat swaying on his head like a
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Isaac Babel, Gedali
ewish artists, writers, and thinkers have been present in each of the
preceding chapters, serving as an implicit vanguard within the SoviHWFHQWHUHGHWKQLFDYDQWJDUGH,QWKHLQWURGXFWLRQZHVDZ:DOWHU
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Roar China was one of the many Jewish American intellectuals who made the
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Americanists, Slavists, and Jewish studies scholars alike, it is now widely accepted that Jews had a prominent place in the interwar left, and that Soviet
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far more Jewish than the Jewry of America and be the matrix of culturDOO\IDUPRUHVLJQLFDQW-HZLVKYDOXHVWKDQWKH-HZU\RI$PHULFD0RVFRZ
emerged as the center of what might be called a Yiddish world republic of
OHWWHUVRYHUVKDGRZLQJ1HZ<RUNDQG:DUVDZ2 In addition to English-language authors like Gold and Freeman, Moscow also drew Yiddish-language
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New Yorks Frayhayt (Freedom), which we encountered hosting Mayakovsky
at Camp Nit Gedaige, enabled Yiddish poets to explore both revolutionary
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PDQ\RIWKRVHFDXJKWLQWKH8665GXULQJWKHODWHVWHUURU5 Thus, the
history of Jews and the Soviet Union tends to follow a well-trodden track
from illusion to disillusion, one marked by several key dates for New Yorks
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chapter is that the ethnic avant-garde has granted us a new way of seeing,
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Just as in the previous chapter, the key here is competing notions of auWKHQWLFLW\,I+XJKHVVDFFRXQWRIBlack and White shows him navigating
the authenticities of both ethnic identity and anticapitalism, in this chapter
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American South remained a favorite topic for Soviet propaganda, to which
American lawmakers could respond by highlighting anti-Semitism in the
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much good emerged from this back-and-forth, namely, global scrutiny of
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try to see beyond these binaries by identifying traces of the interwar ethQLF DYDQWJDUGH LQ SRVWZDU DUWLFXODWLRQV RI -HZLVK $PHULFDQ DXWKHQWLFLW\
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order to describe the attraction of the Soviet-oriented left for Jews in both
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avant-garde, which in the second and third decades of the twentieth century
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utopian allure of this interwar moment against the rocks of postwar StalinLVWDQWL6HPLWLVP$IWHUGHWDLOLQJWKLVGHYHORSPHQW,H[DPLQH-HZLVK$PHULFDQUHVSRQVHVWRLWIRFXVLQJRQWKHPLGGOHJHQHUDWLRQRIWKHLQXHQWLDO
group now known alternately as the New York Intellectuals and the New
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points to the ethnic avant-gardes postwar survival as well as to a shared experience of illusion, disillusion, and compromise that traversed but also reLQIRUFHGGHVFHQWEDVHGGLYLGHV
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these students, because, they said, the Soviets did not believe in anti6HPLWLVPDQGWKDWWKHUHZHUH-HZVKLJKLQWKHJRYHUQPHQWQRZ+LV
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Jews were indeed well represented in the Bolsheviks ranks and were
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many Jewish Americans looked to the Soviet Union with zeal and longing;
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and communism was a topic to be avoided, but more than twenty years
after the Soviet collapse, worries about red-baiting and stereotyping have
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this participation was caused by something else, such as a peculiarly JewLVKZLOOWRSRZHU12
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and American Jews were disproportionately represented in communist
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passed the decrees on land and peace, and formed the Council of Peoples
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secret police, among the early Soviet states leading artists and propaJDQGLVWVDQGDOVRLQWKHUDQNVRI(XURSHDQDQG$PHULFDQFRPPXQLVWV
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Eastern Europe) accounted for about 40 to 50 percent of Communist
Party membership and at least a comparable proportion of the Partys
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WRRNTXLWHOLWHUDOO\WKHFODLPRI\RXQJ0DU[WKDWWKHempirical essence of
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The Communist movement in the United States had a solid foundation
in Eastern European Jewish immigrant families; they brought to their
country not only an abhorrence of czarist autocracy but also workingFODVV DQG VRFLDOLVW OR\DOWLHV 0RUHRYHU WKH &RPPXQLVW PRYHPHQW H[horted its members to adhere to a cultural pluralist and internationalist universalism, a stance that was attractive to young Jews emerging
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from family) to explain Jewish communism, in the process blurring togethHUWKH8QLWHG6WDWHVDQG(DVWHUQ(XURSHSOXUDOLVPDQGLQWHUQDWLRQDOLVP
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certainly we could go on and apply this model to other minorities drawn
to communism, that is, to the Soviet-centered ethnic avant-garde as a
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157
DYDQWJDUGHRIWKHZRUOG+RZHYHU,DPXQHDV\ZLWKWKHHLWKHURUUHlation that Slezkine draws between ethnicity and communism, and here
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during the interwar years, a Jew entering the Communist movement had
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hand, there were clubs and organizations immersed in Yiddishkeit; on the
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Indeed, perhaps the most striking examples of the merging of the
two can be found in the Soviet Jewish avant-garde through the early
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he also produced several illustrations that aimed to persuade the JewLVKSXEOLFRIWKHMXVWLFHRIWKH&RPPXQLVWFDXVHE\XVLQJDWUDGLWLRQDO
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a boxed scroll resembling the traditional Scroll of Esther, with ornate
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viet Jewish critic Abram Efros helps to explain this pairing of ethnicity
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The global crisis, the senseless cataclysm which is shaking the life of the
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has itself brought into being; for it is that crisis which has dislocated and
shifted all the cultural strata so as to expose the most ancient layers of
IRONH[LVWHQFH<HWLWLVDOVRWKHIRUFHZKLFKJRHVGULYLQJIRUZDUGVVKDSing the dynamic of history into completely novel modernistic archOHIWQDWLRQVWDWHDQGVRFLRHFRQRPLFDOLJQPHQWV
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apparently universal push and pull between ancient and modern, Efros exSUHVVHVFRQGHQFHWKDWHDFKJURXSZRXOGEHDEOHWRPDLQWDLQLWVXQLTXHness, that strange complexities would emerge through which sings the
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instances of an avant-garde reimagining the movement of history and
WLPH /LVVLW]N\ UHFDVWV UHYROXWLRQ DV D PHVVLDQLF HYHQW HYRNLQJ 9ODGLmir Tatlins protoconstructivist iteration of the Tower of Babel, that is,
DYLVLRQRIUHYROXWLRQRULHQWHGWRZDUGERWKIXWXUHDQGSDVW,QWKHLQtroduction I brought to the fore precisely this notion of the avant-garde
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A genuinely messianic face must be restored to the concept of classless
society and, to be sure, in the interest of furthering the revolutionary
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This is socialism with a messianic face, drawing inspiration from preMarxist utopias and secularized religion, the goal being to reactivate the
conscious and unconscious memories, hopes, and longings banished by
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The wrath of God rolls like thunder across the world, commanding man
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loose, pursuing one another in wild fury; the storm rages and shrieks, and
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beast, half man, with distorted faces and hesitating movements, crouch
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This explosion of anti-Semitism spelled the end of what Slezkine calls
the special relationship between the Jews and the Soviet state, and not
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Moscow, Jewish American leftists were not to be trusted, that they were inWHOOLJHQFHDJHQWVEHQWRQVDERWDJHWKURXJKWKHLU6RYLHW-HZLVKFRQWDFWV
To be sure, by this point many Jewish Americans had already parted ways
162
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the Doctors Plot, most had agreed that, at the very least, Soviet power had
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spotty and incomplete, it suddenly became clear that anti-Semitism was
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The new line became that the Soviet Union was (and perhaps always
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the key word here is authenticity, usefully bearing ethnic, political, and
DHVWKHWLF FRQQRWDWLRQV 5HSUHVHQWHG E\ VXFK LQXHQWLDO SRVWZDU WKLQNHUVDV'DQLHO%HOO6LGQH\+RRNDQG,UYLQJ+RZHDOPRVWDOOWKH1HZ<RUN
,QWHOOHFWXDOVFRYHUHGKHUHKDG(DVWHUQ(XURSHDQLPPLJUDQWURRWV+RZever, they were distinct from other Jewish American writers in that they
UHMHFWHG Yiddishkeit, choosing instead to declare themselves citizens of
the world and to look upon social problems in terms extending beyond
ORFDORUHYHQQDWLRQDOLQWHUHVWV In doing so, they followed the lead of
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model for combining a life of action with belief in the power and puULW\ RI WKH ZRUG40 That is, in addition to a model for being discreetly
Jewish, Trotsky provided political and aesthetic guidance, bolstering this
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7KLVOHGWRWKHIRXQGLQJRIWKHMRXUQDOPartisan Review, envisioned as
an alternative to Mike Golds New Masses and its turn to socialist realism
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The New York Intellectuals can be regarded as outlier members of the
LQWHUZDUHWKQLFDYDQWJDUGH8QOLNHIRULQVWDQFHWKHZULWHUVDURXQGFrayhayt and despite their focus on Moscow, they were never so enamored with
Mayakovsky and LEF but instead shared Trotskys belief that a truly socialist culture would be achieved only after the realization of a socialist so-
163
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WKHDUWDQGOLWHUDWXUHRIWKHSDVWDVSDVVp42 Thus, though one New York
Intellectual, Clement Greenberg, was an early American theorist of the
avant-garde, he detached this term from revolutionary politics and the exWHUQDOZRUOG+HLQVWHDGIRUZDUGHGDUDUHHGDYDQWJDUGLVPWKDWSXUVXHG
DUWIRUDUWVVDNHUHMHFWLQJDVNLWVFKPDVVDUWDQGVRFLDOLVWUHDOLVP$Fcordingly, this group remains known for its commitment to high modernLVPRYHUUHYROXWLRQDU\DUWDQGSROLWLFV
In other words, one would be hard-pressed to describe this group as
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York Intellectuals because, after news of Stalinist anti-Semitism descended on the most interesting part of the Soviet Union, this group won the
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the Frayhayt JURXSIRUH[DPSOHQHYHUIXOO\UHFRYHUHGIURPWKH'RFWRUV
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In contrast, the standard narrative for the New York Intellectuals goes as
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IDLOXUHRIUDGLFDOLVPWKDWZDVKLWKRPHE\WKH'RFWRUV3ORW45 In short,
this group helped to set the terms for a postwar turn from Soviet-centered
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Cruse would go on to do in his The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual
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intellectual who feels no sense of kinship with Jewish activities but also
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As a result, he feels all of the restless, agonizing rootlessness that is the
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otherwise, preferring radical politics instead but nonetheless cannot help
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this continuity by coediting A Treasury of Yiddish Stories, featuring English
164
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concludes that the solution to his alienation rests not in Jewish introspecWLRQEXWLQVRFLHW\DWODUJH
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alleviation in individual psychotherapy, but even that can only ease indiYLGXDOSUREOHPVZLWKRXWWRXFKLQJWKHFDXVH8OWLPDWHO\WKHSUREOHPFDQ
only be solved if an American society appears in which both the Jewish
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American society is still rife with racism and anti-Semitism and that the
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Indeed, earlier that same year, Jean-Paul Sartre had cast a simiODUPROGLQDQDUWLFOHPRVWFHUWDLQO\UHDGE\+RZH5pH[LRQVVXUOD
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remarkable in that it provided a socialist internationalist explanation
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the lower-middle class and denigrates Jews in order to feel less insecure;
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nothing distinctive about anti-Semitism; in other contexts, the anti-Semitic
type will make use of the Negro or the man of yellow skin in order to persuade himself that his place in the world has been marked out in advance,
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Sartres second type, the good democrat, tries to respond to this situation
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the solution to anti-Semitism is beyond the reach of Jews, even the brave
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It is necessary to elaborate what Sartre means by authentic, for it is
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Authenticity, Sartre writes, consists in having a true and lucid consciousness of the situation, in assuming the responsibilities and risks that
it involves, in accepting it in pride or humiliation, sometimes in horror
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attendant persecution have destroyed Jewish history, culture, and tradiWLRQREYLDWLQJDVWKH\RXQJ+RZHSXWVLWDUHWXUQWRWKHZD\VRIRQHV
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Jew only reinforces anti-Semitic stereotypes, which in turn reinforce the
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situation as one in which anti-Semitism is merely the displacement of
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cramped authenticity better than the postwar Soviet Jewish commuQLVWVXUYLYRUE\WKHQRIPXOWLSOHPHVVLDQLF(QGVRIWKH:RUOGDQGVWLOO
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established by those acts that arise from his internal cohesion with his ulWLPDWHEHJLQQLQJVLQZKLFKKLVIXWXUHLVFRQWDLQHGDVSRVVLEOHGHVWLQ\
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not deducible from his surroundings, make the Jews situation and reveal
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In contrast to Lissitzkys Had Gadya and The End of the World, this is a kinder,
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future crises to be remedied via recourse to the nation, that is, the newly
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The Jew who wills to make himself nothing-but-a-Jew (and as a Jew nothing) does not thereby become more authentic than the Jew who wills not
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transform themselves from what they are, as given, into what they conFHLYHWKHVLWXDWLRQWRGHPDQGWKHPWREH
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singular (but implicitly secular) Jewish identity to override Sartres blurry
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Four months later in the Partisan ReviewSKLORVRSKHU6LGQH\+RRNIXUWKHUFULWLTXHG6DUWUHVDXWKHQWLFLQDXWKHQWLFGLVWLQFWLRQEXWZLWKRXW
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In describing the psychology of what he calls the inauthentic Jew among
Gentiles, Sartre does not distinguish between the psychology of what I call
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as a Gentile, and the psychology of what I call the authentic Jew who acFHSWVKLPVHOIDVD-HZIRUDQ\UHDVRQZKDWVRHYHU7KHLQDXWKHQWLF-HZ
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No matter how impeccable his conduct, he is always on guard in predomiQDQWO\QRQ-HZLVKFRPSDQ\H[TXLVLWHO\FRQVFLRXVRIWKHSRVVLELOLW\WKDWDW
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essentializing Jewishness and thereby capitulating to the muddy metaSK\VLFVRIWKHDQWLVHPLWH+HRHUVRQO\WKLVJXLGHOLQH
Far wiser, it seems to me, is to recognize the historic fact of Jewish exLVWHQFHWKHSOXUDOVRXUFHVRI-HZLVKOLIHDQGLWVSOXUDOSRVVLELOLWLHV1R
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in which together with their fellowmen [sic] they strive collectively to
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,Q HHFW -HZLVKQHVV LV WR EHFRPH V\QRQ\PRXV ZLWK GLYHUVLW\ IRU GLYHUsitys sake; the authentic Jew is to be Sartres good democrat, only
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ZKLFKLQWXUQPHDQVWRHPEUDFH-HZLVKDQGQRQ-HZLVKFXOWXUHVDVVXPLQJWKDWWKHVHDUHGHPRFUDWLFDQGVHFXODU In contrast, to be a Sartrean
authentic Jew, one must perceive the economic causes of anti-Semitism
and continue to wait for socialist revolution, drawing meager hope from
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the road, a choice between Soviet socialist internationalism and American
OLEHUDOSOXUDOLVP%\WKHV+RRNVHPEUDFHRIWKHODWWHURYHUWKHIRUPHUVHHPHGYLQGLFDWHGE\DOOWKDWZDVKDSSHQLQJLQWKH6RYLHW8QLRQ,Qdeed, at one point in his article, he chides his opponents ignorance of the
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FUXVKHGE\WKH'RFWRUV3ORWDQGLWVEODWDQWDQWL6HPLWLVP This is not
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As disturbing reports continued to emerge from Moscow, particularly
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evident in American responses to Soviet anti-Semitism, which was typically
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The elimination of Yiddish schools, publications, and theaters; the fact that
no new books were being issued in Yiddish; and, most especially, the execuWLRQVRIWKLUWHHQ<LGGLVKZULWHUVDQG-$&PHPEHUVRQ$XJXVWDOO
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the fact that most of those executed were Communist true believers who
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artists like El Lissitzky and plays like The End of the World"
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schools and publications notwithstanding, the determination was that
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had become Neanderthal party literature, yielding party propaganda
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Jewish Labor Committee asserted, Soviet-Yiddish literature was not and
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these writers were actually no longer able to construct a Yiddish sentence;
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I mean eternal happiness,
I mean nevermore to know,
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avant-garde; he was part of a literary group bound by enthusiasm for YidGLVKPRGHUQLVPDQGWKHUHYROXWLRQ As indicated here, his work subseTXHQWO\YHHUHGIURPLQQRYDWLRQKRZHYHUWKLVGLGQRWSUHYHQWKLPIURP
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Jews who escaped persecution were denounced as traitors and lackeys in
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There is something undeniably potent about this take on Soviet Jewry,
which could only lead to the conclusion that Moscow-centered internaWLRQDOLVPZDVDVKDP7KLVFRQFOXVLRQZDVVXSSRUWHGQRWRQO\E\6WDOLQLVW
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criticized this explanation, countering Sartres socialist internationalist
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these ties no longer served Soviet interests, they became potential sourcHVRIGLVOR\DOW\,QVKRUWWKHGDUN\HDUVIURPWRKDGOLWWOHWR
do with authentic and autonomous culture and everything to do with
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Indeed, Stalin would have disagreed with Sartre on exactly the same
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their responses, Stalin declared before a Finnish delegation that
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this sense all nations, both small and large, are in the same position, and
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nature of national character, these words marked a sea change in SoviHWQDWLRQDOLWLHVSROLF\XQNQRZQWR-HZLVK$PHULFDQLQWHOOHFWXDOVJLYHQ
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identities were primary, trumping any class or ideology; nationhood proYLGHGWKHEDVLVIRULQGLYLGXDOLGHQWLW\DQGDFFHVVWRZRUOGFXOWXUH2Q
the ground, what this meant was that anyone who denied their national
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cosmopolitan here implying foreign contamination leading to disloyDOW\ Jews could readily be targeted as such since their status as a Soviet
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Sholem Aleichem to carry forward the ambitions of the interwar ethnic
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If he presented Sholem Aleichem as a precursor to this avant-garde,
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turned from Marxism to neoconservativism, he founded the left-liberal
MRXUQDO Dissent, anthologized Trotsky, and wrote critical histories of the
$PHULFDQOHIW$WWKHVDPHWLPHKHEHFDPHDOHDGLQJWUDQVODWRUDQWKROogist of Yiddish literature and poetry and went on to win a National Book
Award for World of Our Fathers, a study of Jewish American immigrants from
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Nonetheless, this balance of ideology, identity, and modernism was
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DQGRSSUHVVLRQWKHYLROHQFHJULSSLQJ1HJUROLIH As a result, any atWHPSW WR PRYH EH\RQG WKH QDWXUDOLVWLF SURWHVW QRYHOWR VHHN VKHOWHU LQ
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would later comment that
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KHLJKWRIWKHDQWLFRVPRSROLWDQFDPSDLJQ There, alarmed by rumors and
indications of Soviet anti-Semitism, he demanded to see his good friend
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was in serious trouble, and many of the most outstanding Jewish cultural
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had tears in their eyes, because they knew that they were probably seeing
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United States, he denied the existence of Soviet anti-Semitism, maintaining
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Soviet anti-Semitism was over (though it would never disappear completely),
KHDUULYHGMXVWLQWLPHIRUWKH6KROHP$OHLFKHPFHQWHQQLDOVWDWLQJDWRQHFHOebration, The life-span of Sholem Aleichem paralleled that of my father, and
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,QWKH&ROG:DUVZDNHLWLVQRZSRVVLEOHWRGLVFHUQDIXUWKHUSDUDOOHOHQFRPSDVVLQJ)HHU5REHVRQDQGDOOWKRVHDURXQGWKHZRUOGZKRRQFHORRNHG
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WKHIDLOHG7RZHUVRI%DEHORIWKHLQWHUZDU\HDUV$PLGWKHUXLQVRIWKHLUHIforts to enact historical cessation, this becomes a people connected through
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Afterword
Chinese Communism, Cultural Revolution,
and American Multiculturalism
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republics, though in fact several of these had not actively sought indepenGHQFH 0HDQZKLOH D VLPLODU EUHDNXS LQ <XJRVODYLD HUXSWHG LQ FLYLO ZDU
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Soviet Union collapsed along the very lines demarcated by Moscows nationalities policy and that Stalin himself had insisted on the persistence of
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Nonetheless, the collapse buried once and for all the notion of a Soviet
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superiority at the breakup of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia into ethnic
182
AFTERWORD
enclaves and fail to see how fragmented a society we in the United States
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GRQWHYHULPDJLQHWKDWLWFRXOGQWKDSSHQKHUH In short, several seized
upon the Soviet and Yugoslavian collapses to bolster national unity over
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of subaltern identities by the universal and the resulting vacillation beWZHHQWKHSROLWLFVRIHTXDOGLJQLW\WKHULJKWWREHLQFOXGHGLQWKHXQLYHUVDODQGWKHSROLWLFVRIGLHUHQFHWKHULJKWWRPDLQWDLQXQLTXHLGHQWLWLHV4 0RUH FRQFUHWHO\ WKRXJK PXOWLFXOWXUDOLVP LV MXVW WKH ODWHVW LQ
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%RXUQH DXWKRU RI WKH DUWLFOH 7UDQV1DWLRQDO $PHULFD ,Q DFFRUdance with the parameters laid out by Taylor, Kallens call for an American symphony of civilization was used to legitimate ethnic diversity
for its own sake, while Bournes call for a beloved community was used
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both authors focused on white immigrants as opposed to racial minoriWLHVWKURZLQJLQWRTXHVWLRQWKHLUDSSOLFDELOLW\WRWKHFXOWXUHZDUVRI
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Beyond these debates, multiculturalism has changed into something
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FRXQWULHV More broadly, multiculturalism has become, in Pierre Bourdieu
DQG/RwF:DFTXDQWVZRUGVSDUWRIDJUHDWQHZJOREDOYXOJDWHXQGHUJLUGLQJ86OHGJOREDOL]DWLRQ This points to a leftist criticism of multicul-
AFTERWORD
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turalism (rounding out the dated, rightist criticism touched upon in the
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has demarcated a new global elite that asserts superiority by claiming to
respect multiple cultures; the multiculturalist possesses a privileged uniYHUVDOSRVLWLRQRYHUWKH2WKHUZKRLQWXUQLVFRQQHGWRDVHOIHQFORVHG
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That is, while in some contexts multiculturalism does indeed serve global
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about racial and ethnic Balkanization, The Ethnic Avant-Garde has refuted
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The book has delineated an avant-garde grouping that cuts across racial,
HWKQLFDQGQDWLRQDOERXQGDULHVDJURXSLQJERXQGE\SROLWLFDODQGIRUmal commitments and, as the book has proceeded, a shared revolutionary
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has been to reinvigorate categories like African American, Asian American, and Jewish American by revealing the common forms, politics, and
WUDJHGLHVWKDWKHOSHGWRFRQVWLWXWHHDFK&RQQHFWLQJWKHVHJURXSVYLD0RVcow points to a new model for the comparative study of minority cultures,
one that gets around the various binaries that have thus far dominated the
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The notion that multiculturalism might replicate or bolster global capitalism is a particular concern for scholars pursuing the transnational and
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that has emerged since the end of history, that is, since the collapse of
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these alternatives, members of the interwar, Soviet-centered ethnic avantJDUGHPLJKWVHHPMRLQHGPRUHWKDQDQ\WKLQJHOVHE\SRRUGHFLVLRQVPRtivated by unrealistic expectations about the merging of art and life and
WKHHUHFWLQJRIQHZ7RZHUVRI%DEHO7KHRQO\ZD\WRFRXQWHUWKLVFRQFOXsion is to prove that, in fact, the ethnic avant-garde survived its apparent
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The following reinforces both the endurance and mutability of this
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with the aim of consolidating power and countering Soviet-style bureauFUDWLVP7KHVH$PHULFDQVZHUHORRNLQJIRUDQRWLRQRIZRUOGUHYROXWLRQ
attentive to peoples of color, the liberation of women, and the cause of deFRORQL]DWLRQPRUHDWWHQWLYHWKDQWKH6RYLHW8QLRQDQGLWVORQJGHIXQFW
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to disillusion, an arc that would have us believe that revolution and avantJDUGLVPDUHVRPHKRZSUHSURJUDPPHGWRIDLO
My goal here is to challenge this schematic view of history through a
reading of the novel I HotelE\.DUHQ7HL<DPDVKLWD7KHSURGXFWRIRYHUD
GHFDGHRIUHVHDUFKDQGD1DWLRQDO%RRN$ZDUGQDOLVWI Hotel recovers
the radical legacy of Asian American culture and activism, using as its base
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centers on the San Francisco Bay Area but draws connections to the broadHU7KLUG:RUOGPRYHPHQWZLWKVHFWLRQVVHWLQ&KLQDWKH3KLOLSSLQHVDQG
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My argument is that Yamashitas ambitious novel on revolutionary
memory resuscitates the ethnic avant-garde, adding to it a host of formal
innovations as well as heightened emphases on local resistance and genGHUHTXDOLW\7KLVDIWHUZRUGKDVWZRSDUWV7KHUVWSURYLGHVDQRYHUYLHZ
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LPSDFWEH\RQG$VLD7KHVHFRQGSDUWWKHQWXUQVWRI Hotel, focusing on its
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this perspective, the novel reinforces the notion of an inevitable arc from
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interwar, Soviet-centered ethnic avant-garde, it disrupts linear understandings of history; it enables us to unseat the notion that state socialLVPVFROODSVHEURXJKWKLVWRU\WRDQHQG11
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QGLQJJHQGHUHTXDOLW\WKHUH14 The seeds for this turn could already be
VHHQLQ0DRVSUHZULWLQJVIRUH[DPSOHKLVVHPLQDOHVVD\2Q&RQtradiction, which forwarded a notion of contradiction present in all things
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delineate between principal and nonprincipal contradictions, someWKLQJWKDWYDULHGIURPFRQWH[WWRFRQWH[W:KDWVPRUHLQDJLYHQFRQWH[W
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This helps us to understand Maoisms draw for peoples of color around
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unity of revolutionary political content and the highest possible perfecWLRQRIDUWLVWLFIRUP7KH<HQDQVSLULWUHYHUEHUDWHGWKURXJK%ODFN$UWV
conferences, for instance, in participants calls for an art and literature
AFTERWORD
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that can awaken and arouse the masses to unite and struggle to change
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of San Franciscos Chinatown were modeled more on the Black Panthers
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Asian Americans and were bolstered by the prestige and weight of socialLVW&KLQDDQG0DR21+RZHYHUWKHFRQQHFWLRQVEHWZHHQ$VLDQ$PHULFDLQ
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ghosts and Chinas adoption of capitalism but also by mutual misrecogniWLRQ$V/LVD/RZHSRLQWVRXWWKHPDQ\)UHQFKWKLQNHUVDQGDUWLVWVGUDZQ
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applied to at least some of the various American minority activists who
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vis--vis minority cultures, particularly among those well attuned to the
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$FFRUGLQJO\LQKHUQRYHOChina Men0D[LQH+RQJ.LQJVWRQVQDUrator notes the gaping hole between her family in California and her relaWLYHVLQ&KLQD:KLOHKHUSDUHQWVZRUU\LQJDERXWLQWHUQPHQWRUGHSRUWDtion, fear any association between Chinese people and communism, China
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The Communists were not simply after property; they wanted the people
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they memorized fast and sang loud, but still they had to kneel on ground
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one of Maoisms central goals, not simply the vulgar economism of prop-
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has shown us that in order to study the radical, transnational roots of
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A mother dying of famine, presumably during Maos Great Leap Forward,
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passes only after he visits her grave in China, despite fears that the FBI
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of the narrators uncles, Uncle Bun, who has a more troubling but also more
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case born not from a deceased relative but from a lingering unhappiness
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to present an instance (one of many in Kingstons novels) of what Anne
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the case of Uncle Bun, an understandable grief and resentment, followed
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is that Uncle Bun replaces racial melancholia with what I have been calling
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novel as a whole can be seen as an attempt to come to terms with the revolutionary, indeed Maoist undercurrents of the Asian American movement
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teaches Maos call for a cultural front alongside a military front, as well as
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same time, Chen recognizes that
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and revolutionary politics, with the latter dominating the former, the poOLWLFDOYDQJXDUGFUXVKLQJWKHDUWLVWLFDYDQWJDUGH,QGHHGGXULQJD
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old teacher, once considered progressive, has been tortured and humiliDWHGE\0DRV5HG*XDUGV7KHWHDFKHUKDVEHHQGLVSODFHGE\ZULWHUVZKR
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where Chairman Mao declares that there is no such thing as art for arts
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a model village, a group of sister-comrades from the delegation is surprised to learn that their Chinese counterparts still conduct household
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Soviet-centered ethnic avant-garde conveys critical awareness about the
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more such echoes in I Hotels overriding pathos, the sense of revolution as
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schooled on the latters insistence on the correct theoretical line and thus
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the various youth organizations (each with its own acronym) instead turn
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ten thousand years, what futures have blossomed and withered again and
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and nationality; new communities based on shared encounters with the
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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Marno, Namwali Serpell, and Emily Thornbury for seeing me through mulWLSOHUHZULWHV,DPDOVRJUDWHIXOWRP\FROOHDJXHVIURP%HUNHOH\V6ODYLF
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My deep appreciation goes to Philip Leventhal at Columbia UniversiW\3UHVVIRUSXVKLQJIRUZDUGZLWKWKLVSURMHFW:KLWQH\-RKQVRQDQG5R\
Thomas for guiding it to completion, and Mike Ashby for his expert copy-
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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disappeared in Manchuria while trying to assist the Korean community
WKHUHGXULQJWKH&KLQHVH&LYLO:DU,UHPDLQLQDZHRIP\XQFOHWKHSRlitical scientist Chong Sik Lee, and his ability to use scholarship to help
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the Korean Peninsula (with the aid of a friendly Soviet soldier) and, several
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In turn, my parents, Kwang Sik Lee and Young Sook Lee, overcame much
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Notes
Introduction
&ODXGH0F.D\A Long Way from Home1HZ<RUN+DUFRXUW0RLVKH1DGLU
Moyde Ani1HZ<RUN1DUD\HYWUDQVODWHGDQGTXRWHGLQDERRNLQSURJUHVV E\ $PHOLD *ODVHU $UQROG 5DPSHUVDG The Life of Langston Hughes 1HZ <RUN
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5HFHQWVFKRODUVKLSRQWKHEODFNUHGWKUHDGLQFOXGHV.DWH%DOGZLQBeyond the
&RORU/LQHDQGWKH,URQ&XUWDLQ5HDGLQJ(QFRXQWHUV%HWZHHQ%ODFNDQG5HG
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&LYLO5LJKWV1HZ<RUN1RUWRQ:LOOLDP0D[ZHOONew Negro, Old
Left: African-American Writing and Communism Between the Wars 1HZ <RUN &ROXPELD 8QLYHUVLW\ 3UHVV 'DYLG &KLRQL 0RRUH &RORUHG 'LVSDWFKHV IURP
the Uzbek Border, CallalooQRIDOO$QL0XNKHUML7KH$QWLFRORQLDO
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8QLYHUVLW\ 3UHVV DQG 0DUN 6RORPRQ The Cry Was Unity: Communists and
$IULFDQ $PHULFDQV -DFNVRQ 8QLYHUVLW\ 3UHVV RI 0LVVLVVLSSL 6HH
DOVR1LNKLO3DO6LQJK5HWUDFLQJWKH%ODFN5HG7KUHDGAmerican Literary History
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brought by modernity, which broke all the links between artisan and artist,
204
INTRODUCTION
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E\ PDUNHWVWKH DUWLVW PLJKW EH WHPSWHG WR UHFUHDWH WKH HWKQLF EXW 3RJJLROL
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IXWXUHE\UHEHOOLQJDJDLQVWDOOWKDWKDVJRQHEHIRUH5HQDWR3RJJLROLThe Theory
of the Avant-Garde>&DPEULGJH0DVV+DUYDUG8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV@5Hcently, Timothy Yu has used Poggiolis mention of the ethnic to posit a link
between American ethnic and avant-garde poetry; by Yus account, both are expressions of alienation, both seek a kind of community no longer imaginable
within bourgeois culture (Timothy Yu, 5DFH DQG WKH $YDQW*DUGH ([SHULPHQWDO
DQG$VLDQ$PHULFDQ3RHWU\6LQFH>6WDQIRUG6WDQIRUG8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV@
7KLVXVHIXOFRQQHFWLRQKRZHYHUGRHVQRWXQVHDW3RJJLROLVUHGXFWLYHXQGHUVWDQGLQJRIHWKQLFLW\DVSDVWERXQGDQGLQDPRGHUQFRQWH[WLPSRVVLEOH
-HVVLFD%HUPDQModernist Commitments: Ethics, Politics, and Transnational Modernism
1HZ<RUN&ROXPELD8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV
.DWHULQD&ODUNMoscow, the Fourth Rome: Stalinism, Cosmopolitanism, and the Evolution
RI6RYLHW&XOWXUH&DPEULGJH0DVV+DUYDUG8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV
Baldwin, Beyond the Color Line
:DOWHU %HQMDPLQ 3DULV&DSLWDO RI WKH 1LQHWHHQWK &HQWXU\ New Left Review
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$VWKHWRZHUVDFFRPSDQ\LQJSDPSKOHWSXWLW:HDVVHUWWKDWWKHSUHVHQWSURMHFWLV
WKHUVWUHYROXWLRQDU\DUWLVWLFZRUNZKLFKZHFDQDQGGRVHQGWR(XURSH1LNRlai Punin, Pamiatnik III Internatsionala >3HWURJUDG 2WGHO L]REUD]LWHOQ\NK LVNXVVWY
1.3@.DWHULQD&ODUNQRWHVHOVHZKHUHWKDWWKHUHYROXWLRQSURYLGHGWKH6Rviet avant-garde with a trump card in their campaign against Paris (Katerina
Clark, Petersburg: Crucible of Cultural Revolution>&DPEULGJH0DVV+DUYDUG8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV@)RUPRUHRQWKHD[HVRI%HQMDPLQVZRUOG3DULV0RVFRZ
%HUOLQ1DSOHVVHH6XVDQ%XFN0RUVVThe Dialectics of Seeing: Walter Benjamin and the
Arcades Project&DPEULGJH0DVV0,73UHVV
2QWKHVSHFLFIHDWXUHVRI7DWOLQV7RZHUVHH3XQLQPamiatnik III Internatsionala, 1,
DQG1LNRODL3XQLQ2SDPLDWQLNDNKLQO TatlineHG,13XQLQDDQG9,5DNLWLQ
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9LNWRU6KNORYVNLL2QFakturaDQG&RXQWHU5HOLHIVLQTatlinHG/DULVVD=KDGRYD
1HZ<RUN5L]]ROL,EXLOGKHUHRQ%XFN0RUVVVGLVFXVVLRQRIWKHFRPSHWLQJWHPSRUDOLWLHVRIWKHDYDQWJDUGHDQGYDQJXDUGWKHIRUPHUVRXJKWWRUXSture the continuity of time by any means necessary, while the latter claimed to
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Morsss account, the Soviet vanguard ultimately prevailed over the avant-garde,
but in response, she urges us to engage in the historical task of surprising rather
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INTRODUCTION
205
(Susan Buck-Morss, Dreamworld and Catastrophe: The Passing of Mass Utopia in East and
West>&DPEULGJH0DVV0,73UHVV@
3XQLQPamiatnik III Internatsionala6HHDOVR&KULVWLQD.LDHUImagine No Possessions: The Socialist Objects of Russian Constructivism &DPEULGJH 0DVV 0,7 3UHVV
/HRQ7URWVN\Literature and RevolutionHG:LOOLDP.HDFKWUDQV5RVH6WUXQVN\&KLFDJR+D\PDUNHW0DULD*RXJKThe Artist as Producer: Russian Constructivism in Revolution%HUNHOH\8QLYHUVLW\RI&DOLIRUQLD3UHVV7KLVDLP
ZDVQRWXQLTXHWRWKHFRQVWUXFWLYLVWV,QKHUJURXQGEUHDNLQJZRUNRQ-RVHSKLQH
Baker, Anne Cheng notes the proclivity of modernist architects like Le Corbusier
IRUXQDGRUQHGSXUHVXUIDFHVVHWRDJDLQVWQRWLRQVRIH[FHVVLYHDGRUQPHQW
LQDUWLFXODWH VHQVXDOLW\ IHPLQLQLW\ EDFNZDUGQHVV &KHQJ SURFHHGV WR UHYHDO WKH
connections between modernist surface and racial skin, in part to arrive at a noWLRQRIUDFHQRWFRQQHGWRLQGLYLGXDOLQWHQW[HGPHDQLQJVRUFRPPRGLFDWLRQ
Likewise I provide an ethnic reading of Tatlins Tower, albeit with an emphasis
QRW RQ VXUIDFH EXW RQ WLPH 6HH $QQH &KHQJ Second Skin: Josephine Baker and the
Modern Surface1HZ<RUN2[IRUG8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV
-RKQ0LOQHUVladimir Tatlin and the Russian Avant-Garde1HZ+DYHQ<DOH8QLYHUVLW\
3UHVVQ9ODGLPLU7DWOLQ$XWRELRJUDSK\LQTatlinHG/DULVVD=KDGRYD1HZ<RUN5L]]ROL
6YHWODQD%R\PAnother Freedom: The Alternative History of an Idea&KLFDJR8QLYHUVLW\RI&KLFDJR3UHVV)RU%DEHODVWKHORVVRIDVLQJOHGLYLQHWRQJXHVHH
Dante, De vulgari eloquentiaHGDQGWUDQV6WHYHQ%RWWHULOO&DPEULGJH&DPEULGJH
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+DQQDK$UHQGWOn Revolution1HZ<RUN9LNLQJ0LOQHUVladimir Tatlin,
5HLQKDUW.RVHOOHFNFutures Past: On the Semantics of Historical TimeWUDQV.HLWK7ULEH
1HZ<RUN&ROXPELD8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV
0DUN6WHLQEHUJProletarian Imagination: Self, Modernity, and the Sacred in Russia
,WKDFD&RUQHOO8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV
$V3HUU\$QGHUVRQSRLQWVRXW0DU[KLPVHOIVXEVFULEHGWRDFRPSOH[DQGGLHUHQtial temporality, in which episodes or eras were discontinuous from each other, and
KHWHURJHQHRXVZLWKLQWKHPVHOYHV3HUU\$QGHUVRQ0RGHUQLW\DQG5HYROXWLRQ
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out, Trotsky based the notion of permanent revolution on Marxs observations
DERXW *HUPDQ\V EDFNZDUGQHVV 0LFKDHO /|Z\ The Politics of Combined and Uneven Development: The Theory of Permanent Revolution>1HZ<RUN9HUVR@2I
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the urgent need (particularly in the face of fascism) to reconceptualize Marxist
revolution to account for unsurmounted remnants of older economic being and
206
INTRODUCTION
FRQVFLRXVQHVV(FKRLQJ7URWVN\VXQHYHQGHYHORSPHQW%ORFKSURSRVHVOLEHUDWing the still possible future from the past only by putting both in the present
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that primitive Utopianism (lacking authentic class consciousness) could be a
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Class Consciousness, in +LVWRU\DQG&ODVV&RQVFLRXVQHVV6WXGLHVLQ0DU[LVW'LDOHFWLFV
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struggles, even if this meant entering into a temporary alliance with nationalLVWPRYHPHQWVOLWWOHLQWHUHVWHGLQ0DU[LVP7KHDLPKHUHZDVWRHDUQWKHWUXVWRI
oppressed nations through sensitivity toward the survivals of national sentiments, which would put the worlds colonized and exploited on the side of the
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Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction2[IRUG%ODFNZHOO
9ODGLPLU7DWOLQHWDO7KH:RUN$KHDGRI8VLQTatlinHG/DULVVD=KDGRYD1HZ
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9LFWRU6HUJHMemoirs of a RevolutionaryHGDQGWUDQV3HWHU6HGJZLFN2[IRUG2[IRUG8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV
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1HZ<RUN3DWKQGHU6HHDOVR0LODQ+DXQHUWhat Is Asia to Us? Russias
Asian Heartland Yesterday and Today%RVWRQ8QZLQ+\PDQ
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International, Modernism/modernityQR-DQXDU\
$OUHDG\E\WKH&RPLQWHUQV7KLUG&RQJUHVVLQ5REHUW<RXQJGHWHFWVDQHPphasis on the Soviets need for diplomatic recognition from and trade deals with
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7KH QRWLRQ RI XWRSLDQ VXUSOXV FRPHV IURP %XFN0RUVV Dreamworld and Catastrophe $JDLQVW HRUWV WR GLVDVVRFLDWH WKH 6RYLHW DYDQWJDUGH IURP 6WDOLQLVP%RULV*UR\VKDVDUJXHGWKDWWKHDYDQWJDUGHZDVQHYHUH[DFWO\LQQRFHQWQRW
only in its eager embrace of the political vanguard but also in its dreams of total,
transformative art (Boris Groys, The Total Art of Stalinism: Avant-Garde, Aesthetic Dic-
INTRODUCTION
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208
INTRODUCTION
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PHUF\$V&OLRUGQRWHVLQThe Predicament of Culture, this group was later active in
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0DUWLQH$QWOH6XUUHDOLVPDQGWKH2ULHQWYale French Studies-XO\
)RUV&RPLQWHUQLQVSLUHGHRUWVWRUHPHG\VXUUHDOLVPVFRPSOLFLW\ZLWKLPSHULDOLVPVHH$GDP-ROOHV7KH7DFWLOH7XUQ(QYLVLRQLQJD3RVWFRORQLDO$HVWKHWLF
in France, Yale French Studies-XO\
$OHNVDQGU 6KHYFKHQNR 1HRSULPLWLYLVP ,WV 7KHRU\ ,WV 3RWHQWLDOV ,WV $FKLHYHments, in 5XVVLDQ$UWRIWKH$YDQW*DUGH7KHRU\DQG&ULWLFLVPHGDQGWUDQV
-RKQ(%RZOW1HZ<RUN9LNLQJ2Q7DWOLQVDOOLDQFHZLWKWKHQHRSULPLtivists, see Kiaer, Imagine No Possessions
1DWDOLD*RQFKDURYD3UHIDFHWR&DWDORJXHRI2QH0DQ([KLELWLRQLQRussian Art
RIWKH$YDQW*DUGH7KHRU\DQG&ULWLFLVPHGDQGWUDQV-RKQ(%RZOW1HZ
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DQGWKH:HVW7KH4XHVWIRU5XVVLDQ1DWLRQDO,GHQWLW\Studies in Soviet Thought
>@6HHDOVR+DXQHUWhat Is Asia to Us3HWHUVRQUp from Bondage%DOGZLQBeyond the Color Line2Q5XVVLDDVVHPL2ULHQWDOLQWKH
(XURSHDQLPDJLQDWLRQVHH/DUU\:ROInventing Eastern Europe: The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment6WDQIRUG6WDQIRUG8QLYHUVLW\3UHVVDQG
Martin Malia, Russia under Western Eyes: From the Bronze Horseman to the Lenin Mausoleum&DPEULGJH0DVV+DUYDUG8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV
6KHYFKHQNR1HRSULPLWLYLVP
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Periphery of Empire, in Russian Art and the West: A Century of Dialogue in Painting,
Architecture, and the Decorative ArtsHG5RVDOLQG%ODNHVOH\DQG6XVDQ5HLG'H.DOE
1RUWKHUQ,OOLQRLV8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV$V%RULV*UR\VFRORUIXOO\SXWVLW,I
5RXVVHDXLQGXOJHGLQGUHDPVDERXW1DWLYH$PHULFDQV>indeitsakh], German philosophy about Indians [indiitsakh], Gauguin about Polynesians, Picasso about Africans,
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and the Native American, Schopenhauer and the Indian, Picasso and the African
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recognized the dream of European philosophy, in himself was the realization of
WKLVSKLORVRSK\VLGHDO%RULV*UR\V5RVVLLDNDNSRGVR]QDQLH]DSDGDLQUtopiia i
obmen>0RVFRZ=QDN@
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INTRODUCTION
209
VHH$GHHE.KDOLG5XVVLDQ+LVWRU\DQGWKH'HEDWHRYHU2ULHQWDOLVPKritika 1,
QRIDOO1DWKDQLHO.QLJKW2Q5XVVLDQ2ULHQWDOLVP$5HVSRQVH
to Adeeb Khalid, KritikaQRIDOODQG0DULD7RGRURYD'RHV
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&DOLIRUQLD%HUNHOH\DQGWKHGRFXPHQWDU\The Desert of Forbidden Art'9'
directed by Amanda Pope and Tchavdar Georgiev (2010; Desert of Forbidden Art
//&
+DUVKD5DPIRULQVWDQFHQRWHVWKHRIWHQDPELYDOHQWDQGKRVWLOHVWDQFHRI5XVVLDQ
DXWKRUVWRZDUG$VLD$VLDDVDVRXUFHRIERWKWHPSWDWLRQDQGWHUURULQWKHLPSHULDOVXEOLPHRI5XVVLDQOLWHUDWXUH6HH+DUVKD5DPThe Imperial Sublime: A Russian
Poetics of Empire0DGLVRQ8QLYHUVLW\RI:LVFRQVLQ3UHVV/LNHZLVHDV'DOH
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anticipating, as Peterson suggests, Stalins socialism in one country (Peterson, Up
from Bondage
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WKH 5HYROXWLRQ ZKHUH KH ZULWHV Remake everything. Build it so that everything
will be new; so that our false, dirty, dull, deformed [bezobraznaia@OLIHZLOOEHDMXVW
clean, happy, and beautiful life (Aleksandr Blok, Rossiia i intelligentsia>%HUOLQ6NLI\
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5DPThe Imperial SublimeDQG'DYLG0%HWKHDThe Shape of Apocalypse in
Modern Russian Fiction3ULQFHWRQ3ULQFHWRQ8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV)RUPRUHRQ
the Scythian literary movement, see Clark, Petersburg
0F.D\A Long Way from Home
:LWKLQWKLVWUDGLWLRQ$VLDRIWHQDVVXPHVDQH[RWLFDQGXWRSLDQTXDOLW\IDUUHPRYHGIURPWKHVSKHUHVRI:HVWHUQSRZHU6HH%LOO0XOOHQAfro-Orientalism (MinQHDSROLV8QLYHUVLW\RI0LQQHVRWD3UHVV[LL
%DOGZLQ Beyond the Color Line 0D[ZHOO New Negro, Old Left 0Lchelle Stephens, Black Empire: The Masculine Global Imaginary of Caribbean IntellecWXDOVLQWKH8QLWHG6WDWHV'XUKDP'XNH8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV
210
INTRODUCTION
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KLVOLWHUDU\RXWSXW
7KH2[IRUG(QJOLVK'LFWLRQDU\GHQHVLNRQDVDYDULDQWRILFRQEXWLQGLFDWHVLWV
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5XVVLDDQG5XVVLDQV0F.D\OLNHPDQ\RWKHUIRUHLJQYLVLWRUVDGRSWHGD5XVVLDQ
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(GZDUG+ROFRPEXVHVWRUHUHDGWKHDXWKRUWKURXJKWKHOHQVRITXHHUEODFN0DU[LVP)RULQVWDQFHDIWHUFRQQHFWLQJ0F.D\VEODFNLFRQRJUDSK\LQ5XVVLDWRWKH
P\VWLFDODXUDWKDWKLVDXWRELRJUDSK\LPSDUWVWR/HQLQ+ROFRPEVXJJHVWVWKDW
in coming close to becoming a black Lenin, McKay forms a kind of ecstatic sexuDOXQLRQZLWKWKH&RPPXQLVWOHDGHU*DU\(GZDUG+ROFRPEClaude McKay, Code
1DPH6DVKD4XHHU%ODFN0DU[LVPDQGWKH+DUOHP5HQDLVVDQFH>*DLQHVYLOOH8QLYHUVLW\
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7REHVXUH%ORNDQG.KOHEQLNRYZHUHPRUHLQWHUHVWHGLQ$VLDWLF5XVVLDWKDQLQ
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SDLQWLQJ7DWOLQKLPVHOIGUHZIURPLFRQWUDGLWLRQVIRULQVWDQFHLQKLVSailor
6HOI3RUWUDLWZKLOH .D]LPLU 0DOHYLFKV IDPRXV Black Square was intended to be
KXQJLQURRPFRUQHUVMXVWDVLFRQVZHUH6HH.LDHUImagine No Possessions
Andrew Spira, The Avant-Garde Icon: Russian Avant-Garde Art and the Icon Painting Tradition+DPSVKLUH8./XQG+XPSKULHV,QWHUHVWLQJO\*UR\VSURvides a Freudian reading of Black Square as referencing the blackness of some cosmic ur-vagina [kosmicheskoi pra-vaginy@WKDWVHUYHVWREULGJH(DVWDQG:HVW*UR\V
5RVVLLD7KLVVHHPVWREXWWUHVV+ROFRPEVDVVHUWLRQRIWKH0F.D\LNRQV
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International Journal of African Historical StudiesQR
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and the Soviet Society, African Diaspora
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INTRODUCTION
211
212
INTRODUCTION
,ELG
2VERUQHThe Politics of Time
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in Walter Benjamin: 6HOHFWHG:ULWLQJV9ROXPHHG0LFKDHO:-HQQLQJVDQG
+RZDUG(LODQG&DPEULGJH0DVV%HONQDS3UHVVRI+DUYDUG8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV
TXRWHGLQ/|Z\Fire Alarm7KHUHLVRQJRLQJGLVDJUHHPHQWDERXWZKDWFRQVWLWXWHVDGLDOHFWLFDOLPDJH%XFN0RUVVZULWHVWKHUHFDQEHLQQXPHUDEOHGLDOHFWLFDO
LPDJHVLQWKHIRUPRIHYHU\GD\FRPPRGLHGREMHFWVDQGSURIDQHWH[WVWKHFULWLFV
WDVNEHLQJWRUHYHDOWKHVXSSUHVVHGXUKLVWRULFDOXWRSLDQFRQWHQWLQHDFK(OL)ULHGlander, on the other hand, argues that there can be only one dialectical image, which
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while identifying such elements are preconditions for the ultimate recognition of
the dialectical image, such work never has a direct relation to the emergence of the
LPDJHZKLFKKHOLNHQVWR3URXVWVLQYROXQWDU\PHPRU\,SUHIHU%XFN0RUVVVXQderstanding, since from a methodological perspective, it is much more portable and
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See Buck-Morss, The Dialectics of Seeing(OL)ULHGODQGHU7KH0HDVXUHRIWKH
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2VERUQHThe Politics of Time)ULHGODQGHU7KH0HDVXUHRIWKH&RQWLQJHQW
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canon of dialectical imagery in the seventeenth century (replaced by nouveaut in
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as pointed out in chapter 1, he also sought to swell the enthusiastic fervor of the
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as Christina Kiaer has shown, in his advertising collaborations with Mayakovsky,
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See Kiaer, Imagine No Possessions
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INTRODUCTION
213
gioli acknowledges the avant-gardes attraction to prehistory but argues that this
in fact serves avant-garde antitraditionalism, precisely because the avant-garde
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can (The Theory of the Avant-Garde7KDWLVIRU3RJJLROLWKHDYDQWJDUGHFDQ
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cross (Joseph Brodsky, Flight from Byzantium, in Less Than One: Selected Essays
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7KLVZDVSDUWLFXODUO\WUXHGXULQJWKH&ROG:DUDV,GLVFXVVLQFKDSWHU6HH0DU\
Dudziak, Cold War Civil Rights: Race and the Image of American Democracy3ULQFHWRQ
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of coevalness refers to the tendency of anthropologists to place the referent(s) of
anthropology in a time other than the present of the producer of anthropological
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UHOHJDWHGWRWKHQDWXUDOVFLHQFHV3UDFWLFDOO\FRQFHQWUDWLRQRQFXOWXUDOFRQJXUDtions and patterns resulted in such overwhelming concern with the description of
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DWKHRU\RIXQLYHUVDOKXPDQSURJUHVVZDVDOOEXWDEDQGRQHG,QVXPIXQFWLRQDOism, culturalism, and structuralism did not solve the problem of universal human
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and the Other)RUDQRYHUYLHZRI%RDVVHH*HRUJH:6WRFNLQJ-U%Dsic Assumptions of Boasian Anthropology, in The Shaping of American Anthropology,
18831911HG*HRUJH:6WRFNLQJ-U1HZ<RUN%DVLF%RRNV
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Christopher Douglas, A Genealogy of Literary Multiculturalism ,WKDFD &RUQHOO 8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV'DYLG/XLV%URZQSUHVVHVWKLVSRLQWE\DUJXLQJWKDWERWK
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both took on nativism by imagining a racially homogeneous nation, and this latent racialism was at odds with their broader strategy of proposing a shift from
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anywhere and meant the erasure of all preexisting state and local borders; see The
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be found in Soviet ethnographic maps that divide the United States into two main
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Bibliography
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HGLWHGE\6DFYDQ%HUFRYLWFK&DPEULGJH0DVV+DUYDUG8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV
6RORPRQ0DUN7KH&U\:DV8QLW\&RPPXQLVWVDQG$IULFDQ$PHULFDQV-DFNVRQ
8QLYHUVLW\3UHVVRI0LVVLVVLSSL
6SHQFH-RQDWKDQ'The Search for Modern China 1HZ<RUN1RUWRQ
6SLUD$QGUHZThe Avant-Garde Icon: Russian Avant-Garde Art and the Icon Painting Tradition
+DPSVKLUH8./XQG+XPSKULHV
6WDOLQ-RVHSK0DU[LVPDQGWKH1DWLRQDO4XHVWLRQ,Q0DU[LVPDQGWKH1DWLRQDODQG Colonial QuestionHGLWHGE\$)LQHEXUJ1HZ<RUN,QWHUQDWLRQDO
6WHLQEHUJ0DUNProletarian Imagination: Self, Modernity, and the Sacred in Russia
,WKDFD&RUQHOO8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV
270
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
271
7ULOOLQJ /LRQHO 7KH )RUELGGHQ 'LDOHFWLF ,Q Isaac Babels Selected Writings, edited by
*UHJRU\)UHLGLQ7UDQVODWHGE\3HWHU&RQVWDQWLQH1HZ<RUN1RUWRQ
5HDOLW\LQ$PHULFD,QThe Liberal Imagination: Essays on Literature and Society
1HZ<RUN9LNLQJ
Sincerity and Authenticity&DPEULGJH0DVV+DUYDUG8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV
7URWVN\/HRQHistory of the Russian Revolution7UDQVODWHGE\0D[(DVWPDQ &KLFDJR+D\PDUNHW
Literature and Revolution(GLWHGE\:LOOLDP.HDFK7UDQVODWHGE\5RVH6WUXQVN\&KLFDJR+D\PDUNHW
Problems of the Chinese Revolution(GLWHGDQGWUDQVODWHGE\0D[6KDFKWPDQ1HZ
<RUN3LRQHHU
The Revolution Betrayed: What Is the Soviet Union and Where Is It Going? Translated by
0D[(DVWPDQ1HZ<RUN3LRQHHU
7VLDQJ+7And China Has Hands(GLWHGE\)OR\G&KHXQJ1HZ<RUN,URQZHHG
86 &RQJUHVV +RXVH 6HOHFW &RPPLWWHH RQ &RPPXQLVW $JJUHVVLRQ Special Report No.
Treatment of the Jews Under CommunismUG&RQJQGVHVV:DVKLQJWRQ'&*32
9HO.KOHEQLNRYRVQRYDWHOEXGHWOLDQKniga i revoliutsiiaQR
9HQXWL/DZUHQFH/RFDO&RQWLQJHQFLHV7UDQVODWLRQDQG1DWLRQDO,GHQWLWLHV,QNation,
Language, and the Ethics of TranslationHGLWHGE\6DQGUD%HUPDQQDQG0LFKDHO:RRG
3ULQFHWRQ3ULQFHWRQ8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV
7UDQVODWLRQ&RPPXQLW\8WRSLD,QThe Translation Studies Reader, edited by LawUHQFH9HQXWL1HZ<RUN5RXWOHGJH
9RQ(VFKHQ3HQQ\5DFH$JDLQVW(PSLUH%ODFN$PHULFDQVDQG$QWLFRORQLDOLVP,WKDFD&RUQHOO8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV
:DOG$ODQ0American Night: The Literary Left in the Era of the Cold War&KDSHO+LOO8QLYHUVLW\RI1RUWK&DUROLQD3UHVV
The New York Intellectuals: The Rise and Decline of the Anti-Stalinist Left from the VWR
WKHV&KDSHO+LOO8QLYHUVLW\RI1RUWK&DUROLQD3UHVV
Trinity of Passion: The Literary Left and the Antifascist Crusade&KDSHO+LOO8QLYHUVLW\
RI1RUWK&DUROLQD3UHVV
:HLQEHUJ5REHUWStalins Forgotten Zion: Birobidzhan and the Making of a Soviet Jewish Homeland; $Q,OOXVWUDWHG+LVWRU\1996(GLWHGE\%UDGOH\%XUPDQ%HUNHOH\8QLYHUVLW\
RI&DOLIRUQLD3UHVV
:LOOLDPV:LOOLDP&DUORVIn the American Grain1HZ<RUN1HZ'LUHFWLRQV
:LVVH5XWKA Little Love in Big Manhattan: Two Yiddish Poets &DPEULGJH0DVV+DUYDUG
8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV
:RO/DUU\Inventing Eastern Europe: The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment
6WDQIRUG6WDQIRUG8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV
:ROLQ5LFKDUGThe Wind from the East: May 68, French Intellectuals, and the Chinese Cultural
Revolution3ULQFHWRQ3ULQFHWRQ8QLYHUVLW\3UHVV
:ROLW]6HWK/7KH$PHULFDQL]DWLRQRI7HY\HRU%RDUGLQJWKH-HZLVK0D\RZHUAmerican Quarterly QR'HFHPEHU
272
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Index
DQWLFDSLWDOLVP
DQWLFRVPRSROLWDQLVP
Q
DQWLLPSHULDOLVP
Anti-Semite and Jew 6DUWUHSee
5pH[LRQVVXUODTXHVWLRQMXLYH
(Sartre)
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Q
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$UHQGW+DQQDK
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revolutionary, 1
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DUWLVWLFLQQRYDWLRQ
$VLDDVUHYROXWLRQDU\KRUL]RQ
5XVVLDQLGHQWLFDWLRQZLWK
$VLDQ$PHULFDQV
$VLDWLF5XVVLDQ
DVVLPLODWLRQLVP
$WNLQVRQ-%URRNV
DXWKHQWLFLW\
DQGDQWLFDSLWDOLVP
276
INDEX
%ODFNDQG:KLWH%OHNHQGXDLW
0D\DNRYVN\
%ODFN$UWV0RYHPHQW
%ODFN$WODQWLF
EODFNDXWKHQWLFLW\
%ODFN%HOW
QQ
%ODFN%R\VDQG1DWLYH6RQV+RZH
%ODFN/LNH0DR.HOOH\DQG(VFK
%ODFN3DQWKHUV
EODFNUHGWKUHDGQSee also
African American radicalism
%ORN$OHNVDQGU
Blue Blouse troupe, 101
%OXHSULQWIRU1HJUR:ULWLQJ:ULJKW
%OXH5LYHU*UHEQHU
%RDV)UDQ]
%ROVKHYLN5HYROXWLRQDVDQ
$VLDQUHYROXWLRQ
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%R\P6YHWODQD
%UHFKW%HUWROW
%UHWRQ$QGUpSee also
surrealism
%ULGJHV+DUU\
Brinig, Myron, 145
%URZQ(ODLQHQ
%URZQ6WHUOLQJ
%XFKORK%HQMDPLQQ
%XFN0RUVV6XVDQ
budetliane SHRSOHRIWKHIXWXUHSee
also futurism
%XORVDQ&DUORVQ
%UJHU3HWHU
Burliuk, David, 50
INDEX
277
&RQJUHVVIRU&XOWXUDO)UHHGRP
&RQQHU\&KULVWRSKHU
FRQVWUXFWLYLVPQQSee
also protoconstructivism
Contemporary Negro Writers of the USA
(Gilenson), 144
&RQWUDGLFWLRQDQG2YHUGHWHUPLQDWLRQ
$OWKXVVHU
&RRSHU+XJK
&RRSHU-DPHV)HQLPRUH
The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual (Cruse),
&ULWHULDRI1HJUR$UW'X%RLV
&UXVH+DUROG
&XED+XJKHVVYLVLWWR
0D\DNRYVN\VYLVLWWR
f
&XEHV+XJKHV
FXERIXWXULVWVQ
FXOWXUDODXWKHQWLFLW\
151
Cultural Front, 101
FXOWXUDOLQDXWKHQWLFLW\
cultural nationalism, 144
FXOWXUDOSOXUDOLVPQ
Q
&XOWXUDO5HYROXWLRQ&KLQD
FXOWXUHLQ8665DVQDWLRQDOLQIRUP
socialist in content, 2, 3
Q
Daily Worker
'DQWH
Darkness at Noon .RHVWOHU
'DYLV$QJHOD
dcalage
GHIDPLOLDUL]DWLRQSee also
6KNORYVNLL9LNWRU
Defying 'L[LH *LOPRUH
Delaunay, Sonia, 50
'HPRFUDF\9HUVXVWKH0HOWLQJ3RW
.DOOHQ
278
INDEX
democratic revolution, 10
GHQLDORIFRHYDOQHVV
QSee also Fabian, Johannes
Den Shi-khua 7UHWLDNRYQ
'HUULGD-DFTXHV
The Destruction of Tenochtitlan
:LOOLDPV
GLDOHFWLFDOLPDJH
QQ
GLDOHFWRIPRGHUQLVPQ
'LFNHUPDQ/HDK
Dissent MRXUQDO
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RIFRQFHSWXDOVFDROGLQJIRU
GLVWLQFWZD\RIVHHLQJDVFHQWUDOWR
UHVXVFLWDWLRQRI7DWOLQV7RZHUDV
emblem for, 41; use of term, 4
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HWKQLFLW\FRQFHSWRIDQGUHYROXWLRQ
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HWKQLF2WKHUSee also2WKHU
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(IURV$EUDP
(LHO7RZHU
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(OLRW76Q
(OOLVRQ5DOSK
The End of the World SOD\
HTXDOLW\FRPPXQLVWSURJUDPVIRU
FRPSHWLQJPRGHOVRI
experiments with art and, 4; formal
HTXDOLW\RI$IULFDQ$PHULFDQV
JHQGHUHTXDOLW\0RVFRZV
SURPLVHVRI6RYLHW8QLRQDV
LVRODWHGEDVWLRQRIVWUXFWXUDO
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8665DVEHDFRQRIUDFLDO
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as champion of African American
HTXDOLW\
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HWKQLFIRUPDWLRQRIWHUPXVHRI
term, 4
)DELDQ-RKDQQHVQQ
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See also literature of fact
)DQRQ)UDQW]
)HGHUDO7KHDWUH3URMHFW
)HHU,W]LN
Fiddler on the Roof PXVLFDO
)LODWRYD/\GLD
First Congress of the Peoples of the East
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Flower Drum Song PXVLFDO
Q
)RUH'HYLQ
)RUW:KLWHPDQ/RYHWW
Forward (newspaper), 150
)RVWHU+DO
)RXULHU&KDUOHV
Frayhayt (FreedomQHZVSDSHU
Freeman, Joseph, 150
)UHXG6LJPXQG
INDEX
IURQWLHURIKRSH8665DVIRU-HZV
IXWXULVP
See also budetliane (people of the
future)
*DWHV+HQU\/RXLV-UQ
*HOOHUW/DZUHQFH
JHQGHUHTXDOLW\
*LOPRUH*OHQGD
Give Us Europe (Daesh Evropu) (Meyerhold),
JOREDOFDSLWDOLVPQ
*ROG0LNH
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*ROGPDQ(PPD
*RQFKDURYD1DWDOLD
*RRGLQJ:LOOLDPV5REHUW
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*XHYDUD&KH
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Had Gadya (Lissitzky), 156
+DOSHUQ0RLVKH/HLE
Harlem LiberatorQ
KHWHURQRUPDWLYHPDVFXOLQLVP
KLJKPRGHUQLVP
+LUVFK)UDQFLQH
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of, 12
+ROOLQJHU'DYLG
+ROO\ZRRG7HQ
+RPHZDUG0D\DNRYVN\
279
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+RXVH8Q$PHULFDQ$FWLYLWLHV
Committee, 101
+RZH,UYLQJ
+XJKHV/DQJVWRQ
113
+X\VVHQ$QGUHDVQ
+\ODHD+\ODHDQVQ
LGHRJUDPV
I Hotel <DPDVKLWD
LNRQQ
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LQDXWKHQWLF-HZV
,QGR5XVVLDQ8QLRQ.KOHEQLNRY
LQWHUFXOWXUDOHGXFDWLRQ
LQWHUQDWLRQDODYDQWJDUGH
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142
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Italian neorealism, 115
I Wonder as I Wander +XJKHV
-DNREVRQ5RPDQ
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Jetztzeit (QRZWLPH
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280
INDEX
-HZLVK$XWRQRPRXV5HJLRQQ
-HZLVK%ROVKHYLNV
-HZLVK/DERU&RPPLWWHH$)/&,2
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Q
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-HZLVK5HYROXWLRQDJDLQVW-HZLVKQHVV
Q
-HZVDXWKHQWLF-HZVsee authentic
Jews); inauthentic Jews (see
inauthentic Jews); Jewish Americans
(see Jewish Americans); Soviet Jews
(see Soviet Jews)
-LP&URZ
Junghans, Carl, 124
.DOOHQ+RUDFH
.DWD\DPD6HQ
.DW]'RYLG
.HOOH\5RELQ
.HUQDQ5\DQ-DPHVQ
.KDQJD<HOHQDQ
.KDQXP7DPDUD
.KOHEQLNRY9HOLPLU
.KUXVKFKHY1LNLWD
Kiaer, Christina, 24, 51
.LQJVWRQ0D[LQH+RQJ
.RHVWOHU$UWKXU
.ROFKHYVND1DWDVKD
.RVHOOHFN5HLQKDUW
.ULVWHYD-XOLD
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.X.OX[.ODQ...
.XOEDN0RLVKH
.\POLFND:LOO
/DFLV$VMD
La condition humaine 0DOUDX[
Langer, Lawrence, 101
ODQJXDJHV
Q
INDEX
0DU[LVWGLVFRXUVH
0D[ZHOO:LOOLDP
0D\DNRYVN\9ODGLPLU
f
$IUR&XEDQSRHPV
RIDQGPLQRULW\
ZULWLQJ
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melancholia
0HVHUYH:DOWHU-DQG5XWK,
111, 112
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QUHYROXWLRQDU\
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0H\HUKROG9VHYRORG
0H\HUKROG7KHDWHU
0H]KUDESRPOP,QWHUQDWLRQDO:RUNHUV
5HOLHI)LOP
PRGHUQLVP
PRQWDJHSee also cinematic
montage
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0RVFRZ0F.D\
0RVFRZDVFDSLWDORIQRZWLPH
Moscow, the Fourth Rome &ODUN
0RVFRZ$UW7KHDWHU
0RVFRZ0RYLH+XJKHV
Moss, Kenneth, 150
281
0XOOHQ%LOO
PXOWLFXOWXUDOLVP
multinationalness (mnogonatsionalnost),
My Discovery of America 0D\DNRYVN\
0\VWHU\%RXH0D\DNRYVN\
Nadir, Moishe, 2, 4, 150
Nadja (Breton), 22
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A Negro Looks at Soviet Central Asia
+XJKHV
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0RXQWDLQ+XJKHV
1HJUR6RQJVRI3URWHVW*HOOHUW
QHRSULPLWLYLVP
neorealism, Italian, 115
1HZ&RPPXQLVW0RYHPHQW
QHZFRVPRSROLWDQLVPQ
New Masses129
new optics, 22
1HZ7KHRU\RI/DQJXDJH0DUU
1HZWRQ+XH\Q
New York Herald Tribune, 122
1HZ<RUN,QWHOOHFWXDOV
New York Times
now-time (Jetztzeit
2GHWV&OLRUG
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2Q&RQWUDGLFWLRQ0DR
282
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150,000,000 (Mayakovsky), 55
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2WKHU
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HWKQLF2WKHU
3DJH0\UD
Pamiatnik III Internatsionala (Punin), 7
3DSD]LDQ(OL]DEHWK$VWULGQ
3DULVGHFHQWHULQJRI
3DULV&DSLWDORIWKH1LQHWHHQWK
&HQWXU\%HQMDPLQQ
3DUN5REHUW
SDUWLFXODULVP
Q
SDUWLFXODULVWLFSUDFWLFHV
Partisan Review
SDWKRVSee revolutionary pathos
3DWWHUVRQ:LOOLDP
Peasants (Goncharova), 15
SHUFHSWXDOHVWUDQJHPHQW
3HUOR0DUMRULH
SHUPDQHQWUHYROXWLRQQ
3LFDVVR3DEOR
3ODWRQRY$QGUHLQ
SOXUDOLVPSee also cultural
pluralism; liberal pluralism
3RJJLROL5HQDWRQ
Q
SROLWLFDOUDGLFDOLVP
SROLWLFDOYDQJXDUG
Q
SROLWLFVRIGLHUHQFHRIHTXDO
GLJQLW\UHYROXWLRQDU\SROLWLFVsee
revolutionary politics)
Popular Front, 101
SRVWFRORQLDORULHQWDOLVP
3RXQG(]UDQ
Pravda
SUHPRGHUQXWRSLDQLVP
SULPLWLYLVPQSee
also neoprimitivism
SUROHWDULDQYDQJXDUG
SURWRFRQVWUXFWLYLVP
3XGRYNLQ9VHYRORG
3XQLQ1LNRODL
3XVKNLQ$OH[DQGHUQ
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8665
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5DPSHUVDG$UQROG
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Red Cavalry %DEHO
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5HHG-RKQ
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Jewishness); minorities at forefront
RI5HYROXWLRQ&KLQDsee
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revolution (see socialist revolution)
INDEX
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UHYROXWLRQDU\SDWKRV
QQ
UHYROXWLRQDU\SROLWLFV
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Explained Instead of Avoided or
0\VWLHG+ROOLQJHU
5LYHUD'LHJR
5RDU&KLQD+XJKHV113,
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FRPSDUHGWRFRYHU
of, 94GHVFULSWLRQRI
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106, 107, 112; other productions of,
SURSKHWLFTXDOLW\RI
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5REHVRQ3DXO
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romantic anticapitalism, 12
5RVHQEHUJ+DUROG
5RVHQIHOW'HERUDK6LOYHUWRQ
5RWK+HQU\
5R\01
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283
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5XVVLD
6DLG(GZDUGSee also2ULHQWDOLVP
Salazkina, Masha, 115
Salt of the Earth OP
6DPXHO0DXULFH
6DUJRQ3\UDPLG
6DUWUH-HDQ3DXO
6FKZDU]6RORPRQ0Q
Scythianism, 40
6F\WKLDQV%ORN
6HFRQG&RQJUHVVRIWKH&RPLQWHUQ
10, 11
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284
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7DWOLQV7RZHU5, 7
as interweaving of avant-garde and
ethnography, 40; as interweaving of
DYDQWJDUGHDQGYDQJXDUG
7D\ORU&KDUOHV
Tel quel JURXS
Ten Days That Shook the World 5HHG
Tevye the Milkman 6KROHP$OHLFKHP
WKHRU\RIFRPELQHGDQGXQHYHQ
GHYHORSPHQWRISHUPDQHQW
revolution, 10; weakest link theory, 10
7KHVHVRQWKH3KLORVRSK\RI+LVWRU\
%HQMDPLQ
Third Communist International
&RPLQWHUQSee Comintern (Third
Communist International)
7KLUG:RUOGLVP
7KRPSVRQ/RXLVH
Three Songs About Lenin (documentary),
140
7KXUPDQ:DOODFH
Time PDJD]LQH
7RO]9HUD
7R2XU<RXWK0D\DNRYVN\
7RZHURI%DEHO
WUDQVODWLRQ
translation gaps, 222n50
7UDQV1DWLRQDO$PHULFD%RXUQH
transnational optic, 4
transrational (zaum) poetry, 12, 40, 52
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A Treasury of Yiddish Stories +RZH
7UHWLDNRY6HUJHL
7UHWLDNRYD2OJD
7ULOOLQJ/LRQHO
7URSLFV0D\DNRYVN\f
7URWVN\/HRQ
7VLDQJ+7
Tsirk OPQ
7YRUFKHVWYRIXWXULVWJURXS
INDEX
8QLWHG6WDWHVHPHUJHQFHRIHWKQLFLW\
SDUDGLJPLQ0D\DNRYVN\VYLVLWWR
XQLYHUVDOHTXDOLW\XQLYHUVDOLVW
DVSLUDWLRQV
86658QLRQRI6RYLHW6RFLDOLVW
5HSXEOLFVDVEHDFRQRIUDFLDO
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perceived exoticness of, 20; as site of
FXOWXUDOLQQRYDWLRQSee also5XVVLD
8]EHNLVWDQ8]EHNV
utopian aspirations, 4, 41
XWRSLDQLVPSUHPRGHUQ
XWRSLDQVXUSOXVQ
8]EHNLVWDQ8]EHNV
+XJKHVVYLVLWWR
YDQJXDUGYDQJXDUGLVPDUWLVWLF
vanguardism, 1, 2; avant-garde
DQG
Q%ROVKHYLNYDQJXDUG
-HZLVKYDQJXDUGLVP
SROLWLFDOYDQJXDUG
QSUROHWDULDQYDQJXDUG
UHYROXWLRQDU\YDQJXDUG
6RYLHWYDQJXDUGLVPQ
9DQ9HFKWHQ&DUO
Varits PDJD]LQH
9HQXWL/DZUHQFH
285
9HUWRY']LJD
Volunteer for Liberty113
:DFTXDQW/RwF
:DOG$ODQQ
The Ways of White Folks +XJKHV
weakest link theory, 10
7KH:HDU\%OXHV+XJKHV
What Is to Be Done? /HQLQ
:LOOLDPV:LOOLDP&DUORV
:LQDQW+RZDUG
:ROLW]6HWK
woodblock prints (Roar, China!), 110, 111
World of Our Fathers +RZH
The World of Sholom Aleichem 6DPXHO
:ULJKW5LFKDUG
<DPDVKLWD.DUHQ7HL
<LGGLVK
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Yiddishkeit
<RXQJ5REHUWQ
<X7LPRWK\Q
zaum (transrational) poetry, 12, 40, 52
=LQRYLHY*ULJRU\
LHN6ODYRM