Beyond: The USSR of the 1930s through foreigners' eyes

Abstract

The paper attempts to fnd a methodological and practical possibility to describe some implicit features of the culture of Soviet Russia in the 1930s. The subjects of the analysis are books by
E. E. Cummings and P. Travers, who wrote about their experience of visiting the USSR. The texts were chosen according to the principle of inclusion in / exclusion from a certain (and unique) cultural genre of that time. On the one hand, they correspond to the type of works produced by “fellow travelers / political pilgrims”, on the other hand, they are internally opposed to it. The author of the article is also concerned about a theoretical question: to what extent may one detect the ‘Stimmungen' (in the words of H. U. Gumbrecht), which determine the “fne adjustments” of culture and time. These belong not to the feld of meanings, but to the mood feld, and therefore are diffcult to identify. Also, in searching for such settings, to what extent may one utilize the experience of foreign observers, that is, people outside of the internal culture. Moreover, the question of the limits and problems of individual perception always remains open. Nevertheless, it appears that the impression of Soviet Russia as the space of death — as described in the two texts — is of defnite interest for characterizing the culture of that time.