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| Mikhail Svetlov, Andrei Voznesensky, Bella Akhmadulina and Evgenii Evtushenko |
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| Soviet Hipsters or Stiliagi |
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Hipsters, Part One: Soviet Stiliagi
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| Mikhail Svetlov, Andrei Voznesensky, Bella Akhmadulina and Evgenii Evtushenko |
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| Soviet Hipsters or Stiliagi |
How did the hipster burn his tongue? Because he sipped his coffee before it was cool.
ReplyDeleteJust kidding. In all seriousness though, having read some of Mayakovsky's work and studied him more generally as a historic and literary figure in the past, I think it is interesting that individuals like Yevtushenko and drew much of their inspiration from him. So much of "hipster-ness" today is focused on being the first to approve of something or act in a certain way, but our modern-day hipsters end up imitating past trends or figures as well. This raises the question, does originality exist? To what extent is originality actually important to the hipster figure?
When considering the hipsters of today, originality is important in the current context. To like something that was cool/universally approved of in 2007 is uncool; to like that tiny indie band that plays every other Thursday in some downtown dive is very cool indeed. However, when it comes to history, a modern hipster has an intense desire to be (or at least dress) exactly like the generations of yore. I heard once that each generation rejects its parents' behaviors and embraces its grandparents' behaviors, if only in dress style as we see today (dramatic moustaches, suspenders, old overcoats and girlish dresses from the '50s). I guess what I'm trying to say is that a hipster tries to be as outlandish and "original" as possible when thinking about the idioms of our time, while simultaneously gathering inspiration from the past – trying to preserve the dying generation in a new light.
DeleteTo me, a "hipster" is one who rejects the mainstream, a person that defines himself by countering the norm/dominant culture. Nekrasov seemed to embody this counter-culture, being denounced by Khrushchev himself for his atypical account of America in "On Both Sides of the Ocean". However, he's counter to both Soviet and American standards: intimately interested in people rather than "high" art, frustration with itinerary and routine, and critical of orthodoxy. However, even his hipsterness can't free him from a Soviet-socialist mindset: critical of American youth with their cult of individuality and cultural nausea at the "semi-culture" of American families sucked into television and mass media (pg 250). To this, I draw a connection to Voznesensky's poem "Anti-Worlds: Ironically Philosophic". On page 49:
ReplyDelete"Why is it, then, when night times fleet
With Anti-worlds we seem to meet?
Why do they sit around in pairs
And into the TV steadily stare?
They can't even grasp a phrase at a time.
Their first time is their last time."
I interpret this as Voznesensky's criticism of, when work and capitalism take their rest in the evening, all Americans do is immerse themselves in this mindless semi-culture (anti-world) of fantasy, rather than taking a genuine interest in ideas, people, and experiences as Nekrasov would yearn for. There is no consideration, no analysis. Rather, half-baked mass-produced low culture flows in one ear and out the other. A hipster's distress... At least the hipsters pretend culture through countering, even if unintelligible.
*Not to say that Soviet culture is America's hipster and American culture is the USSR's hipster. Or maybe that's the case? Many American hipsters had a romanticism with socialism while Soviet hipsters have a fascination with Western culture, music, and dress. The film clip we watched would seem to suggest that. However, I don't think this is a knee-jerk counter-culturing - it's more complex and it seems that hipsters reject the First World-Second World binary (even if to an inattentive eye they seem to fall perfectly into it).
DeleteIn recounting the advice of Pasolini in regards to Soviet writers, Nekrasov writes, "The greatest tragedies are those that make us laugh,,,that would not to the slightest extent deceive our thirst to know everything about the historical and political tragedies of recent years that Soviet writers experienced so profoundly," (227). How does this idea of humor play out in our preliminary understanding of the Soviet hipster, or perhaps, the future generations of Russians Nekrasov references throughout his work. Moreover, how does Nekrasov himself use humor as a strategy throughout his piece to inflect the content of his ideas? To what purposes?
ReplyDeleteOther students have commented on the ideology of the "hipster", and that the present day American hipster has a moderately distinct look, and hipsters of the past also seem to share in the conformity of dress (somewhat ironically). I guess my question is the importance of not only thinking like a hipster but looking like one in the hipster movement, how necessary is it to have your outward appearance reflect your inner thoughts? This is a more general "hipster figure question" that I have had.
ReplyDeleteVoznesensky's explorations of America, he often speaks of the beatniks in America. It's interesting that, around the same time, two counter culture hipster groups, mostly comprised of the children of the wealthy, arose in two enemy nations. The socialist hipsters were no doubt influenced by their American counterparts, but is the opposite true as well? If so, it would be fascinating to explore how they influenced each other as well as their similarities and their differences.
ReplyDeleteAs Hannah stated, the article about stilyaga mentions that the rebellion began “among the privileged youth of Moscow.” Is this because tourism, which would incite an interest in American culture, requires a lot of money? Or are the children of government officials more motivated to rebel than the less privileged? How does the origin of the movement validate or invalidate the goals of the stilyaga? There also seems to be little mention of women in the stilyaga. Is this due to a lack of female hipsters in the United States?
DeleteIn "Two Blacks," on page 335 of Yevtushenko's collected poems, we see a contrast of black and white features, which we saw in both Circus and Desire and the Black Masseur (through Marion's wigs and the white bathhouses versus the black masseurs, respectively):
ReplyDelete"But here, on the beach,
he spreads out a newspaper,
and in truth
is proud
of his blackness,
and exposes to the sun
his white heels
so they will turn a little dark
beneath the sun."
What does this contrast imply about both the black and the white features that are discussed? In Circus, most black things had a negative connotation, like the black child representing a shameful secret, and Marion's dark wig representing her sexual, deviant side. Are there negative connotations with black things in this poem?
Furthermore:
"And the black--could
give him useful advice,
how to get away,
But the white is afraid to ask questions."
What does this sharp contrast say about interracial relationships at the time? Why is it important that the black man in this poem is viewed as an intelligent man and the white man as merely a jailer?