Time travel and poetics of reenactment: the "kitschification" of WWII in Russian post-soviet "fantastika".

Résumé 0

The transmission of the memory of World War II represents one of the most interesting and yet controversial issues of contemporary Russia’s struggle with its past. USSR “Great Victory” over the Nazi still provides a significant support for patriotic and revanchist narratives of the current regime, and the glorification of this tragic event has become a characteristic feature of Russia’s post-memorial cultural production.In my presentation, I will focus on the rise of a particular trend in literature and cinema which turns the traumatic experience of the Second World War into a conventional subject for alternative history. The success of this tendency has been so conspicuous as to originate a whole genre: its main characters are the so called “popadantsy”, a group of men from the present time who find themselves stuck in the middle of the conflict and must fight to protect their country. Transforming the bloodshed of millions into an entertaining product, such films and books as "My iz buduščego" (2008) or "Razgovor s Voždem" (2015) not only rise the question of the ethical legitimacy of fiction towards traumatic past, but also threaten the very historical truth of these events, simplifying and distorting the reality of warfare to convey a prideful message. Both these aspects can be regarded as two facets of a phenomenon of kitschification, which Robert Eaglestone defines as a “transformation of the past into something meant to titillate or offer a saccharine ease” ("The Broken Voice", p. 143). In the light of the robust academic discussion about this concept, I will try to define the main characteristics of this multimedia genre and to point out its role in shaping a nostalgic depiction of a greater soviet past.