Belomor Criminality and Creativity in Stalin}}}s Gulag [Hardcover]

Containing analyses of everything from prisoner poetry to album covers, Belomor: Criminality and Creativity in Stalins Gulag moves beyond the simplistic good/evil paradigm that often accompanies Gulag scholarship. While acknowledging the normative power of Stalinisman ethos so hegemonic it wanted to harness the very mechanisms of inspirationthe volume also recognizes the various loopholes offered by artistic expression. Perhaps the most infamous project of Stalins first Five-Year Plan, the Belomor construction was riddled by paradox, above all the fact that it created a major waterway that was too shallow for large crafts. Even more significant, and sinister, is that the project won the backing of famous creative luminaries who enthusiastically professed the doctrine of self-fashioning. Belomor complicates our understanding of the Gulag by looking at both prisoner motivation and official response from multiple angles, thereby offering a more expansive vision of the labor camp and its connection to Stalinism. Julie Draskoczys new study. . . is the first to systematically examine a trove of Belomor prisoner narratives held in Russian state archives. By examining such narratives in conversation with better-known art produced by prisoners and nonprisoners, she explores the subjectivities of those who took part in this monumental, and deadly, construction project. As she discovers, there was remarkable diversity in how prisoners responded to camp officials frequent encouragement to participate in literary endeavors. The result, Draskoczy argues, is that prisoner narratives can be used to gain a better understanding of the relationship between creativity and criminality in the gulag, as well as the creative and destructive potentials of Stalinism. Julie Draskoczy has taught Russian history and culture at the University of Pittsburgh, Stanford University, and Patten University in San Quentin prison. She was named an Andrew W. Mellon Scholar of the Humanities at Stanfl“Y