Perfect calendars in chaotic times

• Main Author: Shilova, Irina
• Other Authors: Pogosjan, Jelena (Modern Languages and Cultural Studies)
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: calendar; Mayakovsky; Bulgakov; Russian Literature
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10048/1164

This dissertation focuses on the literary and media texts pertaining to the calendar reform introduced by the Bolshevik government after the October Revolution in 1917, and the establishment of specifically Soviet calendar in 1917-1929. The careful examination of the texts reveals a particularly salient feature of the new calendar, namely, its chaotic nature. Drawing on Paul Recoeurs theory of narrative as an exclusively human method of comprehending reality, this study investigates the phenomenon of calendrical narrative in its social and private aspects. Chapter 1 reconstructs the political and ideological context of the historical period employing materials from the two leading Soviet newspapers, Pravda and Izvestiia, and, more specifically, those articles which promote the new Soviet vision of holidays and the ritual calendar as a whole. Chapter 2 deals with Vladimir Mayakovskys vision of time as mans enemy and his construction of a perfect calendar for the future. Chapter 3 examines Mikhail Bulgakovs interpretation of the Christian ritual calendar as a message to ordinary people explaining the moral virtues of Christ, as well as those literary devices he employed highlighting the importance of this message to society and the individual. === Slavic Languages and Literatures