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  1. 1 Slavia Orientalis

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  1. 1 Urbanik P.

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  1. 1 2006

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CRISIS OF POLITICAL SYSTEM IN YURII DRUZHNIKOV'S NOVEL 'ANGELS ON THE HEAD OF A PIN'

100%
Urbanik P.
Slavia Orientalis
|
2006
|
vol. 55
|
issue 2
219-238
EN
In the beginning, the author provides two definitions of politics. The first defines politics as the care about common good, while the second, makes politics consistent with Machiavelli's 'the end justifies the means'. He shows the problems connected with internal and foreign politics of the Soviet Union noticed by Druzhnikov and put in his book 'Angels on the Head of a Pin'. Very important to understand the historical context is the year when the plot of the novel takes place. In 1969, citizens of the USSR started to prepare the anniversary of Lenin's birth. This national holiday presented the revolutionary leader as the greatest saint in the Soviet Russia. Following the important event of the year 1969, was the fifth anniversary of 'subbotnik', a day of spontaneous voluntary work. To explain the meaning of the two great anniversaries the author used culturological texts and source materials: articles from the Polish and Soviet newspapers. Important for considerations of the political context in the book was the presentation of three characters, essential for political system in those days: Brezhnev is shown as a mythomaniac and the leader without charisma; Andropov, the head of secret service, is described in the novel as a person responsible for quelling rebellions in Central Europe; and Suslov is shown as the éminence grise of Brezhnev's era. The last part of the article presents samizdat as an idea which helps to object against communist governments. The literature of samizdat plays a very important role in 'Angels at the Head of oa Pin'. The first novel, 'Russia in 1839', written by French marquis Astolphe de Custine, was forbidden in Russia and the Soviet Union. The second novel was 'Impotentocration - Physiological Reasons of Ideological Weakness', written by Jakov Rappoport, one of the main characters in 'Angels...'. It presents ill and partly childish minds of the authorities, who cannot stand up to govern a world power.
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