Date of Award

Spring 5-17-2025

Document Type

Honors Project

University Scholars Director

Dr. Joshua Tom

First Advisor/Committee Member

Jeffrey Overstreet

Keywords

socialism, soviet, Russia, communism, Marxism, Russian literature

Abstract

This paper examines the origins and evolution of the Socialist Realism movement headed by Maxim Gorky, as a defining ideological and artistic framework of the Stalin era. Emerging in response to the experimental avant-garde movements of Revolutionary Russia, Socialist Realism sought to construct the ideal Soviet Reality, reimaging society and its citizens through the lens of collectivism, labor, and ideological purity. Central to this exploration is Gorky’s first major Socialist Realist novel, Mother, which serves as a blueprint for depicting the ideal Soviet citizen. By analyzing the motivations behind this movement and its portrayal of utopian ideals, this study reveals the inherent erasure of authentic human expression and individuality at the core of Socialist Realism, inevitably exposing its paradoxical failure to capture the multifaceted nature of human experience.

Comments

A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Arts degree in Honors Liberal Arts

Additional Rights Information

Copyright held by author.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Download

Share

COinS