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This book takes up the obtrusive problem of visual representation of fiction in contemporary Russian book design. By analyzing a broad variety of book covers, the study offers an absolutely unique material that illustrates a radically changing notion of literature in the transformation of Soviet print culture to a post-Soviet book market. It delivers a profound and critical exploration of Russian visual imaginary of classic, popular, and contemporary prose. Among all the carelessly bungled covers of mass-published post-Soviet series the study identifies gems from experimental designers. By taking a comparative approach to the clash of two formerly separate book cultures, the Western and the Soviet, that results both in a mixture of highbrow and lowbrow forms and in ideological re-interpretations of the literary works, this book contributes to opening an East-West dialogue between the fields of Russian studies, contemporary book and media history, art, design, and visual studies.
List of contents
Acknowledgements.- Introduction.- 1. Research Design.- PART I: Russian Book Design from the Soviet Period to Present.- 2. The Soviet Hardback Revolution.- 3. Perestroika and Post-Soviet Re-Design.- 4. Russian Book Design Today.- PART II: Changing Values in Visual Representation of Literature.- 5. The Classic Returns: Anton Chekhov's Dama s sobachkoi.- 6. The Western World in a Russian Pocket? James Hadley Chase's Ves' mir v karmane.- 7. The Kaleidoscopic Images of Viktor Pelevin's Generation "P".- PART III: Three Generations of Russian Book Designers.- 8. Book Artist or Designer?.- 9. Arkadii Troianker: Nonconformist Book Experiments in Changing Media.- 10. Andrei Bondarenko: From the Bright Underground to Dark Clouds.- 11. Outlook on the Next Generation: Aleksandr Utkin's New Printed Classics.- Conclusion.- Notes.- Bibliography.
About the author
Birgitte Beck Pristed is Assistant Professor in Russian Studies at the Department of Global Studies at Aarhus University, Denmark. She received her Ph.D. in 2014 from the Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz in Germany for her award-winning dissertation.
Summary
This book takes up the obtrusive problem of visual representation of fiction in contemporary Russian book design. By analyzing a broad variety of book covers, the study offers an absolutely unique material that illustrates a radically changing notion of literature in the transformation of Soviet print culture to a post-Soviet book market. It delivers a profound and critical exploration of Russian visual imaginary of classic, popular, and contemporary prose. Among all the carelessly bungled covers of mass-published post-Soviet series the study identifies gems from experimental designers. By taking a comparative approach to the clash of two formerly separate book cultures, the Western and the Soviet, that results both in a mixture of highbrow and lowbrow forms and in ideological re-interpretations of the literary works, this book contributes to opening an East-West dialogue between the fields of Russian studies, contemporary book and media history, art, design, and visual studies.
