Appropriating History: The Soviet Past in Belarusian, Russian, and Ukrainian Popular CultureBy MatthiasSchwartz, NinaWeller (Eds.). New York: Columbia University Press. 2024. 318 pp. $50.00. (pbk)

Popular media play a crucial role in reconstructing collective historical imaginations. The dramatic events and ruptures of the 20th century serve as source material for both playful and neo-imperialist/nationalist appropriations of the past. This book examines this phenomenon through case studies from popular cultures in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine. It demonstrates how references to Soviet history in mainstream film, TV series, etc. provide role models, action patterns, and even justification for current political and military developments. Consequently, this book offers novel insights into the intricate and explosive dynamics of popular culture in Eastern Europe. The first section, entitled “Places of Longing,” focus on events and historical periods that have gained renewed attention in popular culture because of their positive or negative connotations. The emotional connection to these places cannot simply be described as nostalgic; instead, popular culture engages with the conflicting aspects of the past in an immersive and empathetic manner, thereby reinterpreting it for the present. In Chapter 1, Mark Lipovetsky examines the Russian television series to demonstrate how these narratives portray the rebels and outlaws of everyday Soviet life as contemporary heroes. Consequently, these series reframe the anxieties and aspirations of present-day viewers within a nostalgic utopian framework in order to symbolically shield them from an uncertain future and provide an escape from their current realities. In Chapter 2, Svitlana Pidoprygora examines numerous Ukrainian comics and graphic novels from the past decade and concludes that in most of these works, the Soviet past is largely obscured and overwritten by fantastic alternative histories, whereas Eva Binder examines Guzel Yakhina's acclaimed novels in Chapter 3 to illustrate how historical events of great magnitude such as the civil war, famines, and the Gulag are presented in a captivating and engaging manner for contemporary readers. Binder contends that this mainstream literature, rooted in humanist values, adheres to a global popular realism style while also offering critical insights and enlightenment within the context of modern-day Russia. In Chapter 4, through four Belarusian popular films depicting the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster, Olga Romanova illustrates how a critical and subversive impulse for repentance gradually transformed into a resigned withdrawal into personal realms over time. This development directly resonates with the political landscape in the country. The second section, “Combat Zones,” is not so much concerned with the structures of longing expressed in the appropriation of the past, but rather with the different types of protagonists and their function in the respective historical episodes. Maria Galina and Ilya Kukulin explore Russian counterfactual narratives of the Soviet Union within the framework of popular culture in Chapter 5, with a specific focus on soldiers and fighters primarily concerned with preserving the integrity of a powerful statehood. Although there was a predominant interest in breaking taboos surrounding certain topics during the 1990s, more recent alternative history works increasingly delve into themes of imagined retribution and profound animosity toward external adversaries. In the subsequent chapter, Daniil Leiderman also examines alternative histories within computer games like Red Land (Krasnaia zemlia 2011). These games, featuring typical paraphernalia and landscapes of Soviet origin, provide players with an opportunity to “scrutinize and reconcile the intricacies and contradictions of historical experiences.” In Chapter 7, Nina Weller delves into the significant role of a distinctive combatant figure during World War II, specifically the partisan, who gained immense popularity in post-Soviet Belarus among both official circles and the artistic and political opposition. The tactics and strategies employed by these partisans for subversion were adapted and reinterpreted for the contemporary post-Soviet era across various popular media formats and genres, ranging from large-scale historical films to grassroots street protests. As the last chapter in this section, Roman Dubasevych probes two recent Russian films on the Stilyagi subculture of the 1950s and the Leningrad rock underground of the 1980s to illustrate that artistic and political reconstructions of Soviet heroic figures do not always seek active intervention in current conditions, but can instead inadvertently fossilize and depoliticize individual forms of protest. Therefore, the four contributions in this section collectively illustrate that the Combat Zones of history within popular culture primarily serve as arenas for their protagonists to experiment with diverse modes of action and behavior. The last section, “Sites of Trauma,” demonstrates that violent traumatic events in history have become an extremely successful and favored topic in popular culture, which can be appropriated and narrated in very different ways. In Chapters 9 and 10, Lidia Martinovich explores the emergence of “cultural trauma” as a significant means of recounting Belarusian national history in recent times, analyzing popular novels from the past few decades. The portrayal of the “suffering Belarusian” has assumed a central role in presenting readers with diverse options for action and survival strategies within a historical context, sometimes presented in an absurd manner and at other times evoking fear. Valery Vyugin, on the contrary, demonstrates that the treatment of extreme violence is now an inherently ambivalent phenomenon within contemporary Russian prize-winning literature. In the subsequent chapter, Oleksandr Zabirko examines a distinct phenomenon within the S.T.A.L.K.E.R game series, wherein the post-apocalyptic Chernobyl zone is portrayed as an unsettling and formidable realm inhabited by monstrous creatures and mutants with no means of escape. This immensely popular representation of reality has acquired a chilling relevance in light of Russia's aggression toward Ukraine. In the final chapter, Matthias Schwartz critically probes into the multi-award winning television series to analyze how popular formats utilize traumatic historical experiences in order to present a multi-layered imaginary framework for grappling with the increasingly authoritarian and militarized regime in Russia. The book focuses on the examination of popular culture works and phenomena prior to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The objective of this volume is not to provide comprehensive coverage of all aspects of popular culture in all three countries, as it would be impractical. Certain formats such as festivals, sporting events, subcultures, and religious movements are not addressed at all, whereas others like social media or popular music are discussed within individual contributions but not explored in separate essays.