Unstuck in Time: On the Post‐Soviet Uncanny by EliotBorenstein. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2024. 216 pp. $24.95. ISBN 978‐1‐5017‐7789‐9

In the broadest of terms, this book is about the nostalgic, affective relationship to the Soviet past that dominates current cultural production in Russia.Temporal linearity-or rather its lack-is the prism through which Eliot Borenstein analyzes post-Soviet Russia's dominant ideology and the cultural output that results from it.Borenstein observes that because the collapse of the Soviet Union and the unhinged 1990s metaphorically freed Russia from the bonds of temporal linearity-a measured progression from the tsarist past to the communist future-one might have expected the return to authoritarian rule to bring with it a return to linear time.But instead of looking unequivocally to the future, he argues, contemporary Russia hops "back and forth in the timeline of its past" (p.8).Today's Russia, he claims, is "unstuck in time," allowing it to imagine itself naturally both in the past of World War II and in alternative future scenarios where the Soviet Union never fell.The book offers a myriad of engrossing analyses of films, fiction, videogames, YouTube channels, home-grown political movements, and public cultural projects.Some materials that Borenstein analyzes are characterized by such elaborate and bizarre plot structures that his sharp analysis becomes irresistibly absorbing.He identifies popadantsy (which he aptly translates as "Time Crashers") as the most popular subgenre of Russian science fiction, and this provides a thread for the book as a whole.The Time Crasher genre follows a protagonist from one era who unexpectedly finds themselves in another.For Borenstein, the subgenre combines elements of time travel and alternate history.Whereas in global sci-fi these genres provide scope for exploring the philosophy of time or questions of causality, Borenstein argues that the trend in contemporary Russia is focused primarily on Russia's own history.The first two chapters illustrate how fiction about Russia's future often ties the country back to its past.World War II is at the center of chapter 1.It examines Time Crasher narratives where the protagonists, finding themselves in the Soviet Union during World War II, must "perform a task that will alter or preserve history, either saving or improving [themselves] along the way" (p.19).For example, for the millennial protagonists of the 2008 drama film My iz budushchego (We Are from the Future) and its 2010 sequel, "joining the fight to save the motherland against the fascists sparks their spiritual rebirth" (p.35).As Borenstein notes, the heroes' experience is meant to be inspirational for the audience, infusing history with affect, connecting the personal with the political.Chapter 2 examines Time Crashers' travel to other periods, combining an insightful analysis of popular culture including the TV sci-fi police procedural The Dark Side of the Moon (2012) alongside literary fiction like Evgenii Vodolazkin's novel The Aviator (2015).Chapter 3, which is aptly titled "The Empire Never Ended," moves away from fiction and film to examine political movements that seem grounded in an atemporal fantasy.Borenstein examines "The Citizens of the USSR," who believe that the Soviet Union never ended and sell counterfeit Soviet passports to the group's predominantly retired members.Again, he underscores the affective connection