BUILDING THE IMAGE OF RUSSIAN POLITICAL CONSPIRATORS IN EARLY SOVIET CINEMATOGRAPHY
In my paper I aim at comparing the images of two radical 19th century revolutionists such as Sergei Gennadevich Nechaev and Stepan Nikolaevich Khalturin with the ambivalent portraits of these historical characters that appeared in the Russian and Soviet press before and after the 1917 Russian Revolution. According to a number of publications, Nechaev’s figure was given a special position by the Soviet intelligentsia of the 1920s. Also Khalturin became, at the time, particularly popular for having been the leader of the Russian workers’ movement. Main questions asked in my Paper include, but are not limited, to the following: how Russian Populists were featured through cinema? By what specific visual devices in the two fictional films shown throughout the 1920s – such as “The Palace and the Fortress” and “Stepan Khalturin” (both directed by Aleksandr Viktorivich Ivanovsky) – were the stories of the recent revolutionary past reorganised in relation to the projects predominating in the Soviet post-revolutionary present? I shall specifically focus the paper on how the characters of Nechaev and Khalturin were treated by the well-known historian Pavel Eliseevich Shchyogolev, who made use of new sources (emerged from the former archives of the Tsarist secret police departments) for composing the screenplays of the above-mentioned films.
Keywords: soviet history, film history, building the visual image, Russian populists, Sergei Nechaev, Stepan Khalturin
References:
Bleiman 1968 – Bleiman M. Starting of arts. From the history of Lenfilm. Articles, memoirs, documents. 1920s. Is. 1. Leningrad, 1968. In Russian.
Brintingler 2000 – Brintingler A. Writing a Usable Past: Russian Literary Culture 1917–1937. Evanston, 2000.
Chernobaev 2010 – Russian historiography of XI – the beginning of XXI century. Ed. by A. A. Chernobaev. Moscow, 2010. In Russian.
Ginzburg 2007 – Ginzburg G. Cinematography of pre-revolutionary Russia. Moscow, 2007. In Russian.
Grigorev 2007 – Grigorev S.I. The court censorship and the image of the supreme power. 1831–1917. Saint-Petersburg, 2007. In Russian.
Gusman 1924 – Gusman B. The palace and the fortress. Pravda. 16 February 1924. 38. In Russian.
Ivanova and oth. 2002 – Great cinemo: Catalog of live-action film preserved in Russia (1908–1919). Ed. by V. Ivanova and oth. Moscow, 2002. In Russian.
Ivanovsky 1924 – Interview with the film director A. V. Ivanovsky. Cinema-Week. 1924. 13. In Russian.
Khorkhordina 1994 – Khorkhordina T. N. The history of the fatherland and archives. From 1917 to 1980s. Moscow, 1994. In Russian.
Kozmin 1923 – Kozmin B. Near the Nechaev case. Penal servitude and exile: historical and revolutionary bulletin. 1923. 6. P. 55–63. In Russian.
Kozmin 1926 a – Kozmin B. Failed provocation. New about Nechayev. Red Archive. 1926. 1 (14). P. 148–158. In Russian.
Kozmin 1926 b – Kozmin B. New about S. G. Nechayev. Successful provocation. Red Archive. 1926. 2 (15). P. 150–163. In Russian.
Krotov 1982 – Museums in the USSR. Moscow, 1982. In Russian.
Kytimova 1983 – Kytimova S. I. Istpart and formation of historical revolutionary museums in 1920–1928. Abstract of dissertation for the degree of candidate of Historical Sciences. Moscow, 1983. In Russian.
Lebedev 1962 – Lebedev N. Il cinema muto sovietico. Torino, 1962.
Leikina 1973 – Leikina E.T. Establishment and activity of the Leningrad Istpart (1920–1980). Problems of historiography and source history of the CPSU. Is. 2. Leningrad, 1973. In Russian.
Macheret 1961 – Soviet feature films. Annotated catalog. Vol. 1: Silent Films (1918–1935). Ed. by A. V. Macheret. Moscow, 1961. In Russian.
Maksakov 1922 – Maksakov V. The ritual of the public execution of S. G. Nechayev. Red Archive. 1922. 1. P. 280–281. In Russian.
Namer 1987 – Namer G. Mémoire et société. Paris, 1987.
Oksman 1923 – Oksman Yu. G. The fate of one parody of Dostoevsky. Red Archive. 1923. 3. P. 301–303. In Russian.
Orlovsky 1989 – Orlovsky D. T. The Provisional Government and its Cultural Work. Bolshevik Culture. Experiment and order in the Russian Revolution. Bloomington, 1989.
Piotrovsky 1936 – Piotrovsky A. P. The mounting sheet in film. The palace and the fortress. In six parts. Leningrad, 1936. In Russian.
Pokrovsky 1927 – 1905. Materials and documents. Ed. by M. N. Pokrovsky. Moscow, Leningrad, 1927. In Russian.
Shchyogolev 1929 – Shchyogolev P. E. Nechayev in ravelin (1873–1882). Alexis Ravelin. The book about the fall and the greatness of man. Moscow, 1929. In Russian.
Shtraikh 1919 – Shtraikh S. Ya. Decembrists on the screen. Life of art. 1919. 2 December. In Russian.
Svatikov 1907 – Svatikov S. G. The student movement in 1869: Bakunin and Nechayev. Our country: Historical Collection. Is. 1. Saint-Petersburg, 1907. In Russian.
Troitsky 1983 – Troitsky N. A. “Narodnaya Volya” to the tsarist trial (1880–1894). Saratov, 1983. In Russian.
Troitsky 2002 – Troitsky N. A. Crusaders of socialism. Saratov, 2002. In Russian.
Troitsky 2009 – Troitsky N. A. Eagles-heroes (The russian Narodniks in the art). Saratov, 2009. In Russian.
Vishnevsky 1945 – Vishnevsky V. Feature films of pre-revolutionary Russia. Moscow, 1945. In Russian.
Zasulich, Lopatin 1883 – Zasulich V. I., Lopatin N. N. Calendar of Narodnaya Volya on 1883. Genève, 1883. In Russian.
Zelenov 2000 – Zelenov M. V. The policy of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) in the field of historical science’s censorship in the 1919–1929. Abstract of dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Historical Sciences. Nizhny Novgorod, 2000. In Russian.
Zemlyak 1912 – Zemlyak. New about Nechayev. The Past. 1912. 14. In Russian.
( 310 kB ) 
( 301.72 kB )
Issue: 2, 2015
Series of issue: Issue 4
Rubric: ARTICLES
Pages: 69 — 81
Downloads: 977