From an unprintable to a printable language of literature? Russian obscene language in late and post-Soviet literary cultures

Bibliographic Data

ID12978112
AuthorsManuela Kovalev (University of Manchester, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume6
Issue2
Pages113-126
Publication date2014-03-25
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueRussian Journal of Communication (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1940-9427 • E-ISSN: 1940-9419
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/19409419.2014.901899
OpenAlexW2001690887
LanguageEN
References cited26

The aim of this article is to trace the evolution of Russian obscene language from an unprintable to a printable language of literature in late and post-Soviet literature. Drawing on Iurii Lotman's notions of fear and shame as fundamental mechanisms regulating culture, the article discusses the role(s) of the ‘unprintable’ word in literature. The introductory section gives a brief overview of the status of obscene language in literature before the Revolution. The article then moves on to discuss verbal obscenity in a Soviet context and its evolution to a printable language of literature. Given that Russian obscene language has always been strongly determined by its correlation with ‘literary language’, the question arises as to what extent the emergence of verbal obscenity in literary texts has led to a re-definition of the perception of literary language in contemporary Russia

Art · Context (archaeology · Linguistics · Literary language · Literature · Shame · Sociology · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · History · Philosophy · Psychology · Rousseau and Enlightenment Thought

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