LostRomanovFile
New Member
Now that the cold war is over, it is no longer taboo for Americans to be interested in Russian and Romanov books. Is there a potential "new field" for fiction authors to develop here?
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Books about the Romanovs
- Thread starter LostRomanovFile
- Start date
Welcome to the forum, LostRomanovFile.
Is it really the case that authors in the US were hindered by such a taboo? Was there really such a taboo? Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park was first published in 1981 – still four years before Gorbachev became the last president of the Soviet Union, introducing glasnost and perestroika. yet while that hugely successful novel is critical of the Soviet Union, it is also critical of the US; it's not a straightforward piece of anti-Soviet propaganda. One could suggest that Cruz Smith is a romantic Russian at heart – he certainly writes from a perspective of empathy rather than animosity. And in terms of that empathy, the same can be said of the second Renko novel, Polar Star, which was published in 1989.
Did people in the US not read the Russian classics during the Cold War – Dostovevsky, Tolstoy etc? And surely it could be argued that at least some of the reason for the success of the likes of Boris Pasternak and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was their position as dissidents during the Cold War?
Is it really the case that authors in the US were hindered by such a taboo? Was there really such a taboo? Martin Cruz Smith's Gorky Park was first published in 1981 – still four years before Gorbachev became the last president of the Soviet Union, introducing glasnost and perestroika. yet while that hugely successful novel is critical of the Soviet Union, it is also critical of the US; it's not a straightforward piece of anti-Soviet propaganda. One could suggest that Cruz Smith is a romantic Russian at heart – he certainly writes from a perspective of empathy rather than animosity. And in terms of that empathy, the same can be said of the second Renko novel, Polar Star, which was published in 1989.
Did people in the US not read the Russian classics during the Cold War – Dostovevsky, Tolstoy etc? And surely it could be argued that at least some of the reason for the success of the likes of Boris Pasternak and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was their position as dissidents during the Cold War?
LostRomanovFile
New Member
Cold war wet blanket
Of course youre point is valid, in that not all interest in Russia was terminated with the cold war. Yet we must admit that Russia was not a very popular topic for most Americans in the CW except as to how much they scared us. For example, most Americans know who Queen Elizabeth the first was, and they can approximately place her time in history and her contributions to the human experience. The same is true of Napolean, Panco Villa, Ghengis Khan and Julius Ceasar. I do not think that many Americans could tell us the difference between Ivan the Great or Ivan the Terrible.
Of course youre point is valid, in that not all interest in Russia was terminated with the cold war. Yet we must admit that Russia was not a very popular topic for most Americans in the CW except as to how much they scared us. For example, most Americans know who Queen Elizabeth the first was, and they can approximately place her time in history and her contributions to the human experience. The same is true of Napolean, Panco Villa, Ghengis Khan and Julius Ceasar. I do not think that many Americans could tell us the difference between Ivan the Great or Ivan the Terrible.
dele
New Member
I do not think that many Americans could tell us the difference between Ivan the Great or Ivan the Terrible.
Quite true. I'm shocked sometimes by how poorly educated we are today, especially in countries that have so many resources at our disposal.
Russians aren't a popular topic now. Why? Dunno but that's the way that it is. Fiji isn't terribly popular now either.
BTW, the Cold War is still going on.
BTW, the Cold War is still going on.
Fore Check
New Member
This may be an obvious suggestion, but have you read "The Romanov Prophecy" by Steve Berry?
LostRomanovFile
New Member
Russians are people too!
I do not know if Fiji has ever had such an impact upon our national thought as Russia/USSR has had in the past, but I find it sad that fewer Americans have discovered the wonderful world of Russian history.
1/6th of the worlds landmass was once ruled by the Tsars, and I find this to be enough of a historical footprint to suggest that new American readers may be ready to re-discover what has been lost to us by the distaste of all things Russian that we fostered during the cold war years. I think that it is time for us as a people to realize that Russia is no longer the enemy of the past, and that it is safe to allow ourselves to be interested in Russian history. What better soap opera could we wish for than the history and mystery that the court of the Tsars had going on back in the day?
However we may feel from time to time about the international relations between our two countries, I do not think that there will ever be such a stigmatism attached to learning about our former enemies as there was in the past.
I do not know if Fiji has ever had such an impact upon our national thought as Russia/USSR has had in the past, but I find it sad that fewer Americans have discovered the wonderful world of Russian history.
1/6th of the worlds landmass was once ruled by the Tsars, and I find this to be enough of a historical footprint to suggest that new American readers may be ready to re-discover what has been lost to us by the distaste of all things Russian that we fostered during the cold war years. I think that it is time for us as a people to realize that Russia is no longer the enemy of the past, and that it is safe to allow ourselves to be interested in Russian history. What better soap opera could we wish for than the history and mystery that the court of the Tsars had going on back in the day?
However we may feel from time to time about the international relations between our two countries, I do not think that there will ever be such a stigmatism attached to learning about our former enemies as there was in the past.