Since the mid-19th century, the Russian intelligentsia has shared a profound sense of responsbility for the fate of its country and a belief in the transformative power of the word - a belief reinforced by the state, which has relentlessly tried to suppress any form of intellectual dissent. Starting with Glasnost, this belief has been sorely tested. The floodgates of information opened, but no miracle followed. Indeed, the novelty of free speech quickly wore off. While the intelligentsia was watching its most treasured dream disintegrate, it was also losing its social standing, its prestige and, finally, its money. As it had frequently done in the past, the intelligentsia responded by declaring itself dead, obsolete. Once again, it was the end. Masha Gessen, one of a new generation of correspondents in Russia, does not share this pessimism. Her book examines the ways in which intellectuals are finding new identities - or survival strategies - in the present social and political maelstrom. Through a series of individual stories, she shows their quest for a new faith, be it religion or the paranormal, a commitment to nationalist ideology, or to feminist principles.
She shows, too, their search for a place in the new society, as artist or politician, entrepreneur or new-dissident. Her accounts of their careers and pre-occupations can be both harrowing and humorous. Masha Gessen considers the prospects for future generations of intellectuals, giving a disturbing portrait of Russia's outcast Generation X.
- ISBN10 1859848419
- ISBN13 9781859848418
- Publish Date 13 June 1997
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 25 May 2001
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Verso Books
- Format Hardcover
- Pages 256
- Language English