Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Soviet Virtues: The Moral Quests of Children's Authors

Soviet Virtues: The Moral Quests of Children's Authors

Krevsky, Elena

Hardcover

PhilosophyLiterary CriticismGeneral Sociology

Publisher Price: $70.00

PREORDER - Expected ship date January 26, 2027

ISBN10: 1049808924
ISBN13: 9781049808925
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: Jan 26 2027
Pages: 240
Weight: 0.99
Height: 1.00 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English

Calling into question widely held stereotypes of a so-called illiberal Soviet subjectivity, Soviet Virtues explores the unique role played by children's books in an ardent search for and affirmation of virtues, rather than an imposition of official values.


In studying several classics of Soviet children's literature, historian Elena Krevsky explores how children were presented as moral arbiters. These popular children's stories made the process of practical moral reflection an integral part of Soviet subjectivity. She demonstrates that a new morality was created not by inveterate proletarians or incorrigible party ideologists but by young and inexperienced authors of children's books. The coming of age of authors Arkady Gaidar, Lev Kassil, L. Panteleev, and Grigory Belykh coincided with the years of revolutionary turmoil. As they were writing in the late 1920s and early 1930s, they craved moral certainty and turned to the ethics of virtues.

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