{"product_id":"9781487540418","title":"Automatic for the Masses","description":"At the end of the 1920s, the Modernist and avant-garde artistic programmes of the early Soviet Union were swept away by the rise of Stalinism and the dictates of Socialist Realism. Did this aesthetic transition also constitute a conceptual break, or were there unseen continuities between these two movements? In Automatic for the Masses, Petre M. Petrov offers a novel, theoretically informed account of that transition, tracing those connections through Modernist notions of agency and authorship.Reading the statements and manifestos of the Formalists, Constructivists, and other Soviet avant-garde artists, Petrov argues that Socialist Realism perpetuated in a new form the Modernist \"death of the author.\" In interpreting this symbolic demise, he shows how the official culture of the 1930s can be seen as a perverted realization of modernism's unrealizable project. An insightful and challenging interpretation of the era, Automatic for the Masses will be required reading for those interested in understanding early Soviet culture.","brand":"Petrov","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46802778521918,"sku":"9781487540418","price":1661.0,"currency_code":"ZAR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4357\/7662\/products\/9781487540418_aad1ec0a-5abe-445c-8bba-6cac3fca8d7c.jpg?v=1707490634","url":"https:\/\/exclusivebooks.co.za\/products\/9781487540418","provider":"Exclusive Books Online","version":"1.0","type":"link"}