Graphic Satire in the Soviet Union: Krokodil's Political Cartoons

by John Etty

Overview

After the death of Joseph Stalin, Soviet-era Russia experienced a flourishing artistic movement due to relaxed censorship and new economic growth. In this new atmosphere of freedom, Russia's satirical magazine Krokodil (The Crocodile) became rejuvenated. John Etty explores Soviet graphic satire through Krokodil and its political cartoons. He investigates the forms, production, consumption, and functions of Krokodil, focusing on the period from 1954 to 1964.

Krokodil remained the longest-serving and most important satirical journal in the Soviet Union, unique in producing state-sanctioned graphic satirical comment on Soviet and international affairs for over seventy years. Etty's analysis of Krokodil extends and enhances our understanding of Soviet graphic satire beyond state-sponsored propaganda.

For most of its life, Krokodil consisted of a sixteen-page satirical magazine comprising a range of cartoons, photographs, and verbal texts. Authored by professional and nonprofessional contributors and published by Pravda in Moscow, it produced state-sanctioned satirical comment on Soviet and international affairs from 1922 onward. Soviet citizens and scholars of the USSR recognized Krokodil as the most significant, influential source of Soviet graphic satire. Indeed, the magazine enjoyed an international reputation, and many Americans and Western Europeans, regardless of political affiliation, found the images pointed and witty. Astoundingly, the magazine outlived the USSR but until now has received little scholarly attention.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496821089
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	12/18/2018
Edition description:	Paper
Pages:	276
Sales rank:	945,289
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

John Etty is Head of Faculty (Social Science) and Head of Department (History) at Auckland Grammar School in New Zealand. He has published in the edited volumes Russian Aviation, Space Flight, and Visual Culture and Russian Culture in the Age of Globalization and in such journals as Slavic Review, History Review, the International Journal of Comic Art, and Slovo.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction 3

Chapter 1 Explaining Krokodil Magazine and the Soviet Media System 13

Chapter 2 Krokodil's Format and Visual Language 35

Chapter 3 A "School for Laughter": Carnivalesque Humor and Menippean Satire in Krokodil 73

Chapter 4 The Co-creation of Krokodil Magazine 101

Chapter 5 Participatory Reading: The Forms and Consumption of Soviet Satire 125

Chapter 6 Making the Risible Visible: The Performative Construction of Non-Soviet Ideology in Krokodil 141

Chapter 7 Krokodil's Hollow Center: The Performance of Affirmation 161

Chapter 8 Becoming Soviet in Krokodil 191

Conclusions 211

Notes 225

Works Cited 243

Index 263