Inhabiting Socialist Realism: Soviet Literature from the Edge of Empire by Christopher James Fort A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Slavic Languages and Literatures) in The University of Michigan 2019 Doctoral Committee: Associate Professor Olga Maiorova, Chair Associate Professor Tatjana Aleksic Professor Michael Makin Professor Douglas Northrop Christopher James Fort
[email protected] ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2014-5325 © Christopher James Fort 2019 Dedication I dedicate this dissertation to my wife Elena and our two wonderful children, Ivan and Shukrona. Thank you for being there for me in both my frustration and joy with scholarship. ii Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without the frequent help of my advisor, Dr. Olga Maiorova, who coached me not only to make better arguments but to write them better as well. I would also like to thank the members of my committee, Dr. Michael Makin, who dedicated time after class to go over the 20th-century Russian canon with me and mentored me in my teaching and writing; Dr. Tatjana Aleksic, who has advised me in both writing and life; and Dr. Douglas Northrop, whose help with my grant applications to work in Uzbekistan proved invaluable. One of my chief regrets over these seven years of graduate school is that I never received the opportunity to take one of Dr. Northrop’s classes. I would also like to thank Dr. Zulxumor Mirzaeva and Dr. Naim Karimov for their constant aid before, during, and after my ten-month research trip in Uzbekistan.