RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION Official Journal of the Russian Communication Association Edited by IGOR E. KLYUKANOV Eastern Washington University ASSOCIATE EDITORS Donal A. Carbaugh, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, U.S.A. Irina N. Rozina, Institute of Management, Business and Law, Rostov-on-Don, Russia EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Ol’ga V. Aleksandrova Viktoriya V. Krasnykh Moscow State University, Russia Moscow State University, Russia Steven A. Beebe Richard L. Lanigan Texas State University, San Marcos, U.S.A. Southern Illinois University, U.S.A. Mira B. Bergel’son Olga A. Leontovich Moscow State University, Russia Volgograd State Pedagogical Pedro J. Chamizo-Domínguez University, Russia University of Málaga, Spain Mikhail L. Makarov Michael Cole Tver State University, Russia University of California, San Diego, U.S.A. Brigitte B. Nerlich John Corner University of Nottingham, England University of Liverpool, England John Parish-Sprowl Robert T. Craig Indiana University-Purdue University University of Colorado at Boulder, U.S.A. Indianapolis, USA Marcel Danesi Barnett W. Pearce University of Toronto, Canada Fielding Graduate University, U.S.A. Mikhail N. Epstein Aila Pesonen Emory University, U.S.A. University of Vaasa, Finland William Graves III Susan Petrilli Bryant University, U.S.A. University of Bari, Italy Nadezhda L. Greidina Vera A. Pichal’nikova Pyatigorskii State Linguistic University, Russia Moscow State Linguistic University, Russia Boris L. Gubman Dmitri N. Shalin Tver State University, Russia University of Nevada, Las Vegas, U.S.A. Michael Hazen Peter Shields Wake Forest University, U.S.A. Eastern Washington University, U.S.A. Vyacheslav V. Ivanov Svetlana G. Ter-Minasova University of California, Los Angeles, U.S.A. Moscow State University, Russia Moscow State University, Russia Viktoriya I. Tuzlukova Vladimir I. Karasik Rostov-on-Don State Pedagogical Volgograd State Pedagogical University, Russia University, Russia Vadim B. Kasevich Viktor A. Vinogradov St. Petersburg State University, Russia Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia Antonina A. Khar’kovskaya Alexander E. Voiskounsky Samara State University, Russia Moscow State University, Russia Sergei V. Klyagin David C. Williams Russian State University for the Florida Atlantic University, U.S.A. Humanities, Russia Alexandra A. Zalevskaya Tver State University, Russia Copyright © 2009. The authors of the articles published in this issue own the copyrights to their works. For permission to reprint, please contact the authors (see title page of each article for e-mail contact information). Russian Journal of Communication (RJC) is an international peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes theoretical and empirical papers and essays and books reviews that advance an understanding of communication in, with and about Russia. The journal welcomes original theoretical, empirical, critical, comparative, and historical studies and is open to all methodological perspectives. The journal is published in cooperation with the Russian Communication Association (RCA) and the North American Russian Communication Association (NARCA). For more information about RCA, visit http://www.russcomm.ru (Russian language version) or www.russcomm.ru/eng (English language version). For more information about RJC and other academic journals published by Marquette Books LLC, visit www.MarquetteJournals.org. For more information about subscribing or submitting manuscripts, see the information at the end of this journal. Information for Authors/Author Guidelines All manuscripts should be original and not under consideration by another publisher. Submitted manuscripts should be no more than 8,000 words or 30 double-spaced pages (12-point Times Roman), including references, tables and figures. Longer manuscripts will be considered when space is available. Manuscripts should be prepared according to the guidelines of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (5th edition). Manuscripts should be double-spaced, and all pages should be numbered. The title page should include the title of the manuscript; names and affiliations of all authors, as well as their addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Only the title page should contain identifying information. The second page should include the manuscript title and an abstract of 150 to 250 words, as well as 4-7 key words describing the contents of the manuscript. All figures must be camera ready and formatted to no more than 5.5 inches in width and 7.8 inches in height. Endnotes (no footnotes please) must be manually inserted. All manuscripts should be prepared using Microsoft Word or WordPerfect or converted to that format and submitted electronically to the Editor at [email protected]. All manuscripts will be evaluated through a blind peer-review. The normal review period is about two months. Once a manuscript is accepted for publication, electronic page proofs will be sent to authors in a PDF format. Authors will notify the publisher of any essential corrections within specified time line. Authors are responsible for obtaining permission from copyright owners to use lengthy quotations (450 words or more) or to reprint or adapt a table or figure that has been published elsewhere. Authors should write to the original copyright holder requesting nonexclusive permission to reproduce the material in this journal and in future publications generated by Marquette Books. Authors shall retain the copyright to their works published in Russian Journal of Communication. Authors shall give Marquette Books LLC a nonexclusive right to publish the work in its journals or in other publications or books that it may produce at the same time or in the future. Questions about the submission and production process should be directed to the Editor, Igor I. Klyukanov at [email protected] or Associate Editors, Donal Carbaugh at [email protected] or Irina Rozina at [email protected] Cover design by Nick Brown / Cover concept by Igor E. Klyukanov Russian Journal of Communication is published by MARQUETTE BOOKS LLC, 3107 East 62nd Avenue, Spokane, Washington 99223 509-443-7047 voice • 509-448-2191 fax www.MarquetteJournals.org • [email protected] RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATION Volume 2, Numbers 3/4 Summer/Fall 2009 Special Issue THE RUSSIAN ANEKDOT AS CULTURAL GENRE, DISCOURSE AND PERFORMANCE FROM THE GUEST EDITORS 157 William Graves III and Vladimir Karasik Introduction ARTICLES 161 Valerii Tiupa Communicative Strategy of the Anekdot and the Genesis of Literary Genres 171 Elena Shmeleva and Alexei Shmelev Evolution of a Speech Genre: The Case of Russian Canned Jokes (Anekdoty) 185 Vadim V. Dementyev Russian Anekdots of 1970s: On the Material of the Soviet Humorous Magazine “Krokodil” 199 Alexander Kozintsev Stalin Jokes and Humor Theory 215 Alexander Kozin “Krokodil” in Transition: The Case of Bureaucrat Cartoons 234 Elena Sheygal-Placzek The World of Politics in the Russian Political Anekdot 250 Viacheslav B. Kashkin & Ksenia M. Shilikhina Narrating Personal Experience and Stereotypes: Discursive Functions of Russian Anekdots 267 Maria Yelenevskaya “Ours Abroad” as a Theme of Humor on Ru.net: Changing Values, Competing Loyalties 288 Vladimir Karasik New Russians in Anekdots BOOK REVIEWS 306 Amber Day reviews Olga Mesropova and Seth Graham’s (eds.) Uncensored?: Reinventing Humor and Satire in Post-soviet Russia. 309 William Graves III reviews Vladimir Propp’s On the Comic and Laughter. INTRODUCTION THE RUSSIAN ANEKDOT AS CULTURAL GENRE, DISCOURSE AND PERFORMANCE WILLIAM GRAVES III AND VLADIMIR KARASIK1 W ings for the soul, lessons for the heart, rituals of solidarity (and rebellion), the Russian anekdot is a primary speech genre that has long played, and continues to play, an important role in the production and transformation of both individual and collective understandings of subjectivity and identity in Russian speech communities. In everyday expressions of such concerns, “çíàåøü àíåêäîò?... (Do you know the anekdot?...) and “…ýòî òî÷íî òàê, êàê â àíåêäîòå….” (…it is exactly like the anekdot…) are just the types of routine, well-rehearsed discourse structures that strategically frame key claims to solidarity and intimacy. Thus framed, the anekdot indexes broader realms of meaning and significance; and, in so doing, it enjoins the interlocutors and audience to reflect upon, to imagine and, indeed, to comment upon (and, perhaps, to dispute) the “aptness” of the anekdot for understanding “Our Life” (íàøà æèçíü). The anekdot may work for the participants, as many theorists of humor have argued, by presenting an incongruity, contradiction or paradox, which is then dramatically resolved in the “punch-line.” Or it may work, much as metaphor does, by creatively juxtaposing quite distinct semantic domains in such a manner that the participants reach new insights into familiar events, situations or characters. Whether a matter of the resolution of incongruities or the revelation of novel insights, the efficacy of the anekdot is fundamentally a cooperative, interactional accomplishment. By introducing the anekdot in this way as a communicative act embedded in larger structures of discourse, we are not denying the importance of understanding the anekdot as a specific genre positioned within a much broader field of genres of jokelore and humor that include, among other forms, “chastushki,” (÷àñòóøêè) “stishki,” (ñòèøêè) “baiki,” (áàèêè) “aforizmy,” (àôîðèçìû) “karikatury” (êàðèêàòóðû). However, we have chosen to