Melodramatic Imagination in Russian Culture : New Perspectives

In modern culture, the term “melodrama” has lost its original meaning. We use it in our everyday assessments of human behaviour; our understanding of melodramatic gestures and behavioural codes now extends far beyond the theatrical environment. Today, we see the melodramatic mode employed in contemporary political discourse, media texts, and militaristic propaganda. What is it about melodrama that attracts a person of the twenty-first century? What explains the genre’s remarkable resilience over time?

The essays in this volume examine these questions by focusing on Russian, Soviet, and post-Soviet melodrama, applying modern theories of melodrama to the analysis of melodramatic discourse in Russian culture. Russian studies professors Marina Balina and Daisuke Adachi explore new directions in the study of melodramatic discourse and address emerging spheres of mass culture, such as the communicative space of the internet. This collection significantly expands the scope of research: alongside the traditional genres of the melodramatic mode – literature, poetry, and film – the contributors examine melodrama and its deconstructions in interviews, egodocuments, young adult literature, and television series.

The collection offers a historically multifaced but conceptually coherent analysis of melodrama, exposing the roots of its remarkable persistence in Russian culture.