Engineers of the Soul: The Grandiose Propaganda of Stalin's Russia

By Frank Westerman

The astounding and often comic story of writers fostering the tragic delusions of Stalinist Russia.

frank Westerman draws the reader into the wild euphoria of the Russian Revolution, as art and reality are bent to radically new purposes. Writers of renown, described by Stalin as "engineers of the soul," were encouraged to sing the praises of canal and dam construction under titles such as Energy: The Hydraulic Power Station and Onward, Time! but their enthusiasm --spontaneous and idealistic at first --soon became an obligatory song of praise. and as these colossal waterworks led to slavery and destruction, soviet writers, such as Maxim Gorky, Isaak Babel, Konstantin Paustovsky, and Boris Pasternak, were forced to labor on in the service of a deluded totalitarian society.

Combining investigative journalism with literary history, Engineers of the Soul is a journey through contemporary Russia and soviet-era literature. Westerman examines both the culture landscape under Stalin's rule and the book --and lives of writers caught in the wheels of the soviet system.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Group
• Release date: Aug 7, 2012
• ISBN: 9781468305333

Frank Westerman

Frank Westerman is a highly acclaimed Dutch non-fiction writer. His work has been translated into sixteen languages and has received numerous awards, including the Kapuscinski Prize (Poland), the Premio Terzani (Italy) and the Prix du Livre du Réel (France).

Reviews for Engineers of the Soul

[anisoara-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I feel compelled to write a review (I usually just rate my books) as I, unlike the other reviewer so far, have found this to be a very tight book. The life of Konstantin Paustovsky provides its narrative backbone, and the disappearing bay at Kara Bogaz - its focal point. At various nodes along the way, where Paustovsky's narrative intertwines or intersects with the stories of other Soviet writers, Westerman elaborates on those writers as well, and how their own lives and writing are affected by the narrative of Soviet literary policy. There's no denying that this policy ruined some of the Soviet Union's finest writers, such as Andrey Platonov, and left others writing for the desk drawer. What makes this book highly unusual is its theme of despots and massive waterworks. I'm not sure yet that I'm entirely convinced, but I also think that Westerman is onto something!

[steve38 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A good attempt to give us a contemporary perspective on Russian writers active during the Stalinist period and a little beyond. Western interest is often too focused on dissidents and expatriates rather than those who continued to work in Russia and had great popularity. But it suffers from some of the usual set backs. Writers are always seen as struggling against the political system and trying to give hidden subversive messages in their work. This may or may not be true but what is overlooked is that they are in simple terms Russian patriots. As writers from all cultures do they are reflecting the life they see around them. Many of the writers were apolitical. Is is not necessary to try to find a triumphant, McCarthy style anti-communist message in everything.Mr Westerman took an imaginative route in visiting the remote site on the Eastern shore of the Caspian Sea that was the location of one of Paustovsky's books. A good attempt at intepretive pyschogeography. He also did well in talking to living relatives in a sympathetic and non-intrusive way. But he sometimes gets a little lost in the various by-ways he takes and though not necessarily needing a neat conclusion the book in the end seems to lack an overall purpose.