Cement

by Fedor Vasilʹevich Gladkov and Feodor Gladkov

Book Overview

A classic of socialist realism, Cement became a model for Soviet fiction in the decades following its publication in the early 1920s. Gleb, a soldier hero, returns from the revolution to a world in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0810111608
• ISBN13: 9780810111608
• Release Date: November 1994
• Publisher: Northwestern University Press
• Length: 311 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.1" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Cement: A Reminder of a Lost World

"Cement" is a reminder of time when radical socialism seemed possible. We now know that Stalinism was to come down upon the Russian Revolution. But the Bolsheviks did not know what was coming until the true nature of the future bureaucratic state rolled over them in the late 1920's. "Cement" is not a great work of literature, but it is a valuable artifact from the the years before the Five Year Plans and the GULAG crushed naive idealism in Russia.

Sex, love, and Bolshevism

The 1920s was a great decade for Soviet literature: the works published during this era are thematically- and ideologically-diverse. Yes, there are better-written novels that came out during this period. Nevertheless, Gladkov's Cement is under-rated. I find it fun to read and re-read (which is critical, since I end up teaching it a lot) and it's definitively one of the best vehicles for getting at the tensions that plagued the Bolsheviks in the early years. Pairing this with Abram Room's film, Bed and Sofa, is a great way to address questions of gender in the early Soviet Union.