Plots against Russia: Conspiracy and Fantasy after Socialism

by Eliot Borenstein

Overview

In this original and timely assessment of cultural expressions of paranoia in contemporary Russia, Eliot Borenstein samples popular fiction, movies, television shows, public political pronouncements, internet discussions, blogs, and religious tracts to build a sense of the deep historical and cultural roots of konspirologiia that run through Russian life. Plots against Russia reveals through dramatic and exciting storytelling that conspiracy and melodrama are entirely equal-opportunity in modern Russia, manifesting themselves among both pro-Putin elites and his political opposition. As Borenstein shows, this paranoid fantasy until recently characterized only the marginal and the irrelevant. Now, through its embodiment in pop culture, the expressions of a conspiratorial worldview are seen everywhere. Plots against Russia is an important contribution to the fields of Russian literary and cultural studies from one of its preeminent voices.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501735776
Publisher:	Cornell University Press
Publication date:	04/15/2019
Pages:	306
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Eliot Borenstein is Professor of Russian and Slavic Studies at New York University. He is the author of Men without Women and Overkill.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Russia as an Imaginary Country
1. Conspiracy and Paranoia: The Psychopathology of Everyday Speech
2. Ruining Russia: Conspiracy, Apocalypse, and Melodrama
3. Lost Horizons: Russophobia, Sovereignty, and the Politics of Identity
4. One Hundred Years of Sodom: Dystopian Liberalism and the Fear of a Queer Planet
5. The Talking Dead: Articulating the Zombified Subject under Putin
6. Words of Warcraft: Manufacturing Dissent in Russian and Ukraine
Conclusion: Making Russia Great Again
Notes
Works Cited
Index

What People are Saying About This

Michael Gorham

Plots against Russia, written with Eliot Borenstein's characteristic flair, leads readers through an astounding maze of plots, paranoia, and apocalypse that sheds light on the timely topic of 'conspirology' and its links to issues of national identity and popular culture.

Mark Lipovetsky

Plots against Russia is excellent. Eliot Borenstein has written a playful, witty, and invariably elegant book that makes complex theoretical concepts easily digestible and gives necessary retellings of crazy fantasies that are simply hilarious.

Editorial Reviews

Written with irony and wit, Eliot Borenstein's Plots Against Russia analyzes Russian national myths and disturbingly popular beliefs in the internet age. Borenstein's tour of the darker side of Russian internet, popular fiction, television, and movies, where conspiracy theories flourish with baroque profusion, opens a window onto the engaging and terrifying landscape of contemporary Russian fantasy.

Citation from the 2020 Wayne S. Vucinich Book Prize Committee

He offers close readings of how conspiracy manifests itself in Russian popular as well as political culture. In doing so, he pushes our understanding of how conspiracy has transcended the paranoid fringe and become widely accepted as credible.

East-West Review

A fascinating book written with self-awareness and humility, which only lends greater credibility to his arguments overall.

Choice

Eliot Borenstein has contributed a rich and insightful study of conspiratorial narra-tives in Russian films, media, and fiction to the growing scholarly field of post-Soviet conspiracy theory[...]describing how these narratives function to construct conceptions of Russia's state-hood, identity, and destiny.Borenstein also provides a sophisticated, critical, and productive discussion and further development of theo-ries on conspiratorial thinking that could be applied to conspiracy narratives outside of Russia. It makes for an insightful and often entertaining read.

Laboratorium

Eliot Borenstein has contributed a rich and insightful study of conspiratorial narra-tives in Russian films, media, and fiction to the growing scholarly field of post-Soviet conspiracy theory[...]describing how these narratives function to construct conceptions of Russia's state-hood, identity, and destiny.Borenstein also provides a sophisticated, critical, and productive discussion and further development of theo-ries on conspiratorial thinking that could be applied to conspiracy narratives outside of Russia. It makes for an insightful and often entertaining read.

-- "Laboratorium"

A fascinating book written with self-awareness and humility, which only lends greater credibility to his arguments overall.

-- "Choice"

A study that both answers a number of questions about the post-Soviet Russian public sphere and signals other possible ways to interrogate its workings. As such, it should be read by all specialists in contemporary Russian culture.... Borenstein's text is so well written and entertaining that it will easily hold the attention of undergraduate students of post-Soviet Russian culture, history, and politics.

-- "Russian Review"

Brilliantly written and captivating, sometimes very funny as well as academically well-grounded, Borenstein's monograph provides an in-depth analysis of Russian contemporary conspiratorial culture. It will undoubtedly be useful for scholars dealing with post-Soviet Russia within disciplines such as cultural, literary and media studies, and should not be overlooked by historians, political scientists and sociologists, as the phenomena it describes are crucial for better understanding the political landscape of present-day Russia.

-- "Europe-Asia Studies"

He offers close readings of how conspiracy manifests itself in Russian popular as well as political culture. In doing so, he pushes our understanding of how conspiracy has transcended the paranoid fringe and become widely accepted as credible.

-- "East-West Review"

Written with irony and wit, Eliot Borenstein's Plots Against Russia analyzes Russian national myths and disturbingly popular beliefs in the internet age. Borenstein's tour of the darker side of Russian internet, popular fiction, television, and movies, where conspiracy theories flourish with baroque profusion, opens a window onto the engaging and terrifying landscape of contemporary Russian fantasy.

-- "Citation from the 2020 Wayne S. Vucinich Book Prize Committee"

From the Publisher

"A study that both answers a number of questions about the post-Soviet Russian public sphere and signals other possible ways to interrogate its workings. As such, it should be read by all specialists in contemporary Russian culture... Borenstein's text is so well written and entertaining that it will easily hold the attention of undergraduate students of post-Soviet Russian culture, history, and politics."

The Russian Review

"Plots against Russia, written with Eliot Borenstein's characteristic flair, leads readers through an astounding maze of plots, paranoia, and apocalypse that sheds light on the timely topic of 'conspirology' and its links to issues of national identity and popular culture."

Michael Gorham

"Plots against Russia is excellent. Eliot Borenstein has written a playful, witty, and invariably elegant book that makes complex theoretical concepts easily digestible and gives necessary retellings of crazy fantasies that are simply hilarious."

Mark Lipovetsky

A study that both answers a number of questions about the post-Soviet Russian public sphere and signals other possible ways to interrogate its workings. As such, it should be read by all specialists in contemporary Russian culture.... Borenstein's text is so well written and entertaining that it will easily hold the attention of undergraduate students of post-Soviet Russian culture, history, and politics.

Russian Review

Brilliantly written and captivating, sometimes very funny as well as academically well-grounded, Borenstein's monograph provides an in-depth analysis of Russian contemporary conspiratorial culture. It will undoubtedly be useful for scholars dealing with post-Soviet Russia within disciplines such as cultural, literary and media studies, and should not be overlooked by historians, political scientists and sociologists, as the phenomena it describes are crucial for better understanding the political landscape of present-day Russia.

Europe-Asia Studies