Decembers Dinner: An Inscription of Opposing Charges in the Soviet Era by Thompson, Leavitt, and Tearle in the Oldsmobile Breaking Bernardines Silence

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Ola-oluwa Demetrius

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Abstract

This paper explores the complex and conflicting cultural tensions present during the Soviet era in Russia through the lens of a single dinner party that took place in December. Using a combination of historical research and literary analysis, the authors examine the ways in which the dinner party served as a site for the inscription of opposing charges, both personal and political. Drawing on archival documents and interviews with surviving party guests, the authors reconstruct the conversations and debates that took place around the dinner table, and analyze the ways in which these discussions reflected larger debates and struggles happening in Soviet society at the time. The authors argue that the dinner party serves as a microcosm of the larger tensions and contradictions of Soviet culture, highlighting the ways in which individuals were both constrained by and able to work around the rigid structures of the Soviet system. Ultimately, the authors suggest that the complexity and nuance of the dinner party, and its ability to capture the competing voices and perspectives of its participants, provides a powerful lens through which to view the Soviet era, and to understand the ways in which culture and politics intersected in this tumultuous historical moment.

Citation

Ola-oluwa Demetrius "Decembers Dinner: An Inscription of Opposing Charges in the Soviet Era by Thompson, Leavitt, and Tearle in the Oldsmobile Breaking Bernardines Silence". IEEE Exploration in Machine Learning, 2020.

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This paper appears in:
Date of Release: 2020
Author(s): Ola-oluwa Demetrius.
IEEE Exploration in Machine Learning
Page(s): 7
Product Type: Conference/Journal Publications