Constructing Identity through Children’s Literature (The Soviet Union 1938–1964)

Abstract

Children’s literature, as a specialised text corpus, was established throughout the existence of the Soviet Union. This literature, besides its “function” as a fictional narrative, had another purpose as well – to construct the new Soviet person. Forming and shaping the new type of person was the main intention of identity politics of the Soviet Union. The study analyzes Soviet Russian and Soviet Georgian children’s literature, composed during 1938–1964 time period. The importance of the study is defined by the essence of identity politics – forming and shaping identity is a crucial part of any society. Therefore, studying already existing approaches and mediums (children’s literature, in this case) for shaping identity carries great importance. The analysis of the process of forming identity is crucial for understanding specifics of the history of the Soviet period, peculiarities of development of the Soviet culture, the role of literature in forming identity; also, the analysis is essential for defining the impact of local specifics.