The Fate of the New Man

Between 1945 and 1965, the catastrophe of war—and the social and political changes it brought in its wake—had a major impact on the construction of the Soviet masculine ideal. Drawing upon a wide range of visual material, The Fate of the New Man traces the dramatic changes in the representation of the Soviet man in the postwar period. It focuses on the two identities that came to dominate such depictions in the two decades after the end of the war: the Soviet man's previous role as a soldier and his new role in the home once the war was over. In this compelling study, Claire McCallum focuses on the reconceptualization of military heroism after the war, the representation of contentious subjects such as the war-damaged body and bereavement, and postwar changes to the depiction of the Soviet man as father. McCallum shows that it was the Second World War, rather than the process of de-Stalinization, that had the greatest impact on the masculine ideal, proving that even under the constraints of Socialist Realism, the physical and emotional devastation caused by the war was too great to go unacknowledged. The Fate of the New Man makes an important contribution to Soviet masculinity studies. McCallum's research also contributes to broader debates surrounding the impact of Stalin's death on Soviet society and on the nature of the subsequent Thaw, as well as to those concerning the relationship between Soviet culture and the realities of Soviet life. This fascinating study will appeal to scholars and students of Soviet history, masculinity studies, and visual culture studies.

Claire E. McCallum is a lecturer in twentieth-century Russian history at the University of Exeter.

The Fate of the New Man is an important contribution to the growing field of Russian masculinity studies. The discussion of the soldier/veteran is particularly effective, and the chapters on fatherhood allow McCallum to revisit the familiar territory of the Soviet leader as surrogate father, but on the strength of an entirely new set of analytic readings.

Karen Petrone, author of The Great War in Russian Memory:

McCallum's use of the visual to explore masculinity is unique. The Fate of the New Man is significant in that it shows the importance of the image of the Soviet man as father in the 1950s and 1960s and reminds us that chronological borders are messy. McCallum convincingly shows that the ideal of the New Soviet Man changes over time, but not necessarily according to the familiar chronology of Stalinism, the Thaw, and the Era of Stagnation.