Between improvisation and inevitability: former Latvian officials' memoirs of the Soviet era. Issue 4 (1st October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kaprāns, Mārtiņš
• Is Part Of: Journal of Baltic studies. Volume 47:Issue 4(2016)
• Page Start: 537
• Page End: 555
• Publication Date: 2016-10-01
• Subjects: Post-Soviet biographical discourse -- stigmatization -- social representation -- utilitarianism -- identity; Baltic States -- Periodicals; 947.9005
• DOI: 10.1080/01629778.2016.1248687
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0162-9778

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This article deals with the autobiographies of former Soviet officials that have been published in Latvia since the 1990s. In particular, it focuses on three interrelated layers of biographical narrative: construction of social identity, strategies for avoiding the stigmatization of collaboration, and comparisons between the Soviet and post-Soviet experience. The article contends that former officials in their memoirs use a pragmatic representation of the Soviet past as the major locus of their positive identity. Through this genuine representation of the past, autobiographers emphasize virtues that might be accepted by a post-Soviet neoliberal society.