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The Adventures of Owen Hatherley In The Post-Soviet Space
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a place that really existed, but it is long dead. By now, the word "Soviet" should be as meaningless as "Hapsburg". Yet it endures, as in the wave of "de-communisation" in Ukraine or the strange idea that the capitalist government in Russia is "Communist". But does the Soviet experience have anything to teach us today, or was it just an enormous cul-de-sac, a nuclear-armed reincarnation of the Russian Empire? This book tries to find out, through walking the towns and great cities of the USSR, in an itinerary that goes from the Baltic to Belarus, from Ukraine to the Urals, from the Caucasus to Central Asia, in places ranging from utopian colonies of the Twenties, to nuclear new towns of the Fifties, to gleaming new capitals of the 21st century.
Ranging across eleven of the fifteen countries that once made up the Soviet Union, this book searches for the remnants of revolutions both distant and recent. and for the continuities with the Communist idea. Instead of a wistful journey through ruins, this is a Marxist Humanist account of how cities and their inhabitants have tried to cope both with the end of a socialist dream and the failure of capitalism to fulfill its own promises. In this patchwork of EU democracies, neoliberal dictatorships and Soviet nostalgic enclaves (often found in the same countries) we might just find the outlines of a way of building and living in cities that is a powerful alternative, both in the past and present.
Ranging across eleven of the fifteen countries that once made up the Soviet Union, this book searches for the remnants of revolutions both distant and recent. and for the continuities with the Communist idea. Instead of a wistful journey through ruins, this is a Marxist Humanist account of how cities and their inhabitants have tried to cope both with the end of a socialist dream and the failure of capitalism to fulfill its own promises. In this patchwork of EU democracies, neoliberal dictatorships and Soviet nostalgic enclaves (often found in the same countries) we might just find the outlines of a way of building and living in cities that is a powerful alternative, both in the past and present.
679 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 13, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 13, 2019
4.5 Stars!
“The cityscape of Chisinau is a fairly acute example of the popular stereotype of a post-Soviet city, in its combination of crumbling, kitschy space-age modernity, utterly ruthless and almost comically seedy gangster capitalism, and the semi-rural remnants of a turn-of-the-century market town on the borders of the Russian and Ottoman world.”
Hatherley is the gift that keeps on giving and his books surely must do wonders for tourism in the Eastern bloc. He's made me so eager to explore the former Soviet satellites in great depth. He belongs to that intriguing set of writers, who inhabit that wonderful space where architecture, psychogeography and social history meet. One of those learned, likable folks who can make the most mundane of places feel special, and who can see beauty in the obvious but it new and arresting ways.
“The trains run every fifteen minutes, and are half empty in rush hour. Around a third of the lights in the stations are permanently switched off to save electricity. The shops and kiosks in the underpasses, a chaos of informal commerce in Kyiv are nearly all empty. This, in a city that plays home to some of the richest people on Earth.”
This comes furnished with some many helpful photos, showing the architecture in question as well as various statues, street art work and graffiti images which allow us a more meaningful connection with many of the places discussed in here. He doesn’t just lavish love on everything willy nilly, he is never afraid to criticise and in some case really go to town with some of the spots he finds particularly unimpressive. Either way he really brings home all of the waste, ruin, decadence and ghostly beauty of these magnetic spaces with a vivid clarity.
During his trip to Minsk in Belarus some of the captions read “Totalitarian Money Shot” and “The KGB us watching you, unironically.” which gives you an idea of what is being captured. In many ways this picks up where his excellent “Landscapes of Communism” left off, making an ideal companion to that book. He really gets good use out of his passport this time round, as well as venturing long and deep into the back waters of Eastern Europe into obscure places like Ventspils in Latvia, he also goes much further afield, getting as far as the Stans and we really get a feel for the likes of Bishkek, Almaty and Astana.
The city of Slavutych in Ukraine is described in here as “The last city built in the Soviet Union. Its purpose was to rehouse those who lost their homes with the evacuation of Pripyat, the new town that served the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Station. It was built as an extraordinary act of Soviet internationalism, not with standard plans laid down in Moscow, but with distinct, separately conceived districts, each designed by the architects-and built by the builders-of eight different Soviet republics: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and Ukraine.”
I have read a lot of books on this part of the world and have even made a brief visit there, but I am pretty sure that I have never heard anything before about this mysterious city, which is just one of the reasons why I thought this was such a fantastic read. I was pulled in from the opening pages, getting caught up in this odyssey, exploring one obscure or fascinating place after another. The research is outstanding and the knowledge assured. Wonderful stuff!
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December 6, 2018A strange title, making one think of Owen Hatherley standing in for Buck Rogers or maybe Grandmaster Flash. All the more curious for the way it normally takes me a second to separate Hatherley from Owen Jones (come on, surely it's not just me). But no, this is an openly personal take ("This is a subjective book, the things that were found interesting by an effete Western Marxist on foot") on the architecture and public space of the sometime superpower to the East. Pleasingly, when one often finds tankies to the left and mutterings of 'cultural Marxism' to the right, Hatherley is politely but firmly insistent on nuanced assessments. He is openly interested neither in condemning communism in its entirety, nor absolving it of all its sins. Which, with capitalism so clearly being broken but 'revolutionary' responses often equally clearly clueless, and sometimes outright vile, is surely the only sensible response. This sense of balance extends to other regimes too; while at pains to make clear that he hates the Putin regime, as anyone not utterly compromised one way or another must, he is nevertheless willing to admit that strictly in terms of urban planning, it's been better for Moscow than the chaos which immediately preceded it.
In some ways, though, it's not material like the Moscow chapter which makes this such an interesting read; even more so, the notes on St Petersburg can't help feeling like a footnote if one has just read a few hundred pages devoted solely to that intermittently great city (in a book Hatherley appears to have missed, though that may just be down to publication deadlines &c). No, where this really comes alive is when it ventures to the places I'd heard of but couldn't picture, or never heard of at all. In the former camp, the chapter on Kiev is an example of what makes the project so fascinating. This is a city where queer film festivals and experimental art still somehow manage to thrive in the cracks of a city largely divided between Soviet nostalgia and macho nationalism, and where the project of decommunisation may be physically impossible without razing the whole city - an opening for a glance at the whole tension of rewriting history, destroying monuments which may one day be missed for non-toxic reasons (regarding which I especially liked the comparison with pharaonic statues). But the writing on places I never knew existed is even better, emphasising the localisms in a history which, to Western eyes, can easily look monolithic. So the chapter on the charmingly Hanseatic Latvian town of Kuldīga provides an opportunity to explain all sorts about Latvia's history in general, where in 1905 they were one of the most revolutionary areas of the Russian empire. A crumbling Estonian Portmeirion brings us to the role of the green movement in the liberation of the Baltics. There's a statue of Stalin erected in 2010; a Lenin left standing but draped in local iconography, by way of a compromise between the various political and historical and factional claims; Belarus' "Brezhnev cosplay"; Georgia, which from the brief reign of the Mensheviks to its hipster leader in recent years, has always done things a little differently, even if the extreme inequality of its capital may be a vision of the West's future. At the end, there's even a tantalising glimpse of what we should have won, a flickering embassy on Earth for the dream of fully automated queer luxury space communism.
Important to note, too, that for a book which, for all the particularities it finds, still can't help largely being about totalitarianism and concrete, it's surprisingly funny. Sometimes this is a matter of arch wit: in Tatarstan "the Republic's government has been building itself the grandiose governmental buildings it has hitherto lacked, and it has done so in the common style of post-socialist dictatorships, that is, in a style that could roughly be described as Postmodernist, if that didn't suggest degress of irony and playfulness absent in these wild, hieratic hulks." Other times, it's as easy as pointing out the unfortunately named constructivist architect Semen Pen. Plus, I think this is the first time I've ever read an architectural survey that references Mysterious Cities of Gold – which is a sad indictment both of architecture writing, and architecture itself. My main regret is that this book should have had lots of glossy pictures, been almost a coffee table book - though it's hard to know from a Netgalley ARC how good the pictures might look in the paper edition. Still, the grey shabbiness of the images in this digital format itself has something Soviet about it, so in a weird way it works precisely by not working.
In some ways, though, it's not material like the Moscow chapter which makes this such an interesting read; even more so, the notes on St Petersburg can't help feeling like a footnote if one has just read a few hundred pages devoted solely to that intermittently great city (in a book Hatherley appears to have missed, though that may just be down to publication deadlines &c). No, where this really comes alive is when it ventures to the places I'd heard of but couldn't picture, or never heard of at all. In the former camp, the chapter on Kiev is an example of what makes the project so fascinating. This is a city where queer film festivals and experimental art still somehow manage to thrive in the cracks of a city largely divided between Soviet nostalgia and macho nationalism, and where the project of decommunisation may be physically impossible without razing the whole city - an opening for a glance at the whole tension of rewriting history, destroying monuments which may one day be missed for non-toxic reasons (regarding which I especially liked the comparison with pharaonic statues). But the writing on places I never knew existed is even better, emphasising the localisms in a history which, to Western eyes, can easily look monolithic. So the chapter on the charmingly Hanseatic Latvian town of Kuldīga provides an opportunity to explain all sorts about Latvia's history in general, where in 1905 they were one of the most revolutionary areas of the Russian empire. A crumbling Estonian Portmeirion brings us to the role of the green movement in the liberation of the Baltics. There's a statue of Stalin erected in 2010; a Lenin left standing but draped in local iconography, by way of a compromise between the various political and historical and factional claims; Belarus' "Brezhnev cosplay"; Georgia, which from the brief reign of the Mensheviks to its hipster leader in recent years, has always done things a little differently, even if the extreme inequality of its capital may be a vision of the West's future. At the end, there's even a tantalising glimpse of what we should have won, a flickering embassy on Earth for the dream of fully automated queer luxury space communism.
Important to note, too, that for a book which, for all the particularities it finds, still can't help largely being about totalitarianism and concrete, it's surprisingly funny. Sometimes this is a matter of arch wit: in Tatarstan "the Republic's government has been building itself the grandiose governmental buildings it has hitherto lacked, and it has done so in the common style of post-socialist dictatorships, that is, in a style that could roughly be described as Postmodernist, if that didn't suggest degress of irony and playfulness absent in these wild, hieratic hulks." Other times, it's as easy as pointing out the unfortunately named constructivist architect Semen Pen. Plus, I think this is the first time I've ever read an architectural survey that references Mysterious Cities of Gold – which is a sad indictment both of architecture writing, and architecture itself. My main regret is that this book should have had lots of glossy pictures, been almost a coffee table book - though it's hard to know from a Netgalley ARC how good the pictures might look in the paper edition. Still, the grey shabbiness of the images in this digital format itself has something Soviet about it, so in a weird way it works precisely by not working.
May 25, 2024
Magnificent. The only thing that was missing was a map!
November 14, 2018
What an unexpected delight this wonderfully idiosyncratic and in many ways unique book turned out to be. I actually felt quite sad when I finally reached the end having spent a wonderfully invested weekend being taken by Owen Hatherley through the streets, grandiose main squares, workers housing estates, cultural museums and of course those wonderful metro stations that form part of the texture of the many cities and towns of the former USSR that he visited.
It is hard to categorise the book for although its main theme is architecture and its significance and legacy in the Soviet and post Soviet world the book also covers history, politics and how the past determines the present and the forces that seek to shape and determine this. This quirky part guidebook (a must surely for anyone visiting St Petersburg) and part polemic is a real labour of love by the author and one can not but fail to be impressed by his humanism and desire for a better world even if you have misgivings about his Marxist utopian beliefs that underpin this.
What I particularly liked about the book was how the author took time to document and explore the contradictions and differences between the places that he visited and the diverging directions they were travelling. In the Ukraine for instance decommunisation moves at an ever greater pace aligned as it is with nationalism, historical revisionism and symbolised with the removal of Lenin statues and all traces of its Soviet past whereas just to the north in Belarus the Soviet past is remembered fondly by many and the Lenin statues remain in situ.
An underlying theme is how with the collapse of the USSR the majority of places went from a rigid planned economy to a deregulated neo liberal one with consequences that would include depopulation (the Baltic States) and economic stagnation and regression (Georgia among others). Also planning deregulation would see the proliferation of many new hideous new buildings. The text is aptly accompanied by numerous photographs that the author himself took, indeed rarely can a book of this size contain so many and the cover in many ways gives a true reflection of what you will find inside.
I really loved the book and would certainly read more by this author who both entertains, educates and at the same time leaves the reader wanting more.
It is hard to categorise the book for although its main theme is architecture and its significance and legacy in the Soviet and post Soviet world the book also covers history, politics and how the past determines the present and the forces that seek to shape and determine this. This quirky part guidebook (a must surely for anyone visiting St Petersburg) and part polemic is a real labour of love by the author and one can not but fail to be impressed by his humanism and desire for a better world even if you have misgivings about his Marxist utopian beliefs that underpin this.
What I particularly liked about the book was how the author took time to document and explore the contradictions and differences between the places that he visited and the diverging directions they were travelling. In the Ukraine for instance decommunisation moves at an ever greater pace aligned as it is with nationalism, historical revisionism and symbolised with the removal of Lenin statues and all traces of its Soviet past whereas just to the north in Belarus the Soviet past is remembered fondly by many and the Lenin statues remain in situ.
An underlying theme is how with the collapse of the USSR the majority of places went from a rigid planned economy to a deregulated neo liberal one with consequences that would include depopulation (the Baltic States) and economic stagnation and regression (Georgia among others). Also planning deregulation would see the proliferation of many new hideous new buildings. The text is aptly accompanied by numerous photographs that the author himself took, indeed rarely can a book of this size contain so many and the cover in many ways gives a true reflection of what you will find inside.
I really loved the book and would certainly read more by this author who both entertains, educates and at the same time leaves the reader wanting more.
February 18, 2021
I enjoyed some parts of it, but my English was not as good as I wished it was, or maybe I just lacked enough interest. But still an enjoyable read. His perception of Yerevan was very similar to what I felt visiting there. 3.5 stars.
And, Slavutych... That city should be worth visiting.
And, Slavutych... That city should be worth visiting.
May 2, 2021
Based on an extensive data set of books by Owen Hatherley that I read in the past - that is, the excellent Landscapes of Communism: A History Through Buildings - he seems to write about things that should be exceedingly boring but are not. Somehow, he has a way of talking about architecture that's engaging, unpretentious (at times, I am still a snob and require my quota) and often funny.
Now, where I'd consider "Landscapes" to be the textbook, this book is something like an exercise book, one that's been pre-filled for you that is. Where Landscapes talks about elements of architecture and gives examples of where they appear, The Adventures walks around cities - it's a travelogue of sorts - looking for these elements. It's quite fun! The reader gets to experience cities of the former eastern bloc that they might not have thought of visiting - and some they have - focusing on details you might not always think about. All the way from the Baltics to Kyrgyzstan, you get to learn something new - about the architecture and through that about the history and the people at a particular place.
The smaller of my complains has to do with the images in the book. Numerous as they were (great for one's reading challenge!), at least some of them might have come in colour. The bigger complaint is the somewhat unsatisfactory extent of the text. I get that a lot (all?) of the chapters were originally magazine articles but in many places I felt like the author picked a detail or two about a particular place, discussed them and moved on. But perhaps it's just me being overly academically minded.
Go, buy and read this book. If nothing else then in order to encourage the author to write more of these for my pleasure!
Now, where I'd consider "Landscapes" to be the textbook, this book is something like an exercise book, one that's been pre-filled for you that is. Where Landscapes talks about elements of architecture and gives examples of where they appear, The Adventures walks around cities - it's a travelogue of sorts - looking for these elements. It's quite fun! The reader gets to experience cities of the former eastern bloc that they might not have thought of visiting - and some they have - focusing on details you might not always think about. All the way from the Baltics to Kyrgyzstan, you get to learn something new - about the architecture and through that about the history and the people at a particular place.
The smaller of my complains has to do with the images in the book. Numerous as they were (great for one's reading challenge!), at least some of them might have come in colour. The bigger complaint is the somewhat unsatisfactory extent of the text. I get that a lot (all?) of the chapters were originally magazine articles but in many places I felt like the author picked a detail or two about a particular place, discussed them and moved on. But perhaps it's just me being overly academically minded.
Go, buy and read this book. If nothing else then in order to encourage the author to write more of these for my pleasure!
December 27, 2021
This book was the travel guide to the post-Soviet space I always dreamed of. In fact, in many ways it felt like a richer experience than I'd have if I'd actually gone there, as Owen's brilliant architectural knowledge is on full display. This is a much more lively book that uses architectural vernacular to get at the humanist questions at its core: what DID happen to the dream of the Soviet Union?
Surprisingly fun stuff, helpful geopolitically in understanding where and why there are dictatorships in these regions (because the other options suck more, basically), and I ended up with an unexpected interest in Soviet Asia. My only wish is for a version of this book with Owen having made it in to Turkmenistan!
Surprisingly fun stuff, helpful geopolitically in understanding where and why there are dictatorships in these regions (because the other options suck more, basically), and I ended up with an unexpected interest in Soviet Asia. My only wish is for a version of this book with Owen having made it in to Turkmenistan!
July 16, 2020
I bought this mistakenly, thinking it was primarily a travel boo, and certainly not expecting it to primarily focus on architecture. Nevertheless, this is still a very enjoyable read. Hatherley writing style is quirky and entertaining, and unsurprisingly each chapter is littered with historical context and information so even if architecture isn't your thing, there is still a great deal here worth reading. At the end of every chapter I was on Google Earth looking at the cityscapes and buildings described, and overall I really enjoyed this book
July 8, 2020
Really enjoyable journey through the former USSR, which now I want to visit 😭
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews