Requiem for Communism

by Charity Scribner

The first survey of the recent requiems for communism by European writers and artists.

258 pages, Paperback

First published November 7, 2003

Reviews

[Adam Dupaski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and intense. I found her chapter on Wajda's Solidarity films, however, to be the weakest of the book, as I picked up a sense of unreasonable judgment from a comfortable remove that seemed to evidence Scribner's limited comprehension of the gray tones of manipulation and dissent in the Polish social context of the 60s and 70s. The chapter did bring important interpretations of both Wajda's work and Solidarity to my eyes, though. The rest of the book is superb, especially the chapter on Rachel Whiteread's House and her distillation of the finer points of mourning and melancholia, and overall I really enjoyed the book's delving into post-communist memory work.

[S Zizek]

Charity Scribner's Requiem for Communism is pivotal to our understanding of Europe's current predicament. From the objects of study, to the work's inventive compositional structure, to the incisive theoretical questions it poses, Requiem is a major contribution to literary and cultural studies, as well as contemporary art criticism. Requiem for Communism

[S Zizek]

Charity Scribner's Requiem for Communism is pivotal to our understanding of Europe's current predicament. From the objects of study, to the work's inventive compositional structure, to the incisive theoretical questions it poses, Requiem is a major contribution to literary and cultural studies, as well as contemporary art criticism.

[Tom Buchanan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was about as exciting a book as can be written about the fate of East German kitchen appliances in the post-Cold War world.