Ilse’s Reviews > The Zone: A Prison Camp Guard's Story > Status Update
Ilse
is on page 125 of 177
Has it occurred to you that socialist art aspires to be something like magic?You draw a bison on a rock face&that evening you get something hot to eat.Bureaucrats of official art reason the same way.If you portray something that’s positive,then everyone will be all right.But if it’s something negative,the opposite result will occur.If you depict a Stakhanovite feat of labour,it follows that everyone will work hard.
— Mar 14, 2026 05:42AM
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Ilse’s Previous Updates
Ilse
is on page 87 of 177
You write very well about the costs of freedom,freedom as a constant goal but also as a heavy burden.Consider what is going on here in the émigré community.Driver's licenses can be bought for 100 dollars,a graduate degree for 250.It is painful to think that all this vileness is born of freedom,for freedom is equally gracious to the bad and the good.Under its rays,both gladiolas and marijuana flower with equal speed.
— Mar 12, 2026 06:22AM
Ilse
is on page 41 of 177
I came to the conclusion that it is stupid to divide people into good and evil. And also into Communists and non-Party members, into villains and righteous, and even into men and women. Since the time of Aristotle the human brain has not changed. What is more, human consciousness has not changed.And this means there is no progress. There is only movement, unsteady at its foundation.
— Mar 04, 2026 09:53AM
Ilse
is on page 14 of 177
Everything went downhill & as a culmination of all this–guard duty in a prison camp.What I saw there shocked me completely.For the first time,I understood what freedom is, &cruelty &violence.I saw freedom behind bars,cruelty as senseless as poetry,violence as common as dampness.But life continued.What is more,life’s usual proportions stayed the he same. The ratio of good and evil,grief &happiness,remained unchanged.
— Feb 28, 2026 11:10AM
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Jan-Maat
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Mar 14, 2026 05:58AM
It reminds me a bit of advertising! 😁
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Isn't Socialist-realist propaganda a subspecies of ads? ;) Funny to say, we have had this conversation with my little brother visiting me this week!
Jan-Maat wrote: "It reminds me a bit of advertising! 😁"It reminded me of Orwell's essay "All art is propaganda": "All art is propaganda. Neither Dickens himself nor the majority of Victorian novelists would have thought of denying this. On the other hand, not all propaganda is art."
Also thinking of a young man really believing the ads in which jolly grannies are able to remove the most horrible stains from clothes with magic washing liquid or powder instead of muscular power😁
You are probably right that all art is propaganda but not all propaganda is art 😁I guess that it is not unusual to believe in advertising either, and probably it is usual for people to believe in political advertising when it aligns with their beliefs?
P.E. wrote: "Isn't Socialist-realist propaganda a subspecies of ads? ;) Funny to say, we have had this conversation with my little brother visiting me this week!"Perhaps it is a very normal topic of conversation!
P.E. wrote: "Isn't Socialist-realist propaganda a subspecies of ads? ;) Funny to say, we have had this conversation with my little brother visiting me this week!"Good point! You have fascinating conversations with your little brother, P-E :)! In your current reading on art spree, are you considering reading on socialist-realist art as well?
Jan-Maat wrote: "You are probably right that all art is propaganda but not all propaganda is art 😁I guess that it is not unusual to believe in advertising either, and probably it is usual for people to believe in political advertising when it aligns with their beliefs..."
Maybe people just like to believe in whatever they already believe :)? Since watching ads on tv as a child that present chocolat with toothpaste flavour as the nec plus ultra, I find it hard to believe in it :). On political advertising, it doesn't seem to matter what exactly is propagated, the vaguer the merrier (most popular ones promising 'change') - it seems only a means to bring certain faces and names to the fore.
This quote immediately evoked Wajda's "Man of Marble", dear Ilse. It brilliantly dissected the ways in which an innocent person is brutally used and abused behind the veneer of championing a "hero" (working-class in this case) for the chilling purposes of political propaganda. Did you have a chance to watch it?
How fascinating, thank you very much, dear Vesna! So glad to see you around here! No, I haven't seen 'Man of Marble', nor the pendant 'Man of Iron' (which focus on the son of the abused worker) - but reading the summaries, it seems I have to take a closer look at Wajda's oeuvre as soon as I can! I noticed he also made a film adaptation of Ashes and Diamonds, a novel that is currently only two meters away from where I am typing, isn't that a sign to finally read it :)? Time, time, time - if only there would be more time to read..
