The politics of fantasy : magic, children's literature, and fandom in Putin's Russia / Eliot Borenstein.
| Author/creator | Borenstein, Eliot, 1966- author. |
| Format | Book |
| Publication | Madison, Wisconsin : University of Wisconsin Press, [2025]. |
| Description | xi, 193 pages ; 24 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | Note on Translations and Transliteration -- Introduction: Confessions of a Reformed Pirate -- 1. The Arrival of a Franchise -- 2. The Fantasy Genre Controversy -- 3. The Cheap Knock-Offs -- 4. The Rise of Fandom -- 5. The Russian Culture Wars -- 6. The Transgender Russophobic Satanist Wizard -- 7. The Dark Lord Putin -- Conclusion: The Cruel Optimism of the Wizarding World. |
| Abstract | What happened when J. K. Rowling's mega-blockbuster--born in the United Kingdom and launched to global heights by Hollywood and the full force of Western marketing--came knocking on President Putin's door? The arrival of boy wizard and international star Harry Potter in a recently neoliberal Russia was enormously influential, but neither smooth nor uncontested. The franchise quickly became a lens that focused Russian ambitions and fears during an era characterized by both the hegemony of globalized popular culture and a nationalized conservative backlash. With crisp, engaging prose, Eliot Borenstein leaps from Harry Potter into an exploration of the culture wars and moral panics sparked in Russia by Western-inspired children's literature, extending back into the Soviet period and through the invasion of Ukraine. As cultural products pitched ostensibly to children, the Harry Potter books and films became the perfect objects for criticism, translation, adaptation, parody, attack, mimicry, and meme-making, allowing Russians to carve out their own space in the worldwide market of magical multiverses. |
| Bibliography note | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| LCCN | 2024058203 |
| ISBN | 9780299353506 |
| ISBN | 0299353508 hardcover |
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