Celebrity and Glamour in Contemporary Russia

Helena Goscilo is Professor and Chair of Slavic at the Ohio State University, USA.  Her recent publications include (as co-editor) Preserving Petersburg: History, Memory, Nostalgia and Cinepaternity: Fathers and Sons in Soviet and Post-Soviet Film.  Vlad Strukov is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Russian, and the Centre for World Cinemas, at the University of Leeds, UK.  He is the founding editor of Digital Icons: Studies of Russian, Eurasian and Central European New Media.

'A lively, sweeping overview of celebrity in the past decade in Russia, the volume includes not only consistent critical insight into the symbols and signifiers of excess and lack in mass culture but also a number of entertaining visuals. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty.' - A. J. DeBlasio, CHOICE (August 2011)‘Celebrity and Glamour is remarkably coherent due to its authors’ collective reliance on Chris Rojek’s theorizing and classification of celebrities as well as their familiarity with each other’s essays.’ - Larissa Rudova, Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema‘Celebrity and Glamour is a valuable academic study of the new ideology of glamour that celebrates the triumph of capitalism in modern Russia. Written in a lively and engaging style, this volume could also provide an enjoyable reading experience for the interested non-academic reader. For those who teach courses on post-Soviet Russian culture, this book is a blessing and a long-awaited sequel to Consuming Russia: Popular Culture, Sex, and Society Since Gorbachev, edited by Adele Baker.' - Larissa Rudova, Studies in Russian and Soviet Cinema'In Russian Studies, glamour is the new black. This phenomenon, so central a feature of Putin’s reign, has begun to attract scholarly interest both in Russia itself and in the West. But what exactly is the purpose of glamour in Russia? This question lies at the heart of this, the first book-length study of Russian glamour and its related concept, celebrity. As such, it is an especially welcome addition to the growing literature on twenty-fi rst-century Russia. [...] the avowed aim of this volume is to lay the foundations for future research into what Goscilo herself describes as ‘the two most important cultural signifiers of Putin’s era’ (p. 22). There can be no doubt that this excellent volume succeeds admirably in this aim.' – Graham H. Roberts, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, published in Slavonica Vol. 18 No. 1, April, 2012, pp. 75 – 76

• Part I The Art of Politics, and the Politics of Art 1. The Ultimate Celebrity: VVP as VIP Objet d’Art 2. The Mistress of Moscow: a Case of Corporate Celebrity Part II Prosaic Glamour 3. Akunin’s Secret and Fandorin’s Luck: Postmodern Celebrity in Post-Soviet Russia 4. Glamour à la Oksana Robski - Tatiana Mikhailova Part III Mediating Glamour: Film, Estrada, and New Media Stars 5. Fatherland, Family, and Faith: The Power of Nikita Mikhalkov’s Celebrity 6. "Much Ado and Nothing:" Mikhail Zadornov as a Celebrity of Russian Comedy 7. Russian Internet Stars: Gizmos, Geeks, and Glory Part IV Gendered Sounds and Screams of Stardom 8. Feminism à la Russe? Pugacheva-Orbakaite’s Celebrity Construction through Family Bonds 9. Elevating Verka Serdiuchka: A Star-Study in Excess Performativity Part V Moscow Snobbery: From ‘High’ Art to Haute Cuisine 10. Zurab Tsereteli’s Exegi Monumentum, Luzhkov’s Largesse, and the Collateral Rewards of Animosity 11. Hot Prospekts: Dining in the New Moscow