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Nicolas Nabokov
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Propaganda of Freedom

English

By (author): Joseph Horowitz

The perils of equating notions of freedom with artistic vitality

Eloquently extolled by President John F. Kennedy, the idea that only artists in free societies can produce great art became a bedrock assumption of the Cold War. That this conviction defied centuries of historical evidence--to say nothing of achievements within the Soviet Union--failed to impact impregnable cultural Cold War doctrine.

Joseph Horowitz writes: “That so many fine minds could have cheapened freedom by over-praising it, turning it into a reductionist propaganda mantra, is one measure of the intellectual cost of the Cold War.” He shows how the efforts of the CIA-funded Congress for Cultural Freedom were distorted by an anti-totalitarian “psychology of exile” traceable to its secretary general, the displaced Russian aristocrat/composer Nicolas Nabokov, and to Nabokov’s hero Igor Stravinsky.

In counterpoint, Horowitz investigates personal, social, and political factors that actually shape the creative act. He here focuses on Stravinsky, who in Los Angeles experienced a “freedom not to matter,” and Dmitri Shostakovich, who was both victim and beneficiary of Soviet cultural policies. He also takes a fresh look at cultural exchange and explores paradoxical similarities and differences framing the popularization of classical music in the Soviet Union and the United States. In closing, he assesses the Kennedy administration’s arts advocacy initiatives and their pertinence to today’s fraught American national identity.

Challenging long-entrenched myths, The Propaganda of Freedom newly explores the tangled relationship between the ideology of freedom and ideals of cultural achievement.

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A01=Joseph HorowitzAge Group_Uncategorizedanalysisart musicartist and the statearts and the Cold WarAuthor_Joseph Horowitzautomatic-updateCategory1=Non-FictionCategory=AVGCCategory=AVGC4Category=AVLACategory=JPVCCFCIAclassical musicclassical music in the Soviet UnionCold WarCongress for Cultural FreedomCOP=United Statescultural diplomacycultural historycultural history of the Cold Warcultural policyDelivery_Delivery within 10-20 working daysdiplomateq_art-fashion-photographyeq_isMigrated=2eq_musiceq_non-fictioneq_society-politicsfree societiesideology of freedomJohn F. KennedyKennedy AdministrationLanguage_EnglishmythmythologyNicolas NabokovPA=AvailablePrice_€20 to €50propagandaPS=ActiveShostakovichsoftlaunchSoviet artists foreign policySoviet UnionStravinskyUSSR
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Product Details
  • Weight: 540g
  • Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
  • Publication Date: 26 Sep 2023
  • Publisher: University of Illinois Press
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Language: English
  • ISBN13: 9780252045271

About Joseph Horowitz

Joseph Horowitz is an award-winning cultural historian specializing in the American arts. His thirteen books include Dvorak’s Prophecy and the Vexed Fate of Black Classical Music and Artists in Exile: How Refugees from Twentieth-Century War and Revolution Transformed the American Performing Arts. His “More than Music” documentaries are a regular feature of NPR’s 1A.

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