"That science-fiction future in which technology would make everything very good or very bad has not yet arrived. From our vantage point at least, no age appears to have had a deeper faith in the inevitability and imminence of such a total technological transformation than the early twentieth century. Russia was no exception." from the introductionIn the Soviet Union, it seems, armoring oneself against the world did not suffice it was best to become metal itself. In his engaging and accessible book, Rolf Hellebust explores the aesthetic and ideological function of the metallization of the...

In the Soviet Union, it seems, armouring oneself against the world did not suffice - it was best to become metal itself. In this text, Rolf Hellebust explores the aesthetic and ideological function of the metallization of the revolutionary body as revealed in Soviet literature, art and politics. His book shows how the significance of this modern myth goes far beyond the immediate issue of the enthusiasm with which the Bolsheviks welcomed such a symbolic transfiguration and that of our own uneasy attraction to the images of metal flesh and machine-men. Zhivago) to the forgotten (early Soviet...