SUMMARY:

This essay is a contribution to the discussion forum “Mainstream Narratives of Soviet History and the Laughter of Surprise,” framed as responses by literary scholars, historians, and political scientists to Sheila Fitzpatrick’s essay “Soviet History as Black Comedy.” Ivan Sablin asserts that most Soviet jokes that have informed the perception of Soviet history as black comedy were produced in the Russian-language milieu dominated by urban, educated men. This milieu formed the discursive position of a subject who humorously observes and interprets social reality. Implicitly, this subject was interpreted as universally and homogeneously “Soviet,” obscuring the actual national, cultural, and gender diversity of perspectives. Decolonization of this essentially Russocentric discursive position is possible based on a rejection of methodological nationalism and the reconstruction of multiple sensibilities and viewpoints, especially of marginalized groups. Sablin illustrates his multiperspective approach to Soviet history using the example of jokes penned by the famous Soviet Chukchi writer Rytgev (Iurii Rytkheu).