B.I. Balter\'s story\"Goodbye, boys!\" and the literary movement of the \"thaw\" period

Student: Aleksandra Borisova

Faculty: Faculty of Humanities (Nizhny Novgorod)

Educational Programme: Philology (Bachelor)

Final Grade: 10

Year of Graduation: 2024

The “Thaw” period is one of the most vibrant periods in Soviet history. In addition to the reintegration of authors whose names had been forgotten during the Stalin era, a significant feature of this period was the emergence of a new trend for Soviet readers: discussing war in a non-romanticised manner. Among such works, the story of B.I. Balter stands out. The story became iconic during the "thaw" period, but today it has been forgotten. Despite a series of critical responses in the 1960s, the story has not received comprehensive literary analysis. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyse "Goodbye, Boys!" within the literary and historical context of the 1930s to 1960s, given the contemporary scholarly interest in the paradoxical "thaw" era and Balter's oeuvre.

Full text (added May 30, 2024)

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