The Prison Letters of Nadya and Slavoj
November 1, 2014
This short book consists of an exchange of letters between Tolokonnikova, a founder of the Russian "punk" rock group Pussy Riot and the Slovene philosopher and critic Zizek. The missives were written between August 2012 and March 2014, with Tolokonnikova writing from prison after her 2012 sentence for "hooliganism" following a Pussy Riot performance in a Russian Orthodox Church. Her account of forced labor is reminiscent of Soviet era dissidents ("Why I Am Going on Hunger Strike"), but both she and Zizek achieve a common vocabulary of neo-Marxist ideas which move from an abstraction of "global capitalism" to the quest for "dignity" that Zizek finds in opposition to globalization's consequences. The strength of the exchange lies in a common intellectual level that transcends each person's circumstance and their discussion of dissenters' current dilemmas. Tolokonnikova poignantly describes Pussy Riot as a "simplifying, modernizing mask that [like others] helps people of our generation to shake off cynicism and irony." VERDICT Regardless of one's attitude toward the authors' politics, the letters in this fascinating read help explain the vocabulary and sensibilities of current social protest.--Zachary Irwin, The Behrend Coll., Penn State Erie
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