Aleksandr Zinov’ev, Zapad [The West]

Michael Kirkwood (University of Glasgow)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 2.2.2.00: Post-1917 Writing and Culture in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, 1917-present.
Vol. editors: Neil Cornwell (University of Bristol), Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Andrei Rogatchevski (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway)

Domains

Political Theory

Dates

First circulation or publication 1995

Places

Russia (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Treatise

Resources

Zinoviev’s book Zapad contains his first “full-length” treatment of the West, analogous in scope to his Kommunizm kak real’nost’. Despite his oft-proclaimed dispassionate, objective, scientific approach to the study of sociological phenomena, one cannot help noticing a certain “predisposition” in the case of both books. The first edition of Kommunizm kak real’nost’carried a Zinoviev cartoon on its front cover depicting two rats with their tails tied together simultaneously shaking each other by the hand and by the throat. Similarly, Zapad on its front cover carries a Zinoviev cartoon depicting a rather haggish Statue of Liberty with her right hand clenched in the Russian equivalent of the “two-fingered salute”. Moreover, the subtitle of Zapad is fenomen zapadnizma. A representative of the West is known as a zapadoid. We have here, it seems to me, rather glaring...

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1440 words

Citation: Kirkwood, Michael. "Zapad". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 November 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23602, accessed 09 June 2026.]