Vollgas voraus. Testläufe für die Faktografie (Tret’jakov, Gromov, Karmen)

Abstract

Summary The Soviet documentary movement during the first decades after the October Revolution was characterized by a variety of genres. They all tried to convey reliable information based on experience. Journalism, photography, poster art, book and newspaper distribution reached a broader audience and involved more authors than ever before. Correspondents explored all branches of everyday life all over the country, among them new vehicles. The considered reports by Tretiakov, Gromov and Karmen on aerosledge tests do also test the principles of factography: They vividly apply their eye-witness experiences and intermedial techniques for a convincing narrative of a user-friendly vehicle though they might have hardly survived the races. Moreover, they praise the technical fact as a concern of literature as well as of Sovietization. By that, they develop factography from documentary towards an illustrative pattern of technological enthusiasm which is also confirmed by documentary movies of that time. This pattern relies on the picture-based narrative of the path towards Socialism. Thus, factographic reports bridge Avant-garde and Social Realism.