Young Minds – Young Bodies: The Emotional and the Physical in the Late Soviet Discourse on Aging

Abstract

This article analyzes the turn to the emotional in advice literature on aging and its reception in the 1950s–1960s. “Positive emotions” were proclaimed a decisive factor in remaining healthy while old and being a productive member of the society. Yet, a close reading of the multiple narratives of aging written by a retired professional propagandist Tatiana Ivanova (1898–1968) reveals a tension between the prescribed “positive emotions” and feelings of sadness and uselessness caused by retirement, unfulfilled promises of the Soviet welfare system and particularly health problems that did not quite fit with the approved repertoire of an aging communist. This article seeks to enrich our understanding of late Soviet subjectivity by focusing not on just “speaking” or “thinking” but also “feeling” Soviet.