The Stiob of Ages: Carnivalesque Traditions in Soviet Rock and Related Counterculture

This paper discusses the humorous tradition of Russian stiob in light of Bakhtinʼs carnivalesque theory and his theory of speech forms. In it I try to show the mechanics of stiob, the theoretical platform beneath it and the mechanics of construction of stiob utterances. In this article I provide a short historical overview of stiob as it is encountered in the Russian folk-humorous tradition from the early Middle Ages to modernity. Showing how deeply stiob permeates modern Russian cultural discourse I give examples from political life and dwell in detail on manifestations of stiob in Russian rock music. Here I focus my attention particularly on the creative findings of the Moscow rock band Zvuki Mu, and analyze the bandʼs humor in light of the tradition of Russian Holy Fools (iurodivye).