Word: glasnost
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...playground has closed. The garrison is dispersing. And with it is going another dejected group: the spy novelists. The cold war, central theme of espionage thrillers, has melted in the warm sun -- and hot air -- of glasnost and perestroika...
...deal of theorizing to the contrary. Some, like Robert Gates, the President's Deputy National Security Adviser and nominee to head the CIA, believe in the cyclical theory of Russian and Soviet history: every interlude of reform inevitably gives way to a resurgence of repression; the good Gorbachev of glasnost and democratization in '89 turns into the bad Gorbachev of Bloody Sunday in Lithuania last January. Others believe in a linear theory: the breakup of the Soviet Empire and the transformation of the internal order have passed the point of no return, the keepers of the Stalinist flame...
...dramatic upheavals that have reshaped Soviet society since then have also transformed cultural life. Glasnost and perestroika have done wonders in some fields, but in the pampered world of the nation's artistic institutions, change and the onset of Western-style competition have caused severe difficulties. The Bolshoi, among others, has seen its state subsidies go way down; at the same time, expenses have gone up, and the company's conservative and inefficient practices have been placed in a harsh new light. Moreover, many of the U.S.S.R.'s brightest young singers, now free to seek opportunities wherever they like, have...
...IRONY TOWER by Andrew Solomon (Knopf; $25). Glasnost brought the best of times and the worst of times to the Soviet Union's avant-garde artists. While giving them new freedoms and access to lucrative Western markets, it has destroyed the sense of community that nurtured their artistic vision and shaped their values. Solomon shares their triumphs and disappointments in this vivid, poignant and often hilarious narrative...
Perestroika has made little headway at the KGB, but the Soviet spies are taking a stab at glasnost. Even though KGB chief Vladimir Kryuchkov still delivers speeches with Stalinist overtones, his year-old public relations department is busy polishing the agency's image. It has opened a museum at headquarters in Moscow's Dzerzhinsky Square, allows some officers to give interviews and recently ran a Miss KGB contest in which women in bulletproof vests competed in skills like cooking, shooting, dancing, karate and applying makeup...