ABSTRACT
The demythologizing of reality by glasnost was in several ways a decisive turning point for art and literature. The traditional roles of Soviet literature in particular as a handmaiden of politics on the one hand and on the other as initiator of social criticism, as a kind of pre-political opposition, have been noticeably reduced in 1988 by glasnost journalism. Theater and film are the two realms of art which demand large technical and personnel expenses for their realization, and were thus especially easily and effectively controllable by the state. The new literary samizdat in the publications of the numerous "informal" literary-artistic groups is hardly comparable to the earlier one, since it is no longer the forbidden spreading of forbidden work, but the tolerated spreading of tolerated work. Many small, often experimental theater groups have been formed, while there is still a lack of attractive plays on the larger stages.
