THE PORTRAYAL OF LENINGRAD DURING THE SIEGE IN DAVID BENIOFF’S CITY OF THIEVES NOVEL : A NEW HISTORICISM APPROACH

ABSTRACT

Adil. G. N. P. 16.05.111.000.48. The Portrayal of Leningrad During the Siege in
David Benioff’s City of Thieves Novel : A New Historicism Approach. English
Study Program of Faculty of Social and Cultural Sciences, University of
Trunojoyo Madura. Advisor: Imron Wakhid Harits, S.S., M.Pd., Ph.D
The aims of this study are to reveal the socio-economical and socio-political
issues which portrayed in David Benioff‘s City of Thieves Novel and align the
History in reality with City of Thieves through the new historicism approach. The
writer applies the theory of New Historicism in order to analyze issues in the
novel.
This study applied qualitative research, because the writer has to interpret
the novel to answer the research questions. The data are the narrator‘s narration
and characters‘ utterances in the novel which are taken through scanning and
skimming reading technique. The data analysis was done by classifying the
narrations and utterances into some sub-subchapter realted to the socioeconomical
and
socio-political
issues,
discussing
the
findings,
and
concluding.

The result of this study revealed that there are issues in the novel that
portrays the history of Leningrad during the siege, which are; Leningraders who
live between propaganda, the conflict between Stalin and some poets, the
condition of Leningrad during when the siege is started, famine and malnutrition
which kills the citizen, some alternative goods that made by Leningraders,
cannibalism issues, and the end of the siege from main character‘s point of view,
also the gap between rich and poor condition during the famine which is portrayed
specifically in the novel.

Keywords: Leningraders, Siege, Soviet.