Published: 2022-11-07

The archival vector in modern Russian literature

Eleonora Szafrańska

Abstract

THE ARCHIVAL VECTOR IN MODERN RUSSIAN LITERATURE

 

The author’s intention is to study the “archival” vector of modern Russian literature. When the state archives were opened in the 1990s, it became a shock for those citizens who tried to comprehend the recent history of the USSR. Insight into these materials initiated a new vector in literature – “archival”. The article examines two contemporary Russian texts: Sasha Filipenko's novel The Red Cross and Sukhbat Aflatuni's novel The Earthly Paradise. All the plot twists in these texts are not the author's invention, but the paradigm of the political investigatory records of 1937–1938: interrogation protocols, indictments, relatives’ statements, various kinds of certificates. The narrator fills in the gaps that are missing in documents: builds links between the interrogation protocols, restores the psychological context, the relationship between the accused and the investigator, – and the picture of the past becomes complete and convincing.

Keywords: archival documents, modern Russian literature, Stalinist repressions, the novel of Sukhbat Aflatuni Paradise earthly, the novel of Sasha Filipenko Red Cross.

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Citation rules

Szafrańska, E. (2022). The archival vector in modern Russian literature. Przegląd Rusycystyczny [Russian Studies Review], (4), 25–38. https://doi.org/10.31261/pr.13854

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No. 4 (2022)
Published: 2022-11-07


ISSN: 0137-298X
Ikona DOI 10.31261/pr

Publisher
Polskie Towarzystwo Rusycystyczne oraz Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego

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