„Rusycystyczne Studia Literaturoznawcze” / „Russian Studies in Literature”

 № 35 (2025)

Call for Papers

Russian literature in the face of the experience of totalitarianism

After 1917, the authors of Russian literature — as a result of the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks — had to function in a completely changed reality. Initially, this was mainly due to the enormous chaos and uncertainty caused by the civil war and wartime communism. Then, in 1921, Lenin's decree introduced the New Economic Policy, which brought about relative socio-economic stability. Almost until the end of the 1920s, Russian writers had a limited amount of freedom, which, with the end of the decade and Stalin’s assumption of full power in short order, was completely curtailed. While in the 1920s Russia/Soviet Union remained — despite the efforts of the authorities — an authoritarian rather than a totalitarian state, with the beginning of the first quinquennium (1929), one must speak only of totalitarianism. The remnants of freedom held by the creators of Russian literature were eradicated with the establishment of the Union of Soviet Writers (1932) and the imposition on them at the Union’s first congress (1934) of socialist realism as essentially the only creative method (in official circulation, of course). Although the totalitarian fetters were loosened somewhat after Stalin’s death in 1953, there could be no question of a return to normality during the thaw, let alone the stagnation. It was only initiated by Gorbachev’s perestroika, which made it possible to take up new, previously forbidden themes presented in poetics that had little in common with socialist realism. At the time, it might have seemed that the period of totalitarianism in Russia had come to a definitive end. Unfortunately, Putin’s Russia must once again be considered a classic totalitarian state. Russian writers residing in Russia once again found themselves in a situation of total restriction of creative freedom.

Within the framework of the thematic issue, we propose to address the following topics:

— authors of Russian literature in the face of censorship restrictions

— Russian writers faced with the constraints of socialist realism

— taboos in Russian literature

— the samizdat phenomenon

— socialist realism, conceptualism, postmodernism and other phenomena in the literary underground

— systemic and non-systemic literature in the Stalinist and post-Stalinist periods

— criticism of Soviet power and the realities of life in the USSR in works authorised for publication after 1953 (rural prose, lyrical prose, the work of Yuri Trifonov, etc.).

— the place of satire in Russian literaturę

— the theme of gulags, purges and persecution in Russian literature

— the situation of non-systematic authors in Stalinist times and after 1953

— totalitarianism and the internal emigration of authors from Russian literature

— the place of dystopia and anti-utopia in Russian literature

— Russian literature in the face of the totalitarian system in Putin’s Russia

Language of publication of the article: Polish, Russian, English. Please submit your papers by 31 December 2024 via the OJS platform: https://journals.us.edu.pl/index.php/RSL/about/submissions

„Rusycystyczne Studia Literaturoznawcze” / „Russian Studies in Literature”

№ 34 (2024)

Call for Papers

Literature and culture of post-Soviet Russian exile

In his book Russian Literature in Exile, which was the first significant attempt to present Russian émigré literature of the 1920–1939 period, Gleb Struve stated that the time for summaries had not yet arrived, as it was still a living phenomenon and subject to processes of multidirectional development. Almost a century later, this thought is still proving to be valid. After 1991, the end of émigré literature as a separate branch of Russian literature was announced. Thirty years later, we observe the intensive development of the work of the Russian diaspora in various parts of the world. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the previously predicted returns of refugees did not turn out to be as frequent as the subsequent departures from Russia. The wave of economic emigration of the 1990s was followed by an exodus triggered by dissent at the return of the totalitarian regime. Today, both the mission and the sense of identity of the writers of the new wave of emigration are changing. The writers who left Russia after 1991 adopted different attitudes towards the culture of the new country and the native culture: a transitional, transcultural state; assimilation into a new culture and the adoption of a new identity; a strong bond with Russian culture while disagreeing with its ideological dogmas.

The recent wave of Russian emigration, while still in statu nascendi, remains a little-studied phenomenon. The aim of our proposed meeting will therefore be to reflect academically on the output of Russian artists who left the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

We invite you to discuss the following topics related to the post-Soviet wave of Russian emigration:

— development trends of Russian literature outside the country after 1991;

— various aspects of the work of new representatives of the Russian diaspora;

— reflections on the traditions of Russian literature and Western culture in the works; new wave emigrants;

— the relationship of the works of writers of the post-Soviet wave to the literature of previous waves.

We are open to your suggestions on the themes of the presentations within the main theme.

Language of publication of the article: Polish, Russian, English. Please submit your papers by 31 December 2023 via the OJS platform: https://journals.us.edu.pl/index.php/RSL/about/submissions

„Rusycystyczne Studia Literaturoznawcze” / „Russian Studies in Literature”

 № 33 (2023)

Call for Papers

Postcolonial, post-dependency and post-totalitarian discourses in literature and culture of Central and Eastern European countries

The aim of the forthcoming issue of the journal is to present the Central and Eastern European countries and their literature and cultures in a postcolonial/post-totalitarian/post-dependent perspective. We propose a critical reading of the literature and cultures of both those states that in their history have most often (though not always) in the role of aggressor/conqueror/coloniser — once again, Russia and Russian literature can serve as an example, providing support for the imperial efforts of the state in various ways. Nevertheless, Poland or Hungary may also be placed in this key — and those forced to resist stronger states and cultures, which had not only military force behind them but also the support of the state and cultural institutions. In the Central and Eastern European region, such partitionist attitudes were, especially in the past, and resulted in a counter-narrative from weaker cultures trying to resist the narratives of the partitioners/colonisers. The struggles of Czech culture against the German culture, Slovak culture against Hungarian, Ukrainian and Belarusian cultures against Russian and Polish, Lithuanian culture against Polish, or Serbian culture against Croatian ones can be used as examples. The list could go on and on, including current conflicts. Within the seminar, we propose to reflect on issues such as:

— forms of indirect participation of writers in colonising, unifying, marginalisingstrategies, preventing subordinated/conquered/attached/annexed territories fromspeaking with their voice,

— the involvement of the intellectual elite of a nation and state in the development ofrhetorical solutions to mask their expansionist nature and inclinations,

— moving away from treating cultural texts as ‘innocent’ and ‘transparent’ andconsidering them as means of acquiring and maintaining colonial possessions

— Russian versus Soviet forms of empire,

— national, cultural, customary stereotypes operating in the language of thepartitioners/colonisers about the subjugated nations (and vice versa),

— the condition of decolonised/post-totalitarian cultures,

— borderline and borderland existence, marginalisation, exclusion,

— the experience of occupation and colonialism.

Language of publication of the article: Polish, Russian, English. Please submit your papers by 31 December 2022 via the OJS platform: https://journals.us.edu.pl/index.php/RSL/about/submissions