Published: 2024-10-25

An Attempt to Revive the Past. The Meta-novel "Town in Valley" by Alexei Makushinsky

Antoni Bortnowski Logo ORCID

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between the past and the present in the metanovel City in the Valley, written by the Russian émigré author Alexei Makushinsky. The discussion focuses on the protagonist, who makes an unsuccessful attempt to write a novel about the Russian Civil War. The aim of the article is to uncover the reasons and key aspects of the creative failure depicted by Makushinsky, addressing oppositions such as past vs. present, personal vs. historical, and memory vs. imagination. It also delves into the interactions between author and text, and ultimately, fiction and history. The main conclusions are that City in the Valley demonstrates the futility of using literary texts as tools to resurrect the past and that fiction cannot replace memory or transform historical events into personal experiences. Artistic and historical elements can complement each other, but a complete synthesis is evidently impossible.

 

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Citation rules

Bortnowski, A. (2024). An Attempt to Revive the Past. The Meta-novel "Town in Valley" by Alexei Makushinsky. Rusycystyczne Studia Literaturoznawcze, 34, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.31261/RSL.2024.34.10

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Vol. 34 (2024)
Published: 2024-10-30


ISSN: 0208-5038
eISSN: 2353-9674
Ikona DOI 10.31261/RSL

Publisher
Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego | University of Silesia Press

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