Contemporary Russian Literature

[Katya Hirvasaho]

The following way of categorizing Russian literature brings in another can
of worms:
>
>-Very true! Ethnical classification would also exclude such Russian writers
>and poets as Bulat Okudzhava, Fasil' Iskander, Chingiz Aitmatov, Bakhyt
>Kenzheev -- and many others.
>Vlentina Zaitseva

The can of worms is the Russian imperial mode: russification.  Russian
empire has always insisted on russifying all the minorities and, in
essence, by classifying Aitmatov, for example, as a Russian writer we would
be russifying him. I prefer to use the term "russophone" by analogy with
"francophone" when speaking of writers whose ethnic identity as
non-Russians I want to preserve (Aitmatov and Yuri Rytkheu, for example),
but whether or not this term should include the Russian diaspora of its
many periods is a yet another problem.  Is Nabokov a Russian writer or a
russophone writer?  Should we consider the writer's own identification with
an ethnic group? Or whether Russian is her/his second language?  Is Gogol a
Russian or a Ukrainian writer?

Katya Hirvasaho


---
Katya Hirvasaho * Rice University * Houston, Texas