Title of the article:

ALTERNATIVE IMAGE OF RUSSIA IN ALTERNATE HISTORY FICTION

Author(s):

Oleg O. Putilo

Information about the author/authors

Oleg O. Putilo — PhD in Philology, Associate Professor, Volgograd State Socio-Pedagogical University, V. I. Lenina Ave 27, 400066 Volgograd, Russia. E-mail: dolennor@rambler.ru

Section

Philological sciences

Year

2020

Volume

Vol. 55

Pages

pp. 151–162

Received

January 10, 2019

Date of publication

March 28, 2020

DOI:

10.37816/2073-9567-2020-55-151-162

Index UDK

821.161.1

Index BBK

83.3(2Рос=Рус)

Abstract

The paper provides an analysis of the Russia`s image in the works of alternate history fiction, examined in terms of the implementation of utopian and dystopian genre trends in them. The “alternative” writers of the older generation mainly correlate anti-utopian motifs with the image of Soviet Russia. Thus in his novel “The Island of Crimea” V. Aksenov confronts the former with idyllic views of the alternative Crimea, which, at the end of the novel, are absorbed by an “alien” space of the Russian mainland. The works of V. Rybakov and H. van Zaichik recreate the utopian model of Imperial Russia, in which representatives of all beliefs and political currents safely coexist. For the most part the anti-utopian elements criticize not so much the fictional as the real world, reminding of the older generation writers’ denial of economic and social achievements of the Soviet Union. In the works by “younger age group” authors, the displaying of possible social models of alternative Russia is the matter of secondary concern, while exotic landscapes of cities arising on the site of familiar settlements, serve the only purpose — to shock the reader. As a rule, alternative geographical images are comparable to the actual reality, but utopian and dystopian features are synthesized in their appearance. For example, in his novels, Sergei Luk'ianenko uses dystopian means to construct a seemingly safe space of alternative Moscow, appearing in a utopian halo.

Keywords

chronotope, space, image of Russia, alternate history fiction, V. Aksenov, V. Rybakov, H. van Zaichik, S. Luk'ianenko, V. Zviagintsev.

References

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