Utopian Projects of Russian History in Modern Historical Fiction

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of modern literary utopias. The relevance of the study is determined by the state of the active process of re-evaluation of the past and the formation of the image of the future in the modern public consciousness of Russia. The novelty of the study is determined by the lack of knowledge of the utopia of the 21st century. The thematic and substantial evolution of utopias is considered, their connection with transformations of public historical consciousness is revealed. The characteristic of the main stages of development of public historical consciousness of Russia in 1990-2010 is presented. The analysis of utopian variants of development of history of Russia, represented in the works of art of the beginning of the 21st century, is made. The direct object of the analysis was the works by X. van Zaychik (V. Rybakov, I. Alimov) “Eurasian Symphony,” by E. Chudinova “The Winners,” by A. Barenberg “Firstly The Planes” and S. Buratovsky “Yesterday There Will Be War.” Utopian projects presented in modern historical fiction are analyzed. The characteristic of counterfactual modeling as a method of representation of the concept of history is given. The author raises the question of the specifics of modern readership and functions of historical fiction in the public consciousness. The results of the comparative analysis of the “monarchic” and “Soviet” version of utopias of the beginning of the 21st century are presented. The ratio of conservative and modernist components in the worldview of the authors is revealed. New features of images of Stalin and Beria in modern historical fiction are shown.

Keywords

• literature and history
• russian literature of the 21^st century
• concept of history
• utopian project
• alternative history of russia