“Double-Voice” and the Dynamics of National Identity in Russian and African-American Literature

Abstract

This review is dedicated to the book by the American researcher, a famous specialist in the field of literary comparative studies, Dale Peterson, “Up from Bondage. The Literatures of Russian and African American ʽSoul’.” D. Peterson’s work represents the first study that draws a parallel between the evolution of Russian and African-American cultural identities in literary works and analyzes the phenomenon of the “folk soul.” The study is distinguished not only by its innovative approach and high scientific significance but also by its careful research of archival materials, manuscripts, and letters from the authors, which creates a solid basis for subsequent theoretical generalizations. Using the concept of the “polyphonic novel” by M. M. Bakhtin and the theory of culturally embedded speech acts he developed, Peterson concludes that the dynamics of development and deep mentality of Russian and African-American literature are similar.

Keywords

• russian classics
• f. m. dostoevsky
• l. n. tolstoy
• m. gorky
• african-american literature
• w. du bois
• r. wright
• m. m. bakhtin
• polyphonic novel
• identity