Eurasian Studies Balkans, Anatolia, Iran, Caucasus and Central Asia Studies Notebooks

Series | Eurasian Studies
Edited book | Armenia, Caucasus and Central Asia
Chapter | Central Asia in Contemporary Russian Literature

Central Asia in Contemporary Russian Literature

Among Nostalgia, Trauma and Orientalism

Abstract

Central Asia in contemporary Russian literature is represented by two main discourses, Nostalgia discourse and New Orientalism discourse. This article follows a diachronic perspective in an attempt to understand their origins, the characteristics of the Tashkent text and the Tajikistan text in literature, as well as historical and cultural factors which led to the present-day image of Central Asia in Russian culture, from the first Orientalist works through hybridisation processes to the collapse of the USSR and the Post-Soviet trauma. As a sample of contemporary literature, novels by Dina Rubina, Suhbat Aflatuni, Andrey Volos, Yevgeny Chizhov and other writers are analysed.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: April 2, 2020 | Accepted: May 12, 2020 | Published Oct. 22, 2020 | Language: en

Keywords New Orientalismthe OtherRussian LiteratureNostalgiaCentral Asia


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