Scholarly record

TRANSNATIONAL LITERATURE: RUSSIAN-LANGUAGE LITERATURE BY NON-RUSSIAN WRITERS

U. M. Bakhtikireeva, O. A. Valikova, E. N. Kremer, N. L. Sinyachkina

Abstract

Today the definition ‘Transnational Literature’ is used by some Russian philologists to determine the layer of Literature that can not be unequivocally attributed to a particular national literature. If, for example, the works of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy are directly connected with Russian Literature and culture, then there are still difficulties with regard to Literature created by non-Russian writers in Russian. During the Soviet period, Russian-language Literature (Russophone Literature – alternative term) was studied mainly in the framework of the theory of ‘Multilinational Soviet Literature’ and the ‘theory of the accelerated development of national literatures’. The collapse of the USSR caused a drop in interest in these theories. Some specialists began to consider this Literature within the framework of the postcolonial theory (copying the experience of Western European researchers). Studying the works of fiction’s features created by non-Russian authors in Russian, we came to some preliminary conclusions. One of them is the fact that consideration of this kind of Literature from the position of the postcolonial theory is erroneous. The fact is that the Russian Empire was not an Empire of the classical type. The so-called ‘Postcolonial Literature’ as a part of the theoretical literature course or a separate subject has taken a strong position in the curricula of many higher education institutions abroad. The division of institutions into two groups is carried out on the basis of a methodological approach. The first group is the leading universities of the countries in the area of development of postcolonial literature. The second group is the leading universities that consider this literature as part of the world. An example of the first group is the University of Newcastle, Australia. The study of Russophone Literature of non-Russian authors did not take firm positions either in higher education in Russia or in post-Soviet studies of specialists from post-Soviet countries.

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DOI resolver: doi.org/10.5593/sgemsocial2018/6.2/S27.076

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