David Shepherd
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198156666
- eISBN:
- 9780191673221
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198156666.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter examines the metafictions of Soviet writer Konstantin Vaginov. The position of Vaginov in relation to the dominant literary trends in the 1920s is as marginal as Leonid Leonov's or ...
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This chapter examines the metafictions of Soviet writer Konstantin Vaginov. The position of Vaginov in relation to the dominant literary trends in the 1920s is as marginal as Leonid Leonov's or Marietta Shaginyan's seems central. His major works include The Goat's Song, Experiments in Connecting Words by Means of Rhythm, and The Works and Days of Svistonov. His third novel placed emphasis of authorly autonomy and its relation to cultural traditional and continuity and its metafictional strategies provided a particularly defamiliarizing angle of vision on these matters.Less
This chapter examines the metafictions of Soviet writer Konstantin Vaginov. The position of Vaginov in relation to the dominant literary trends in the 1920s is as marginal as Leonid Leonov's or Marietta Shaginyan's seems central. His major works include The Goat's Song, Experiments in Connecting Words by Means of Rhythm, and The Works and Days of Svistonov. His third novel placed emphasis of authorly autonomy and its relation to cultural traditional and continuity and its metafictional strategies provided a particularly defamiliarizing angle of vision on these matters.
David Shepherd
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198156666
- eISBN:
- 9780191673221
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198156666.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, Criticism/Theory
This introduction chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about metafiction and self-consciousness in Soviet literature. Metafiction is a term used to refer to fictional writing which ...
More
This introduction chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about metafiction and self-consciousness in Soviet literature. Metafiction is a term used to refer to fictional writing which self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artefact in order to pose questions about the relationship between fiction and reality. This book examines the metafictional works of several Soviet authors including Leonid Leonov, Marietta Shaginyan, Konstantin Vaginov, and Veniamin Kaverin.Less
This introduction chapter explains the coverage of this book, which is about metafiction and self-consciousness in Soviet literature. Metafiction is a term used to refer to fictional writing which self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artefact in order to pose questions about the relationship between fiction and reality. This book examines the metafictional works of several Soviet authors including Leonid Leonov, Marietta Shaginyan, Konstantin Vaginov, and Veniamin Kaverin.
David Shepherd
- Published in print:
- 1992
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198156666
- eISBN:
- 9780191673221
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198156666.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, Criticism/Theory
Although metafiction has been the subject of much critical and theoretical writing, this is the first full-length study of its place in Soviet literature. Focusing on metafictional works by Leonid ...
More
Although metafiction has been the subject of much critical and theoretical writing, this is the first full-length study of its place in Soviet literature. Focusing on metafictional works by Leonid Leonov, Marietta Shaginyan, Konstantin Vaginov, and Veniamin Kaverin, it examines, within a broadly Bakhtinian theoretical framework, the relationship between their self-consciousness and their cultural and political context. The texts are shown to challenge notions about the nature and function of literature fundamental to both Soviet and Anglo-American criticism. In particular, although metafictional strategies may seem designed to confirm assumptions about the aesthetic autonomy of the literary text, their effect is to reveal the shortcomings of such assumptions. The texts discussed take us beyond conventional understandings of metafiction by highlighting the need for a theoretically informed account of the history and reception of Soviet literature in which the inescapability of politics and ideology is no longer acknowledged grudgingly, but is instead celebrated.Less
Although metafiction has been the subject of much critical and theoretical writing, this is the first full-length study of its place in Soviet literature. Focusing on metafictional works by Leonid Leonov, Marietta Shaginyan, Konstantin Vaginov, and Veniamin Kaverin, it examines, within a broadly Bakhtinian theoretical framework, the relationship between their self-consciousness and their cultural and political context. The texts are shown to challenge notions about the nature and function of literature fundamental to both Soviet and Anglo-American criticism. In particular, although metafictional strategies may seem designed to confirm assumptions about the aesthetic autonomy of the literary text, their effect is to reveal the shortcomings of such assumptions. The texts discussed take us beyond conventional understandings of metafiction by highlighting the need for a theoretically informed account of the history and reception of Soviet literature in which the inescapability of politics and ideology is no longer acknowledged grudgingly, but is instead celebrated.
