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/9780198156666.003.0003
- Subject:
- Literature, European Literature, Criticism/Theory
This chapter examines Marietta Shaginyan's metafiction titled Kik. This short novel played a large part in installing and maintaining the perception of Shaginyan as a stolid, uncritical supported of ...
More
This chapter examines Marietta Shaginyan's metafiction titled Kik. This short novel played a large part in installing and maintaining the perception of Shaginyan as a stolid, uncritical supported of the Soviet Union's literary and political institutions. The dominant mode in this work is hyperbolic stylization of familiar but anachronistic genres and this novel was characterized by the constant interplay of the literary versions of event with a reality whose own status is subtly called into question.Less
This chapter examines Marietta Shaginyan's metafiction titled Kik. This short novel played a large part in installing and maintaining the perception of Shaginyan as a stolid, uncritical supported of the Soviet Union's literary and political institutions. The dominant mode in this work is hyperbolic stylization of familiar but anachronistic genres and this novel was characterized by the constant interplay of the literary versions of event with a reality whose own status is subtly called into question.
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.
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.
