Japanese Slavic and East European Studies Vol.33. 2012

SYMPOSIUM ARTICLE

Russian Literature in the Post-Soviet Period: A Japanese Viewpoint

Kazuhisa Iwamoto (Wakkanai Hokusei Gakuen University)

1. in the Post-Soviet Era and Japanese Readers

Twenty years have passed since the disintegrated, and today, in this symposium, some of the changes in Russian literature and culture over this 20-year period will be discussed. The Japanese had some opportunities to discuss Russian literature in the post-Soviet period. For example, in 1996, Quo Vadis , a large symposium on Russian culture, history, and society, was held at the University of Tokyo. Russian writers Fasil Iskander and Alexander Genis participated in this event. This symposium was so remarkable that a special issue of the well-known Japanese journal Gendai Shiso (Contemporary Philosophy) was dedicated to it (1997, No.4). Unfortunately, this symposium left a vague impression, as nobody could know “Quo Vadis Russia” or anticipate Putin’s regime. Now it can be said that a turning point in Russian literature was embodied in this symposium. One of the great Soviet writers, Iskander, made an appearance during it, and Genis discussed the most famous writer of the new generation, Victor Pelevin. Two years later, Vladimir Sorokin’s splatter novel Roman (1994) was translated into Japanese by Tetsuo Mochizuki, and the Japanese could get a taste of contemporary Russian literature. In addition to this translation, famous conceptualists from visited during these times, and their school became popular in Japan, where Ilya Kabakov gave numerous presentations of his works. From 1999 to 2001, Sorokin taught at the Tokyo

37 Kazuhisa Iwamoto

University of Foreign Studies, and, in 1999 and 2000, Dmitry Prigov visited Tokyo, Sapporo, and other cities. In 2001, the Conference of Japanese and Russian Writers was held at the University of Tokyo, in which Tatyana Tolstaya, Boris Akunin, Viktor Pelevin, Sergei Gandlevsky, and Vyacheslav Kuritsyn participated. Tolstaya had published her novel The Slynx/Kys in 2000, and a part of the novel was translated into Japanese by Kyoko Numano in 2001. This novel, which describes a dystopic future Moscow city with a medieval tone, is considered to be an expression of grief about the disorder in Russian society and literature of the Yeltsin era. Akunin and Pelevin were new faces that appeared in Russia in the 1990s. Akunin is popular novelist of detective stories, and Kyoko Numano translated some of them into Japanese, The Winter Queen (Азазель, 1998) in 2001 and Murder on the Leviathan (Левиафан, 1998) and The Death of Achilles (Смерть Ахилесса, 1998) in 2007. Pelevin describes the loss and confusion that emerged after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in The Yellow Arrow (Желтая стрела, 1993), Chapaev and Void (Чапаев и пустота, 1996), and Generation P (Generation П, 1999), the first two of which were published by Gunzosha in Tokyo (The Yellowo Arrow—2010, Chapaev and Void —2007). After his visit to Tokyo, Gandlevsky published the novel NRZB (НРЗБ, 2002), but it would be difficult to say that this work is well known in Japan. It seems as though the Japanese stopped paying attention to contemporary Russian literature after the conference in Tokyo. Russian writers often complain that foreigners are only interested in Sorokin and Pelevin. A search for “Russian literature” in Wikipedia in various languages confirms that not only the Japanese, but also readers from other countries, pay little attention to Russian writers after Sorokin and Pelevin. Nonetheless, other writers have been translated into Japanese. For example, in 2009, Izumi Maeda translated the novel Daniel Stein, Interpreter (Даниэль Штайн. Переводчик, 2006) by . This translation attracted many Japanese readers. In one of the most famous Japanese literary journals, Shincho, Kyoko Numano translated the short stories of such unique writers as Marina Vishnevetskaya and Olga

38 Russian Literature in the Post-Soviet Period

Slavnikova. Thus, it is unclear why Sorokin and Pelevin are still considered by the Japanese as Russia's newest writers. From 2010 to 2012, Pelevin’s Yellow Arrow and Sorokin’s Blue Lard (Голубое сало, 1999) were translated into Japanese, and these translations were accepted as the latest in Russian literature. However, these two novels, which were published almost 20 years ago and describe the social disorder of those times, can hardly be considered to be the latest in Russian literature. If literature and art have eternal value, works from 20 years ago must remain contemporary. Historically, however, Russian literature has confronted government and society, and this is certainly evident in the work of Sorokin and Pelevin. An understanding of the transformation in Russian literature in the last 20 years requires an examination of the changes of Russian politics and society. Olga Slavnikova, a winner of the in 2006, lectured on contemporary Russian literature in 2009 at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. In this lecture, she presented lists of “popular writers” and “not popular, but talented writers.” The list of “popular writers” included Alexandra Marinina, Boris Akunin, Tatyana Tolstaya, , Lyudmila Petrushevskaya, Alexandr Kabakov, Lyudmila Ulitskaya, Viktor Pelevin, Vladimir Sorokin, Dmitry Bykov, and Zakhar Prilepin. Many of these writers have had long careers, but Bykov and Prilepin began writing in the 21st Century. Bykov writes novels about aliens and warfare. Prilepin was an activist in the National Bolshevik Party, led by Eduard Limonov, and the hero of his best-known novel, Sanka (Санькя, 2006), is also an activist. Olga Slavinikova became popular in the 2000s. The current task of Japanese slavists is to introduce these writers (Bykov, Prilepin, and Slavnikova) to Japanese readers. Then why do foreigners tend to close the history of Russian literature with Sorokin and Pelevin, in other words, with the frame of the 1990s? One answer to this question is modernism, or avant-gardism, which prefers the evolution of art. Such a position evaluates only new styles. Sorokin and Pelevin have their own unique styles, but the writers who came after them do not seem to present any new radicalism. However, literature has other values besides just style. Art needs talent and uniqueness, but it is not true that talent can be found only in new styles.

39 Kazuhisa Iwamoto

Uniqueness also exists in the mode of perception (how to see things, how to understand situations). Talent also exists in the sensitivity to words. Even if literature requires originality, it is not a competition in technical innovation. Another reason for this apparently arbitrary cut-off point is the Soviet Union. Foreigners tend to consider the entire period after 1991 as “post- Soviet,” and they sometimes ignore the differences between the 1990s and the 2000s. If they are paying attention primarily to the difference between the Soviet and post-Soviet periods, then they would indeed have to consider Sorokin and Pelevin to be the symbolical writers of the 1990s, when Russian society fell into disorder and remained unstable.

2. 1990s and 2000s

It is well known that the political, economic, and social systems in Russia have changed in the 21st Century. The 1990s were Yeltsin’s years, but the 2000s were Putin’s. Since the crisis in 1998, the Russian economy has been growing. On the other hand, the plutocracy of the 1990s has been destroyed. The activities of Sorokin were also associated with changes in politics and in society. Many critics have argued that his literary style changed in the 21st Century. In 2002, the young nationalist party “Moving together” (Идущие вместе) accused Sorokin of the production and distribution of pornography. In front of the Bolshoi Theater, his books were thrown into a toilet. Sorokin moved away from the scandals; as a writer, he stopped his destruction of plot. He published Trilogy (Трилогия, 2002-2005), where, instead, he regarded plot as one of the important elements of a novel. Trilogy is a mysterious novel. It describes the fate of supermen who were born after the Tunguska explosion. In another of his novels, Day of the Oprichinik (День опричника, 2006), a future Russia is described in the framework of the period of Ivan the Terrible. This novel is a clear protest against the Putin regime. In the 21st Century, not only did the political situation change, but IT (Information Technology) also developed and was popularized. Needless to say, IT was clearly relevant to publication and literature. At the end of the 20th Century, when the world clamored for an “IT revolution,” some critics insisted that IT would kill literature: books, novels,

40 Russian Literature in the Post-Soviet Period and authors would disappear. The critics predicted that the development of the Internet would make free texts ubiquitous; printed books would be lost; hypertext would permit readers to select their desired plots; novels would become interactive, like role-playing games for the computer; texts would be connected to photos, movies, and sounds; and the traditional novel, in which invariable words are read in a single direction, from the beginning to the end, would disappear. Cyberspace is so open to society that collaboration between people would become easier; writings would pertain not to single authors, but to an anonymous collectivity. Indeed, not all of these predictions were false. The prestigious Japanese company “Shinchosha” published the novel Train- man (Densha-otoko, 2004), which was anonymously and collectively written on the BBS (Bulletin Board System) “2-channel.” However, the dystopia without printed books has yet to be realized. E-books and Internet shopping have become popular, but printed books and libraries still exist. Novels and authors have also survived. In fact, contrary to the predictions, the length of copyrights has been extended. Nowadays, someone might say, “The notion that novels would disappear now seems ludicrous.” In the last few years of the 20th Century, however, it seemed a certain possibility. At that time, many scholars said, “The study of literature has no future,” or “Literature is ending, and mediology is beginning.” In many Japanese universities, literature faculty was reorganized, and departments of literature were abolished. were saying, “Russia was the country of literature, but today the numbers of readers are decreasing.” Not only in Russia, but also in many other countries, the masses prefer television and computer games to books. However, in Russia, many TV dramas are based on plots from famous novels. Russian people appreciate watching The Brothers of Karamazov and Anna Karenina on TV. From contemporary literature, Aksyonov’s Moscow Saga (Московская сага, 1989- 93) and Ulitskaya’s Kukotsky’s Case (Казус Кукоцкого, 2001) were dramatized on TV. Regardless of how media changes, literature will remain an important aspect of Russian culture. Many Russian theaters are also putting contemporary Russian literature on stage. The Theatrical Center of Moscow “On Strastnoy” is presenting “Crystal World” (Хрустальный мир, 1991) by Pelevin, and the Moscow

41 Kazuhisa Iwamoto

Sovremennik Theater is putting on “The Time of Women” (Время женщин, 2009) by . About 10 years ago, musicals became popular in Moscow, and novels from Soviet literature, such as The Two Captains (Два капитана, 1944) by Veniamin Kaverin and The Twelve Chairs (Двенадцать стульев, 1928) by Ilya Ilyf and Yevgeny Petrov, were also performed as musicals. Unfortunately, the musical “Nord-Ost,” which was based on The Two Captains, became the target of a terrorist attack in 2002. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the literary environment changed remarkably in Russia. In the 21st Century, even newer changes in the system can be found. In the 1990s, many new publishing companies appeared. In the realm of contemporary Russian literature, the publishing company Vagrius was representative. Established in 1992, its name originated from a combination of the surnames of the founders (Oleg Vasilyev, Vladimir Grigoryev, and Gleb Uspensky). The Vagrius series, “Contemporary Russian Prose,” was popular. If one would like to say something about Russian literature in 1990s, he must remember the gray cover of this series. At the end of 20th Century, Vagrius published another series of reminiscences, “My 20th Century,” which always had an impressive monochrome portrait of the author on the cover. However, writers soon began to abandon Vagrius, and the company faded in popularity. Instead of Vagrius, big publishers of popular books became more prominent in the field of contemporary Russian literature. First, Pelevin switched from Vagrius to Eksmo as a publishing company in 2003. The publisher AST also became the stage for famous writers and critics, who were offered many chances to win various prizes. In the Soviet Union, the most famous prize in literature was the Lenin Prize. In post-Soviet Russia, the Russian Booker Prize was established in 1992, and the Anti-Booker Prize was started in 1995. The 1990s were the age of the Russian Booker and the Anti-Booker prizes. In the 21st Century, however, new prizes that offered impressive sums of money were established (the National Bestseller Prize and the Prize), and the Russian Booker Prize became less prestigious. The Anti- Booker was discontinued in 2001, and the Russian Booker lost its sponsor.

42 Russian Literature in the Post-Soviet Period

The prize was suspended in 2011. Instead, a special prize, the “Ten Years Russian Booker,” which was selected among the winners of the Russian Booker Prize and its candidates between 2000 and 2010, was invented. Fortunately, a new sponsor stepped forward, and, in 2012, the selection process was reinstated.

3. Return to Realism

The social systems around literature had changed in the 1990s and 2000s, but how did literature change? Sorokin’s case was examined earlier. Alongside this, another movement can be found in contemporary Russian literature in the 2000s. There was a transition from postmodernism to realism. In the 1990s, postmodernism was rising, and it seemed that postmodernism would become the mainstream in Russian literature. Indeed, Sorokin insisted on “the end of literature.” In his lecture at the University of Tokyo (October 16, 1999), he said that literature was a big whale that had already died and that contemporary writers were simply manipulating its corpse. Now it seems that such a depiction is more suitable to contemporary art, where trash is used as a material, than to literature. In 2002, won the National Bestseller Prize with the novel Mr. Hexogen (Господин Гексоген, 2001). In this pulp, the real incidents that led Putin to the position of president in Russia are described through the intrigue of retired officers of the KGB. If an unknown writer had written this novel, it would have been considered mere sensationalism. However, Prokhanov was a member of the USSR Union of Writers. He entered the Union with the recommendation of Yury Trifonov and walked the way of Socialist realism. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, he started publishing the newspapers Day and Tomorrow, and now he is known as a nationalist and an anti-liberalist. That such a relic of the Soviet Union tactically published such a vulgar, kitsch text also shocked readers of the new generation. They considered it a product of postmodernism. Talented young critic Lev Danilkin was drawn in by Mr. Hexogen and decided to write the biography of Prokhanov (The Man with an Egg, Человек с яйцом, 2007), though Danilkin is a liberalist.

43 Kazuhisa Iwamoto

In the discourse of Russia, “postmodernism” sometimes means “conceptualism,” which uses social images as objects, plays with them, and constructs them into artistic works. In spite of the anticipation of some writers and critics, this method has not yet become dominant in Russian literature. The revolutionary destruction of literature, which conceptualists dreamed up as their project, has not been accomplished. The trend in Russian literature in the 2000s is realism rather than postmodernism. After the publication of Generation P in 1999, Pelevin had not published any novel until 2003. His latest work tends to caricature Russian society. In caricature, society is dealt with as a real existence. In the works of the 1990s, Pelevin described an escape from society into “emptiness,” but readers of his latest works cannot escape the authenticity and seriousness of society. In the early 21st Century, younger writers achieved popularity with realism. Ilya Stogoff published an autobiographical novel Machos Don’t Cry (Мачо не плачут, 1999). Sergei Sakin and Pavel Tetersky wrote Bigger than Ben (Больше Бена, 2001), a novel about Russian hippies in England that was filmed in 2008. Irina Denezhkina described the lives of students in Ekaterinburg in a short story collection, Give Me (Дай мне, 2002), which was translated into Japanese by Yuki Yoshioka in 2005. These young writers did not make artificial works as modernists and conceptualists, but rather sketched the worlds around them with the methods of traditional realism, or mimesis. The inclination towards realism is remarkable in Russian literature in the 2000s. Of the 11 writers who won the Booker Prize after 2000, the only postmodernist is Mikhail Elizarov, although some critics may consider Elena Koliadina, who wrote the sensational novel The Cross of Flowers (Цветочный крест, 2009), as a postmodernist as well. On the other hand, , Ruben David Gonzalez Gallego, and Denis Gutsuko all wrote autobiographical novels, and they can be regarded as realists. Likewise, it would be hard to say that any of the other six writers are postmodernists, though their works are fictive. They stand between postmodernism and realism. Elena Chizhova, who tells new Petersburg legends, is a realist because she restores real society and uses traditional styles. Lyudmila Ulitskaya and Aleksander Ilychevsky rethink Russian

44 Russian Literature in the Post-Soviet Period history and society from their own points of view. Olga Slavnikova and Mikhail Shishkin have their own styles and imagination, but, nevertheless, they do not stand so far from realists. Slavinikova is often described as a writer of “magical realism.” Ulitsykaya, Ilychevsky, Slavnikova, and Shishkin respect Vladimir Nabokov as a pioneer of experiments in modernism. In this list of winners of the Booker Prize over the last ten years, the name , the forerunner of the postmodernists, is noteworthy. Critic Lev Danilkin was an advocate of postmodernism, but today he talks about the return of realism. He summed up Russian literature of the 2000s in “Kludge” (Novyi mir, 2010, No. 1). In it, Danilkin said, “Realism is returning—and that at a Hollywood scale; so-called ‘strike back’ is returning. Realism in broad sense, all realisms are returning. Sociality, the theme of the little man, and autobiographism are returning” (translated by K. I. from Russian). Of the themes in contemporary Russian realism, “war” and “the little man” are important. Many contemporary Russian writers write about wars. Denis Gutusko described the Nagorno-Karabakh War in the novel Russophone (Русскоговорящий, 2005). German Sadulaev wrote about the Chechen War from the viewpoint of the Chechens. This theme has been important in Russian realism since Tolstoy. Makanin also described the Chechen War in the novel Asan (Асан, 2008) and won the Big Book Prize for his efforts. Japanese scholars repeatedly write about Russian films about war, so it seems that they would do well to pay more attention to war-related literature as well. Literature, especially realist literature, describes details of society that official history ignores. Therefore, the theme of “the little man” is important for realists. If Russian realism did not portray a different picture from the official one, it would lack intensity. Ilychevsky described the life of Moscow tramps in the novel Matisse (Матисс, 2006). There, he paid special attention to the underground of the big city, which he contrasted with the rich society of the post-Soviet era. On the other hand, Oleg Zaionchkovsky published the novel Happiness Is Possible (Счастье возможно, 2008), where he wrote about a lonely life in

45 Kazuhisa Iwamoto the suburbs of Moscow. Zaionchkovsky’s light style, which is sometimes compared with Haruki Murakami’s, lacks political discussion; instead, the theme is escapism. Interest in the periphery of society can be found not only in the theme of “the little man” but also in the theme of the “village.” Provincialism has become more notable with the return of realism. Ilychevsky is from Azerbaijan, while Gutsuko is from Georgia. They often seek sources for their material in their southern homelands. In the novel 2017 (2005), Slavinikova described the mystic Ural world that she is from. Prilepin is from Nizhnyi Novgorod, and the young activist in Sanka often returns from Moscow to his hometown. Roman Sencin described the painful life of a family that was expelled from a big city to a village in the novel Yeltyshevs (Елтышевы, 2009). These realist writers sometimes mention to Lev Tolstoy. The 19th Century tradition of realism remains in Russia. Even postmodernists use it, as they intend to play with this tradition. For example, Pelevin parodied Tolstoy in his novel t (2009). On the other hand, realists continue this tradition. If someone esteems literature as progress out of realism, the return of realism seems to be some kind of reactionary degeneration. However, the history of literature is not a one-way progression but rather a rotation within tradition.

46