Overview

This edited collection focuses on the nexus between literary consumption, memory and collective identity formation in Russia from the 1980s until today. It challenges perceived notions about the reduced social significance and identity-building potential of contemporary Russian literature. Drawing on a diverse set of primary source materials, ranging from memoirs, diaries and essays to fan art and BookToks, the collection seeks to do justice to the diversity of an enormous reading public that is often routinely referred to as the ‘Russian reader’. The case studies explore the reading habits and self-understanding of very different audiences that are dispersed along regional, gender, generational and technological divides. In doing so, this collection examines both the continuities and shifts in the multifaceted relationship between literary consumption, memory and identity during the profound and ongoing transformations in Russian society and its literary landscape. 

Full Product Details

Author:   Otto Boele ,  Dorine Schellens
Publisher:   Springer International Publishing AG
Imprint:   Palgrave Macmillan
ISBN:  

9783031698187

ISBN 10:   3031698185
Pages:   232
Publication Date:   10 October 2025
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Introduction.- Part I. Literary Production and Consumption in Times of Transition.- Chapter 1. Dmitrii Ravinskii – Mass Reading in an Era of Change.- Chapter 2. Chapter 2. Josephine von Zitzewitz – The Kopilka Project: Collaborative Translation of Russian Anti-War Poetry.- Part II. Revisiting Literary Models of the Past.- Chapter 3. Otto Boele – Reading and Worshiping Nikolai Rubtsov. Evolution of a Literary Cult. Chapter 4. Katharine Hodgson – Yevgenii Yevtushenko: The Last Soviet Poet in the PostSoviet Afterlife.- Chapter 5. Alexandra Smith – Reconfiguring Personal Experiences and Creative Communities as Literary Models: Liudmila Ulitskaia’s Life-Writing of the 2010s.- Part III. The Role of the Reader Between the 1990s and Today.- Chapter 6. Boris Noordenbos – Plotting Communities: Pelevin’s Meta-Paranoid Fiction.- Chapter 7. Dorine Schellens – Literature as a ‘Thread of Noise’: Kirill Medvedev’s Dialectical Approach to Memory and Literary Consumption Since the 1990s.- Part IV. Creating Publics in the Digital Sphere: Feminist and LGBTQ+ Literature.- Chapter 8. Ksenia Robbe – Feminist Writing/Reading in Contemporary Russia: Creating Counterpublics Through Languages of Sociality and Care.- Chapter 9. Manon Junggeburt – The Reception of Young Adult LGBTQ+ Books on TikTok: The Case of Days of Our Lives.

Reviews

“Reading Russian Literature, 1980–2024: Literary Consumption, Memory and Identity is a valuable contribution to the field of Russian literary studies. … The book is well-organized and accessible, making it a useful resource for scholars, students and general readers interested in contemporary Russian literature. Reading Russian Literature, 1980–2024 emphasizes the enduring significance of literature in shaping collective memory and identity.” (Elizabeth A. Skomp, Slavonic and East European Review SEER, Vol. 103 (2), April, 2025) 

Author Information

Otto Boele is Associate Professor in Russian Literature at Leiden University, The Netherlands. He teaches 19th century literature, post-Soviet culture, and Russian film. He is the author of The North in Russian Romanticism (1996) and Erotic Nihilism in Late Imperial Russia (2009). He is co-editor of Post-Soviet Nostalgia (2019).  Dorine Schellens is Assistant Professor in German and Russian Literature and Culture at Leiden University, The Netherlands. Her research focuses on intersections between contemporary Russian and (East-)German cultural history. She is the author of Kanonbildung im transkulturellen Kontext (2021) on the reception of Moscow conceptualism, and co-editor of Literaturkontakte (2018).

Tab Content 6

Author Website:  

Countries Available

All regions