World War II in the Literary Perception of Three Waves of Russian Emigration

Authors

  • Yulia Matveeva

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2016.2.163

Abstract

The article considers the theme of World War II through the literary and artistic prism of the three waves of Russian emigration as a special area of ideological and philosophical differences. The author analyzes artistic and documentary texts by G. Gazdanov, V. Varshavsky, V. Andreev (the first wave of Russian emigration), B. Shiryaev, L. Rzhevsky, G. Andreev (Khomyakov), I. Yelagin (the second wave of emigration), G. Vladimov, A. Zinoviev (the third wave). The author reconstructs the multidimensional and ambiguous perception of war, characteristic of the representatives of different periods of emigration: patriotic, antifascist, collaborationist, philosophical, critical and patriotic at the same time. In every writer’s works the theme of war is considered in relation to their personal destiny and world outlook. The material in the article is structured according to the principle of historical chronology (the first wave, the second, and the third wave), however, the analysis of individual works focuses on a certain and quite individual viewpoint. The juxtaposition and comparison of these viewpoints gives an idea about the controversy over World War II, reflecting political and moral, ethical and even existential attitudes of émigré writers.

References

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Published

2016-07-04

How to Cite

Matveeva, Y. (2016). World War II in the Literary Perception of Three Waves of Russian Emigration. Quaestio Rossica, 4(2), 137–158. https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2016.2.163

Issue

Section

Vox redactoris