In these (end) times: Sh. Idiatullin's Volgaic fantasy fiction

Review Article
EDN: DEAOZM DOI: 10.31483/r-107141
Open Access
International academic journal «Ethnic Culture». Volume 5
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Published in:
International academic journal «Ethnic Culture». Volume 5
Authors:
Maria S. Savelyeva 1 , Alexander V. Savelyev 2
Work direction:
World languages and literature
Pages:
49-53
Received: 6 June 2023 / Accepted: 2 November 2023 / Published: 18 December 2023

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1 Moscow State Institute of International Relations
2 Institute of Linguistics of the Russian Academy of Sciences
For citation:
Savelyeva M. S., & Savelyev A. V. (2023). In these (end) times: Sh. Idiatullin's Volgaic fantasy fiction. Ethnic Culture, 5(4), 49-53. EDN: DEAOZM. https://doi.org/10.31483/r-107141
UDC 821.512.145.09-05(Идиатуллин):372.881.1+81'373.613

Abstract

The paper discusses the development of ethnic fiction in the modern Russian literature, focusing on Shamil Idiatullin's 2020 novel “Poslednee vremja”. We show that the tendency towards switching from ethnic to regionalist agenda can be observed in the works by both Russian authors, such as Denis Osokin and Alexei Ivanov, and authors having a non-Russian ethnic identity, such as the Tatar novelists Guzel Yakhina and Shamil Idiatullin. We adopt an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together techniques from literary studies (analysis of the genre and the literary situation as well as the historical and cultural context) and linguistics (an etymological analysis of proper names, in the first place). Our commentary on various linguistic, historical and cultural aspects puts Idiatullin»s novel into the discourse of the contemporary ethnic fiction as a text that expresses the positions of both the Conquerors and the Conquered. The analysis of personal names and other words of non-Russian origin that are used in the Russian text allows to identify the fictional ethnic groups with the actual peoples of the Volga-Kama region and places the novel within a present-day context. One of the key themes of “Poslednee vremja” is language loss, and some scenes, such as the self-immolation of the pagan priest Arβuj-Kuγə̑za, make a clear reference to the contemporary history of the region. The novel»s title can be translated as both “End times” and “These times”; thus, it includes simultaneously an apocalyptic allusion and a hint to the events of the recent past.

References

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