CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN SATIRE

A genre study

KAREN L. RYAN-HAYES

CAMBRIDGE

UNIVERSITY PRESS

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521475150 Cambridge University Press 1995 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 1995 This digitally printed first paperback version 2006 A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication data Ryan-Hayes, Karen L. Contemporary Russian Satire: a genre study/Karen L. Ryan-Hayes. p. cm. - (Cambridge studies in Russian literature) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0 521 47515 5 (hardback) 1. Russian literature - 20th century - History and Criticism. 2. Satire, Russian History and criticism. 3. Russian wit and humor History and criticism. I. Title. II. Series. PG3026.S3R94 1995 891.77'4409-dc20 95-2262 CIP ISBN-13 978-0-521-47515-0 hardback ISBN-10 0-521-47515-5 hardback ISBN-13 978-0-521-02626-0 paperback ISBN-10 0-521-02626-1 paperback

Contents

Acknowledgments Note on the translation Introduction 1 Iskander's transparent allegory: Rabbits and Boa

page x xi i

Constrictors 2 Beyond picaresque: Erofeev's Moscow-Petushki 3 4 5 Satire and the autobiographical mode: Limonov's Us Me, Eddie The family chronicle revisited: Dovlatov's Ours Dystopia redux: Voinovich and Moscow 2042 Conclusion
Notes Select bibliography Index

11 58 101 150 193 239

244 273 284

IX