... Russian writers. Nikolay Markotkin, the Council’s Media and Government Relations Manager, talks to Evgeny Chizhov about his novel “Translated from Word-for-Word Translation,” the specifics of the Russian identity, and the problems of promoting Russian literature abroad.
In a recent interview for our website, Vladimir Medvedev referred to you as an exception — the only author of novels based on the theme of Central Asia who is not biographically related to that region. Where does your interest in ...
... the general trajectory of your education thus far? Or was it influenced by other factors? Has your fiction writing played a part in your academic work?
Right now, I am working primarily as a literary anthropologist. My research interests are modern Russian literature and politics and anything connected with the Northern Caucasus. I arrived at this subject by way of contemporary literature and postcolonial theory, with which I was deeply involved at one point in my career. What attracted me to the Northern ...
... legacy left to us by the classics?
I have to say that my colleagues from Rospechat’ are very active in promoting modern Russian writers at major festivals, fairs, book salons and they are meeting with some success. Literature is a difficult case. Russian literature accounts for just 2% of the world sales and most of them are classics. We have a score of real major modern writers and we must help them by all means.
One simple thing should be understood: not only tradition, but development can be attractive....
... from passing judgments on civil issues, and it's OK. I am convinced that everyone should be interested in what is happening in his country.
Your books have been translated into several foreign languages. Is there any interest abroad in contemporary Russian literature?
Modern history has interested me since childhood: many things worry me, filling me with anger and concern. That is why I do not back out from passing judgments on civil issues, and it's OK. I am convinced that everyone should be interested ...
... authors and screenwriters and fail to support and encourage their work and give them an opportunity to be heard.
Any area of activity has its own trends, be it politics, art, or journalism. How would you characterize the current state of affairs in Russian literature?
Today trash fiction is the mainstream, shaped by the latest publications.
Today trash fiction is the mainstream, shaped by the latest publications. The problem lies in the fact that we have long been taught to spy on how others live through ...
