Utopia and decline: the rupture of the positive hero paradigm in V. Aksionov, V. Erofeev and V. Makanin

• Grant number: 12/14815-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
• Start date: December 01, 2012
• End date: August 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Linguistics, Literature and Arts - Literature - Modern Foreign Literatures
• Principal Investigator: Bruno Barretto Gomide
• Grantee: Gabriela Soares da Silva
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The aim of this study is to analyze the transformations and the consequential fall of the notion of the positive hero in Russian Soviet literature since the period known as the Thaw (1953-1964). For this purpose, this research will focus its attention on the construction of the characters of three significant works that represent these changes: Zviozdnyi bilet by Vassili Aksionov, Moskva-Petuchki by Venedikt Erofeev and Andergraund, ili geroi nachego vremeni by Vladimir Makanin. It is intended, thus to retrace the path of this hero, that reached its peak in the "New Soviet man", to determine the conflict established in the new forms of representation fomented by these three authors, based on linguistic innovations, aesthetic construction of subjectivity and individuality, showing the confrontation and denial of the status quo, as well as the paradigm of the official literature. Add to this the fact that these innovations are associated to subversive and marginalized characters, which indicated separation or abandonment of the high ideals involved in the positive hero, by the antiauthoritarian and rebellious conduct (as we see in Aksionov); by the unconformity and vices (in Erofeev); or by the cynicism and underground behavior (in Makanin). Thereby, it hopes to contribute to the understanding of certain aspects of Russian literature related to the process of reappropriation and reconfiguration of the traumatic past, tied to the oppressive regime and the loss of an utopic project. (AU)

Academic Publications

(References retrieved automatically from State of São Paulo Research Institutions)

SILVA, Gabriela Soares da. Utopia and decline: the rupture of the positive hero paradigm in V. Aksionov, V. Erofeev and V. Makanin. 2016. Doctoral Thesis - Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH/SBD) São Paulo.