Global Russian Cultures

Description

Is there an essential Russian identity? What happens when "Russian" literature is written in English, by such authors as Gary Shteyngart or Lara Vapnyar? What is the geographic "home" of Russian culture created and shared via the internet? Global Russian Cultures innovatively considers these and many related questions about the literary and cultural life of Russians who in successive waves of migration have dispersed to the United States, Europe, and Israel, or who remained after the collapse of the USSR in Ukraine, the Baltic states, and the Central Asian states. The volume's internationally renowned contributors treat the many different global Russian cultures not as "displaced" elements of Russian cultural life but rather as independent entities in their own right. They describe diverse forms of literature, music, film, and everyday life that transcend and defy political, geographic, and even linguistic borders. Arguing that Russian cultures today are many, this volume contends that no state or society can lay claim to be the single or authentic representative of Russianness. In so doing, it contests the conceptions of culture and identity at the root of nation-building projects in and around Russia. Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments A Note on the Transliteration of Russian and Other Matters of Style Introduction: Putting Russian Cultures in Place Part One. The Situation of Russian Cultures A Century of Russian Culture(s) “Abroad”: The Unfolding of Literary Geography Russophone Writing in Ukraine: Historical Contexts and Post-Euromaidan Changes “Russian Culture” in Central Asia as a Transethnic Phenomenon Distance and Proximity in the Baltic “Near Abroad” History, Diaspora, and Geography: The Case of Russian-Israeli Cinema, 1991–2016 Tell Me Your Story: Recent Russian-American Writing Russia as Whole and as Fragments Part Two. Russian Cultures at Large When Soft Power Hardens: The Formation and Fracturingof Putin’s “Russian World” Is There Any Such Thing as “Russophone Russophobia”? When Russian Speakers Speak Out against Russia(n) in the Ukrainian Internet The Most Global Russian of All: Michael Idov’s Cosmopolitan Oeuvre The “Globe-Trotting Russian” in Scotland: Discourses of Russian Cultural Tourism Rewriting Gender: Russian-American Women Writers and the Challenge to Russian Femininity Song in a Strange Land: The Russian Musical Lyric beyond the Nation Global Transnational Russian Culture: Non-Russians Writing Russian Literature Works Cited Contributors Index