Twenty Years after the Collapse of the Soviet Union

COVER FEATURE Emily D.Johnson isa contributing editor toWorld Literature Today ,Associate Professor of Russian atthe University of Oklahoma, and the author of the book How StPetersburg Learned to Study Itself: The Russian Idea of Kraevedenie (Penn State University Press, 2006). Editorial note: For WLT's further reading list of prose andpoetry from allfifteen post-Soviet countries, visit our website, worldliteraturetoday.com. 321 World Literature Today When literature, cial we section first what began devoted we work were topost-Soviet on trying this speto cialsection devotedtopost-Soviet literature, whatwe weretrying to commemorate seemedveryclear.We wanted totakestock ofallthewaysinwhich EastEuropeanliterature and culture had changedsince thecollapseoftheSovietUnioninlateDecember1991 . Asa result ofthis truly transformative politicalevent,new nation-states had arisen, manyofwhichquickly movedtoshakeoff the legacy ofdecadesofSovietization and,insome cases,centuries ofRussification bypromulgatingnewlawsthat promoted theuseofnational languages (Ukrainian, Latvian, Estonian . . .) in education andculture. Placenamesshifted and new,national monuments replacedSoviet-era commemorative markers in manycountries. Overthecourseofthelasttwenty years, these changes anda waveofnewconstruction have renderedmanyEast Europeancitiesalmost unrecognizable. Culturalnormsand beliefs, holiday rituals, modesofcommunication, state symbolism, and popularhistorical narratives haveallaltered infundamental, obviousways. Each contribution thatwe received highlighted theimmense nature ofthechanges that havereshaped Eastern Europeoverthecourse ofthelasttwenty years.Manyalso,however, problematized ourassumptions aboutthefall of1991.Whicheventin 1991counted as most fundamentally transformative? WasitMikhail Gorbachev's resignation from thepostofSoviet president on December 25orthedisbandment of the SupremeSoviet,the USSR's highest legislative body,on December 26?Or,forthat matter, was itthesigning, bythepresidents of Russia,Ukraine, andBelarus, oftheBelavezha accords, whichdeclaredtheSovietUniondissolvedandcreated initsplacea looseconfederation known astheCommonwealth ofIndependentStates , anactthat tookplaceonDecember 8,1991? Whatabouttheabortive military coup thatoccurred in Moscowin August1991,the failure ofwhichsignaledtomanythattheold authoritarian measures wouldno longer work andthat realchange wasinevitable? Didn'tthat alsomerit commemoration? Moreover, wereallthese political anniversariesreallywhatwas mostessential? Many contributions in thesection thatfollows highlighttheways in whichlargerinternational trendshave workedto reshapeRussianand East Europeanlifeand cultureoverthelast twenty years. Freedfrom Soviet-era restrictions on freetrade,residents in theseregions have experienced therevolutionary effects ofglobalization andnewdigital technologies alongside therestof us. Twenty yearsago cashiersin Sovietstoresstilloftenadded up purchases forcustomers on abacuses.In Eastern Europe today, cellphones, computers, iPads,andother digital devicesareeverywhere. AsintheWest, theInternet has fundamentally changedthe wayinwhich information andcultural texts circulate ,givingnoncommercial artists and new talents in generala broaderforum, in many cases,thanwouldhaveeverbeenpossiblein thepast. No longer restricted from traveling, Russian speakers fanned outacrosstheglobein a vast newwaveofemigration following thecollapse of theSovietUnion.LargeRussian-speaking communities emerged indistant, surprising areasof theworld.In addition, substantial enclavesof Russian speakers remained inmany former Sovietrepublics . Asa result ofbothtrends, Russian- POST-SOVIET LITERATURE language literature becameincreasingly international inorigin: important Russian writers now hailfrom many different countries. Thisspecialsection ofWLTseeksto recognizethemanywaysin whichRussianand EastEuropeanculture have changedoverthe courseofthelasttwenty yearsandoffers readersthechance tolearn aboutnewliterary voices and contemporary trends. The sectionopens withan essayby NadezhdaAzhgikhina that considers theproblem ofcensorship in Russia today.An essaybyKevinPiatton an innovative collaborative translation projectand on thecurrent stateof Russian-language poetry follows. Piatt'sessayintroduces a selection of translations bymembers ofhisworking group thatincludes poemsbySemyon Khanin, Artur Punte, Feodor Swarovski, Sergej Timofejev, ViktorIvaniv , KseniaShcherbino, andGrigory Kruzhkov .Shortstories byOleg Woolf(Moravia) and IrenRozdobudko (Ukraine) and an article by Catharine Nepomnyashchy on recent Russiantelevision adaptations ofbothnineteenthcentury and Soviet-era literary classicsround outthesection. Online, ourdiscussion ofnew trends in Russianand East Europeanculture continues witha short story byTaniaMalyarchuk (Ukraine), anarticle byMichael Naydan on emerging Ukrainian womenprosewriters, and a selection ofpoemsbytheSaamipoetAskold Bazhanov (worldliteraturetoday.com). Inassembling thisspecialsection, we have triedto takean inclusive approachand have incorporated material by authors from differentcountries andgenerations as wellas essays that reflect a variety ofperspectives on today's RussiaandEastern Europe. However, nosingle magazinesection caneverfully represent contemporary cultural development insucha vast expanseofterritory. The former SovietUnion contains manyverydistinctive cultures, most ofwhichremain in a dynamic stateofchange today. Inmany newcountries inthis areaofthe world, theextent towhich democratic practices willultimately takeholdstillseemsunsettled; resurgent censorship, authoritarian leaders, rampantcorruption, and strident nationalist rhetoric cloud hopesforthefuture. Potential regional conflicts overnaturalresources, borders , andtherights ofethnic minorities remain a realthreat. Positive phenomena suchas rising livingconditions, economicdevelopment, the modernization of industry and infrastructure, andnewfreedoms, inother words, exist alongsideother , more troubling trends. In literature, likewise,the futureseems uncertain. Postmodernism, thedominant culturalmovement in muchof thisarea in the decadesthatfollowed thecollapseofcommunism ,seems,according to someobservers, to bewaning, andyetitisbynomeansclearwhat willreplace it.Although many promising young writers have emerged, fewwield thesortof influence orboastthekindofoversize public persona that bothofficial andunofficial writers ofthecommunist periodso frequently did.As a result, thelandscapeof literature seemsto have fragmented: readershave morechoices andmust, intheabsence ofa clearpantheon of leading writers, themselves evaluate a constant stream ofnewtexts andauthors. Moreover,evienas the varietyof serious literature in Russia and EasternEurope has increased

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