TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE PERCEPTION OF RUSSIAN LITERATURE AFTER FEBRUARY 24, 2022

This article explores the ongoing transformations in the way Russian literature has been represented and perceived outside Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022, based on texts from Western and Central European media. It addresses several key topoi (the guilt and innocence of Russian classical literature, the imperialism of Russian liberals, the “uselessness” of Russian literature in the context of war) and several narrative lines (cancelling, reconciling, defending). It then examines the perspectives of some of the most prominent contemporary Russian writers, including Evgenii Vodolazkin, Mikhail Shishkin, Ludmila Ulitskaya, and Maria Stepanova.