Historical trauma in contemporary Russian literature (Based on the novel "Justification" by Dmitriy Bykov)
Abstract
Contemporary Russian literature is seen as an opportunity to return to those historic events that currently appear as a traumatic experience. In contrast to the established cultural and social vision of the past, contemporary literary works find ways to replicate trauma, as well as to study it (through the search for the critical distance).
To illustrate this, we focus on the novel "Justification" (2005) by Dmitry Bykov dealing with the traumatic conjunction of World War II and Stalinism in the national memory. In his novel, Bykov resorts to paradox and provocation, typical for postmodern works, to emphasize the problems of mythologization of historical memory and of the evils of Stalin's Terror, which found "justification" in the victory over Nazi Germany.