Contemporary Russian Satire

This wide-ranging study presents an examination of the extraordinary diversity and range of satirical writing in contemporary Russian literature. Through the close analysis of seminal satirical texts written by five Russian and emigré authors in the 1970s and 1980s, Karen Ryan-Hayes demonstrates that formal and thematic parody is pervasive and that it provides additional levels of meaning in contemporary Russian satire. The author focuses on different subgenres of satire and offers practical criticism on each text.

Acknowledgements; Note on the translation; Introduction; 1. Iskander's transparent allegory: Rabbits and Boa Constrictors; 2. Beyond picaresque: Erofeev's Moscow-Petushki; 3. Satire and the autobiographical mode: Limonov's It's Me, Eddie; 4. The family chronicle revisited: Dovlatov's Ours; 5. Dystopia redux: Voinovich and Moscow 2042; Conclusions; Notes; Select bibliography; Index.