A myth of the word. Max Frei

Abstract

The article discusses an author who became popular in the 2000s, Max Frei (a nom de plume of the writer Svetlana Martynchik), and his fantastical cycle entitled The Labyrinths of Echo [Labirinty Ekho]. The critic analyzes its plot and poetics and demonstrates that the whole Echo cycle is characterized by the motif of ‘unrealized literature.' It is about the ‘unrealized Russian literature' that the author keeps talking about in interviews, too. Following the pattern that cements the reality of Frei's artistic universe, the writer created all conditions for the realization of her own mythologeme. It became the background for the FRAM project, an extratextually realized metaphor of expanding the borders of Russian literature. Having secured the support of the Amfora publishers and relying on the authority amassed by Max Frei, Martynchik went on to publish collections of contemporary prose for a decade, printing works written in the Russian language regardless of their country of origin, genres, or topics, thus realizing the ‘unfulfilled opportunities' of Russian literature.