Etoev, A. and Krusanov, P., eds. (2018). How we write. Writers on literature, time, and themselves. Moscow: Azbuka-Attikus. (In Russ.)

Abstract

A review of the collection How We Write. Writers on Literature, Time, and Themselves [Kak my pishem. Pisateli o literature, vremeni i o sebe] published by Azbuka-Attikus in 2018. The reviewer analyzes the difference in approach to compiling the material for the reviewed collection and its ‘original’ of the same name initiated by Eugene Zamyatin and published in 1930. The author provides a general description of essays in the collection, produced by contemporary writers. He singles out authors whose self-reflection transcends into an aesthetic dimension. Several internal plots of the collection are identified: ‘I and literature,’ ‘I and time,’ and the writer and a multicultural situation. Noted is the disparity on the artistic level among the essays by different contributors. The reviewer concludes that, rather than representing a consistent statement defined by an internal logic and purpose, the collection attempts to cover the entirety of the contemporary literary process and showcase its diversity.