L. V. Egorova. Inner circle: Selected Vologda literature today

Abstract

The review discusses L. Egorova’s book devoted to Vologdabased literature — currently one of Russia’s most thriving regional literary scenes. The reviewer characterises the book’s structural parts and explores its genre-specific features. Especially stressed are the monograph’s distinct freedom of self-expression in terms of contents, style, and genre, and an original approach to interviews. Egorova’s book offers an invaluable insight into writers’ daily lives and work, and reveals how poets and writers survive in a mediacentric civilisation, what transformations their creative practices have undergone, and how socio-cultural roles assumed by the interviewed authors affect their output and uncover various life strategies of modern-day artists. The reviewer considers Egorova’s book a remarkable phenomenon which combines scholarly principles with a special anthropological approach to the subject matter.