Eduard Lukoyanov. The father of shatuns. Yury Mamleyev’s life to the grave and afterwards

Abstract

In his biography of the renowned 20th-c. author, E. Lukoyanov portrays Yury Mamleyev’s multidimensional personality based on the writer’s own reminiscences as well as opinions of his friends, foes, readers, and like-minded thinkers. Far from trying to mythologize or deconstruct Mamleyev, Lukoyanov sets out to present a meticulous study of his life and artistic personality. The writer’s paradoxical ethical and religious creed is intertwined with the unconventional destiny of his novels and the contexts of their creation and first public attention. The book also details Mamleyev’s evolution as a writer — his momentous transition from the author of the underground The Sublimes [Shatuny] to the creator of Eternal Russia [Rossiya vechnaya], which offers a crystallized ideology instead of transgression. Lukoyanov’s book goes beyond a mere biography and offers literary critical analysis of several aspects of Mamleyev’s oeuvre, making the study even more valuable, given the shortage of literature on the subject.