The School of criticism: Collected papers on prose and poetry. (2022). Tula: Leo Tolstoy Museum-Estate ‘Yasnaya Polyana’; The School of criticism: Collected papers on literature and cinema. (2024). Tula: Leo Tolstoy Museum-Estate ‘Yasnaya Polyana.’ (In Russ.)

Abstract

The review deals with two collections of literary criticism papers published as the proceedings of two workshops held at Leo Tolstoy Museum in Yasnaya Polyana on a regular basis and supported by ASPIR [the Association of Writers’ and Publishers’ Unions of Russia]. The reviewer introduces the new generation of literary critics — graduates of the School — and analyzes their contributions in the context of the collections’ predominant subjects. For both books, that implies a conversation about the literature of the ‘new thirty-year-olds.’ While the review mentions key concepts of contemporary literary process, such as trauma literature, travelogue, non-fiction, the novel of a generation, etc., it evaluates them in their development from a critical, or, rather, analytical perspective. Examined in detail are texts by M. Tukhto, E. Minaeva, E. Fedorchuk, and other critics whose papers resulted from the discussions at the Yasnaya Polyana workshops.