REMEMBERING OVERSTOCKED PACKAGING BARRELS [ZATOVARENNAYA BOCHKOTARA]

Abstract

The article is about Vasily Aksyonov’s story Overstocked Packaging Barrels [Zatovarennaya bochkotara], published half a century ago in the journal Yunost’ (1968, no. 3). The publication could have marked a turnaround in the writer’s career and sent big waves across Soviet literature at the time. The story is analyzed in the context of Khrushchev’s Thaw, permeating the country’s social and cultural spheres. Examples of such context include works by the poet E. Evtushenko and the film director E. Klimov. The paper captures responses to the story from the critics E. Sidorov and S. Rassadin, who pointed out the issue of ‘the good man’ in Soviet literature and the problem of artistic conventions correlating with a thoroughly realistic description of reality. The author also draws comparisons of the story to Gogol’s works and their reception by his contemporaries. The article includes a close examination of the dreams and their function in the story. In a tone of disappointment, the author concludes that the publication of Overstocked Packaging Barrels failed to revitalize the country’s cultural landscape, even though it became a literary highlight of the period and, 50 years later, found its place amongst the classical texts of Russian 20th century literature.