M. Kudimova. A phobia of long words: Notes from the years 2013–2020

Abstract

The review discusses the genre, ideas, and style of M. Kudimova’s A Phobia of Long Words [Fobiya dlinnykh slov]. Taking into consideration 20th-c. Russian essays and the contemporary methods of book-writing by incorporating social media posts, the review proceeds to examine the principal characteristics of the publication: the prevalence of literary references, an emphasis on the classics, the fact that memoirs and autobiographical notes become a means to a journalistic end, the paradoxical nature of titles and combinations of topics, and its aphoristic quality and intellectualism. Bursting with volumes of content that reflect intensifying social media communication, missing structural elements to help readers personalize their reading choice, and peppered with emphatic statements, an encyclopaedic density of proper names, and complex terminology and metaphors, this book proves a challenge for any reader but intellectuals and philologists.