Aleksandr Prokhanov and the Politicization of Art in Post-Soviet Russia

Abstract

Abstract: Immediately in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, a rupture between art and politics occurred in Russia which defined the literary aesthetics of the transitory era. The Russian journalist and novelist Aleksandr Prokhanov attributed this break between art and politics to liberal-oriented pursuits. He believes that this schism has harmed social thought and Russian culture, and he has tried to reformulate the rela- tionship between art and politics in a prescriptive and normative way, as was the typical understanding of art in the Soviet Union. Far from being a mainstream literary figure and ideologue in the early 1990s Prokhanov later argued that a new understanding of patriotism should be constructed. He espouses this idea through his novels -which are highly political, his articles in Zavtra -where he is the editor-in-chief and in his position at Izborski Club Forum -where he has been the manager since 2012. In sum, Prokhanov’s ideology has played a role in the establishment and institutionalization of post-Soviet Russian state. This study focuses on how political themes are developed in some of Prokhanov’s novels and non-fiction works.