Три взгляда на альтернативную Россию. <em>Маскавская Мекка</em> А. Волоса, <em>День опричника</em> В. Сорокина, <em>Укус ангела</em> П. Крусанова

Abstract

The article deals with three novels representing alternate history/futurology of Russia, a popular trend in contemporary Russian fiction extrapolating actual social and political realities into the near future. All three novels depict dystopian and oppressive societies modelled on the historically known and rejected ways in which Russia has developed: the time of Ivan the Terrible, the aftershock of the collapse of the USSR, the typical Soviet Union of the 1950-70s, and the aggressive Russian Empire of the 19th century. Following the dystopian tradition, the central question is the essence of power and the relation between power and violence, institutionalized in newly-built societies, though the protagonist is no longer a ‘classical’ dystopian rebel but the average man struggling to survive (Maskavskaja Mekka) or a representative of the repressive State machine (Den’ Opričnika and Ukus Angela). Other important questions raised in the novels are the potential threat of Islamization, the territorial and cultural expansion of China, and the crisis of traditional Russian values. All three novels bear strong satirical connotations and numerous intertextual allusions to numerous works of Russian literary tradition.