And what next? On the prose of V. Narbikova

Abstract

Parallel to radical changes in Russian society in the last decades of the 20th century are transformations in literary methods and genres. There is a widespread notion that new tendences in this sphere were born as a reaction to the uniformistic, boring Sovjet literature of the previous period. Valerija Narbikova was one of the new names which manifested the arrival of postmodernist literature (1989), with its neglect of social and political realities and concentration on the egocentric inner life of an individual and, unusually for Russian literature of the time, its acceptance of sex as the most important part of life, an expression of the desperate need for love and understanding and helplessness in the attempt to discover the meaning of human existence. Narbikova's prose is interesting not for its philosophy, which is intentionally very simple, but for its inventive use of language, for its intertextuality and vitality. Narbikova became almost a cult figure in the 1990s. Her latest novel was published in 1996, and since then she has been silent. Russian society has changed, the reader has become mature, and one may ask oneself in what directions this type of prose might possibly develop.