Элементы псевдоистории в романах В.П. Аксенова и их актуализация в современных исторических условиях
Elements of Pseudo-History in the Novels of V. P. Aksenov and Their Relevance in the Contemporary Historical Context

Summary/Abstract: The plots of several of Vasily Pavlovich Aksenovʼs novels are set in an environment based on real historical events and connected to historical figures. In his works, the author often presents a unique “unfolding of history”, including an “explanation” of events through other facts, characters, and documents—which have been supplemented and given a different ideological and artistic interpretation—that supposedly remained hidden from the eyes of serious historians. This is how the intricate interplay manifests itself in the development of the “historical” framework of the plotlines in his novels The Island of Crimea, The Voltaireans, Moscow Kva-Kva, and others. The new myth-making present here—both in a retrospective and a futuristic sense—brings a fresh perspective on the philosophy of history to the author’s writings and draws the reader into reflections on Russia’s past and future. The development of the fictional world in Aksenov’s pseudo-history is striking for the relevance of the themes it addresses—both general ones (man and power, the boundaries between myth and history, fantasy and reality) and specific ones (the legacy of Catherine II, the history of Crimea, and the Russian Civil War)—which attests to the enduring nature of his work.

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