Journal | Lagoonscapes
Monographic journal issue | 3 | 1 | 2023
Research Article | Phenomenology of Oil in Soviet and Post-Soviet Literature
Phenomenology of Oil in Soviet and Post-Soviet Literature
Abstract
The essay explores the cultural meaning and social significance of oil in Soviet and post-Soviet Russian culture through the analysis of three literary case studies. The analysis shows that, from the anthropocentric optimism of the Soviet era to the awareness of our times about oil as an uncontrollable ‘object’, oil is a hybrid of nature and culture that holds a significant place in Russian literature. The first story is Boris Pilnyak’s Gorod vetrov (City of Winds, 1928), the second is Isaac Babel’s Neft’ (Petroleum, 1934), and the third is authored by Dmitry Bykov and was published in 2017 with the same title: Neft’ (Oil).
Submitted: March 27, 2023 | Accepted: April 12, 2023 | Published June 28, 2023 | Language: en
Keywords Energy Humanities • Contemporary Russian literature • Isaac Babel • Boris Pilnyak • Dmitry Bykov • Petrofiction
Copyright © 2023 Nadia Caprioglio. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Permalink http://doi.org/10.30687/LGSP/2785-2709/2023/01/007
