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- Catastrophic events in a modern Russian novel: Aleksey Sal’nikov, Dmitriy Danilov, Eugene Vodolazkin
- Grimova O.A. Catastrophic events in a modern Russian novel: Aleksey Sal’nikov, Dmitriy Danilov, Eugene Vodolazkin. Vestnik of Kostroma State University, 2026, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 91–96. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2026- 32-2-91-96
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.34216/1998-0817-2026-32-2-91-96
- УДК: 821.161.1.09”21”
- EDN: RHLCEY
- Publish date: 2026-03-24
- Annotation: The article is devoted to the study of catastrophic narrative in modern Russian literature and based on the novels “Occultrager” by Aleksey Sal’nikov, “Sasha, Hello!” by Dmitriy Danilov, “Justification of the Island” by Eugene Vodolazkin. The texts that meet two conditions were chosen as the object of analysis: 1) the significance of catastrophic events for the diegetic world; 2) this type of event becomes the object of aesthetic reflection in the work under consideration. The selected novels explore both personal and social catastrophes, providing a representative coverage of the chosen topic. Valeriy Tyupa’s idea about the super-event status of a catastrophe serves as an important starting point for the discussion. In Aleksey Sal’nikov’s novel “Occultreger,” the catastrophic is not only deprived of its super-event and event status, but also of its characteristic feature of intentionality – the protagonist of the novel, who is the main focaliser of the narrative, does not perceive the destruction of the world as something fatal. The event status of the catastrophic is also devalued due to the text’s total visual encoding, which blocks narrative empathy. In Dmitriy Danilov’s novel “Sasha, Hello!” the hero’s personal catastrophe (a death sentence) has a super-event status, but this super-event is virtual in nature. Its conventionality is determined by the introduction of a framing narrative that informs the reader that they are reading a screenplay. In Eugene Vodolazkin’s “Justification of the Island” the collapse of the world is a logical conclusion to the Island’s story, which was primarily motivated by greed, the pursuit of fame and lawlessness. The catastrophe that awaits the Island is not eventful, as it is completely controlled by the transcendent level of existence. Thus, the modern novel seeks to semantically “neutralise” the terrifying. The analysed novels explore not only the nature of the catastrophic, but also the ways to overcome it. One of these ways is the appeal to the transcendental level of existence.
- Keywords: catastrophic, eventfulness, Aleksey Sal’nikov, Dmitriy Danilov, Eugene Vodolazkin, narrator, focaliser, precedent worldview.
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