Closest thing to reality. Roman Senchin’s prose

Abstract

The article analyses the artistic evolution of contemporary writer R. Senchin — from one of his most successful novels The Yoltyshevs [Yoltyshevy] (2009) to later works such as The Runway [Polosa] (2012), a novella, and novels The Flood Zone [Zona zatopleniya] (2015) and Rain in Paris [Dozhd v Parizhe] (2018). It is suggested that each of the works in question are written in response to a 20th-c. classic: The Runway brings back memories of Shukshin’s short stories, The Flood Zone invokes Rasputin’s Farewell to Matyora [Proshchanie s Matyoroy], and Rain in Paris — Vampilov’s Duck Hunting [Utinaya okhota]. The critics primarily focus on the plots that are typical of classical Russian literature, e. g., the fate of a ‘small man’ or an eccentric (chudik). Drawing from the traditions of the ‘village’ and ‘urban’ prose, Senchin creates a modern version of the two. The authors consider Senchin a proponent of objective emotionality, one of the few modern successors of the classical tradition, and argue that his characters are true heroes of our time.