Nikolay Ulyanov's historical and aesthetic position in the context of “DP literature”

Abstract

Historians attribute the beginning of the scientific and literary activity of the second wave of emigration to the time of the camps for the DP (Displaced Persons).The concept of the “DP literatureˮ is often used as a synonym for the “second waveˮ of Russian emigrant literature. Most of the names of writers who were “displaced personsˮ are not often mentioned in the history of Russian literature and are known only to a narrow circle of specialists. The article examines the special historical and aesthetic position of a prominent representative of this group – Nikolay Ulyanov, justified by a short excursion into his dramatic fate and the history of scientific and literary creative work. Today, in his homeland, Nikolay Ulyanov is better known as a remarkable historian, the author of a few, but unique, scientific works and concepts. And although many of his literary works have also been reprinted and are available to the general reader, the special literary position of Nikolay Ulyanov, which distinguished him in the contradictory literature and science of the second wave, remains not fully studied. The article discusses Nikolay Ulyanov's positioning of himself and his like-minded people as successors and completers of the Russian culture of “Fin de siècleˮ. The disclosure of this provision, an attempt to explain its grounds and consequences for the surrounding Nikolay Ulyanov in a completely different context is undertaken in this article.