The Literary Journals: What Next?

Abstract

Fifteen, or even ten, years ago, everybody was busily digging a grave for the literary journals. Yet they have not gone away, authors of various ages are still keen to get exposure in them, and, if that were not enough, with every passing year yet another batch of "new generation" literary magazines appears—in Moscow, in other Russian cities, and in West and East European countries outside the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). This must mean there is a demand for such journals, both from the literary milieu and from readers. But the role played by such publications in the literary and social space has most likely changed, compared with the "journal boom" of the late 1980s and the early 1990s. What is that role now? This is the question Znamia asked critics, writers, and editors of literary journals in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and elsewhere.