The plastic age of Russian poetry

Abstract

Dergachev believes that modern poetry, along with any other art form these days, is going through an identity crisis, which has made it virtually impossible to distinguish true art from a parody of it. It is increasingly more common for journals and literary award short-lists to feature perfectly confusing oeuvre, to whose defense, however, fellow poets and nominating panels jump without hesitation. The author contemplates what criteria could help ordinary readers to orient themselves, and where in-group favouritism comes in. He claims that nowadays preferences of the few tend to shape the so-called ‘elite’ trend, which in turn forces its choice on hundreds of people, and the artificially complicated narrative and the shrinking poetic framework, along with a social or feminist agenda, propel the fact of the author’s position to dominance over the fact of artistic creation. The article offers an opinion about the problems of contemporary Russian poetry and attempts to look at them from an insider’s perspective as well as through the eyes of an outsider, by a blogger who has stayed out of the inner workings of journals.