Authors

Ekaterina Shatalova¹;  ¹ University of Glasgow, UK

Discussion

With the growing interest in Russian culture among contemporary Anglophone children’s and YA authors whose works are based on Russian folktales or just exploit some of Russia’s (including the Soviet Union) most stereotypical motives and themes – ballet, tsars, wolves, and lately even the Gulag and Chernobyl), I would like to explore the representation of the Russian ‘myth’ and the portrayal of Russia and Russians in such books.

As children’s literature owes much of its imaginative power to legends and folklore (Fimi, 2017), I will start my research with the overall influence of Russian folktales/fairytales on European children’s literature and culture, from there I will move on to Ruritanian romances (Goldsworthy, 2013) and their fascination with the Eastern European tradition, which could also contribute to the popularisation of foreign-based storylines and exotic settings. Finally, I will investigate how and why modern children’s authors continue to mine this rich seam of Russian heritage, reshaping it to fit new contexts for a contemporary young readership. How do these reworked narratives embrace and reflect the contemporary concerns and ideologies? What matters of identity (national, ethnic, or cultural) are emerging from this writing? These are just some of the questions that this research will explore.