Authors

Michał Kołakowski¹;  ¹ University of Warsaw, Poland

Discussion

Alexander Prokhanov is a contemporary Russian writer and one of the main ideologues of Russian ultranationalist circles, combining Russian nationalism with nostalgia for the Soviet era. 

Despite the fact that for a long time Prokhanov was seen as a rather minor figure, in recent years many of the political ideas expressed in his books have become the ideological basis for Putin's political decisions, such as attempts to rehabilitate Stalin's legacy or neo-imperialist policy towards post-Soviet countries. 

The main purpose of this paper is to analyse the components of anti-Western and anti-liberal narratives present in three Prokhanov's novels published during the 21st century: The Political Scientist (2005), The Cruise Liner 'Joseph Brodsky' (2006) and The Governor (2016). These narratives include a fierce critique of globalism, liberal democracy and capitalism. Prokhanov frequently uses a dichotomy between Western countries plotting against Russia and virtuous Russian patriots with an anti-Western attitude.

Although the aforementioned narratives are not particularly novel, Prokhanov's strong influence on contemporary Russian state ideology means that an analysis of his prose can facilitate an understanding of the concepts used by Russia to justify its aggressive actions towards other states.