Authors

Svetlana Novikova¹;  ¹ Independent Researcher, UK

Discussion

"At the beginning of the new century, the invisible and indescribable majority of the dead became the new minority; endlessly vulnerable, humiliated, their rights abused. I believe this must change, and change within our lifetimes...," wrote Maria Stepanova in her novel In Memory of Memory (2017, translated by Sasha Dugdale, 2021). This conference paper explores the evolving discourse on the rights of the dead in Russian culture during the late 2010s - early 2020s. Examining literature, activism, and politics, it highlights how historical revisionism and the retro-utopian public agenda of recent decades have led to questions about the ethical appropriation of the voices of past generations by the living. Examples such as the widely resonating poem Grandfather (Дед, 2022) by Evgenia Berkovich and Maria Stepanova's exploration of memory in her works are discussed. The poem of Berkovich, dedicated to the commemoration of the Second World War, brought to the forefront inquiries concerning the ethical engagement of the deceased in the theater of remembrance and their right for oblivion. One of the central leitmotifs in Stepanova’s works is the viewing the past as a colonial store, where contemporary humanity can exercise unrestricted control over the memory of their ancestors. This theme is examined in close connection with the oeuvre of Stepanova’s 'literary doppelganger,' (Mikhail Yampolsky) W.G. Sebald (1944 − 2001), and the 'metaphysical activism' attributed to him by Stepanova, which extends its influence across passed generations. The paper also delves into the art activist project ''The Party of the Dead'' (Партия мертвых), an art activist project founded by Maxim Evstropov in 2017, which employs 'necroactivism' to critique manipulations of deceased voices. I contend that rooted in the 'Post-Soviet Hauntology' tradition described in Alexander Etkind's Warped Mourning (Stanford University Press, 2013), this discourse reveals an emerging perspective treating the dead as a marginalized minority deserving of restored rights. These endeavors may manifest purely as artistic phenomenon (as seen in the works of Stepanova and Berkovich) or go beyond art, evolving into ethico-political projects (as exemplified by Evstropov’s works).