A Study Of Postmodernism In Makanin’s Fiction Writing

Makanin is one of the leading figures in contemporary Russian literature.Since his arrival on the literary scene in 1963,Makanin has written and published 32 novels.In the early days,Makanin’s fiction was not recognized by the mainstream literary community,but things changed from 1993.From 1993 to 2008,Makanin won the Booker Prize for Literature,the Pushkin Prize,the Russian State Prize for Literature and Art,and the Great Russian Book Prize for Literature,among other important literary awards.During this period,Makanin’s works showed post-modernist literary qualities.The way in which this literary quality was presented naturally becomes a valuable topic of research.Along this line of thought,this paper chooses three basic features of Russian postmodernist literature to structure the whole paper,namely,"anti-utopianism," "intertextuality," and "metaphor".In order to make the whole essay more focused,four representative works of Makanin,which are most closely related to the above three structural points,are chosen to carry the specific textual analysis work.They are "The Interrogation Table" "The Long Road" "In and Out of Holes" and "The Underground Man,or Contemporary Hero".This paper consists of three parts: the introduction,the body and the conclusion.The introductory part describes the significance of the research,the research methodology and the innovation points of this paper,and also collates the main research status of Makanin and his works at home and abroad.The main text consists of three parts.The first part introduces the origin and creative history of Makanin’s postmodernist novels,in which the origin part is the origin and characteristics of Russian postmodernist literature,the creative history part is the relationship between Makanin’s life and his postmodernist creations,and introduces several of Makanin’s major postmodernist works,showing the transformation process of Makanin’s creative style and ideas.The second part introduces the literary qualities of Makanin’s postmodernist novels,which are intertextuality,anti-utopianism and metaphor.Taking The Underground Man,or the Contemporary Hero as an example,analysing its thematic intertextuality and plot intertextuality.Taking The Interrogation Table as an example,analysing the anti-utopian nature of its anti-totalitarianism;and taking The Long Road as an example,analysing the anti-utopian nature of its anti-technological abuse.Taking In and Out of the Hole as an example,analysing its existential environment metaphor and existential meaning metaphor.The third part provides a modern interpretation of Makanin’s postmodernist novel,discussing the issue of maintaining the self under the alienating power of The Interrogation Table and the issue of technological value-bearing raised by The Long Road.The concluding section summarises the main content and ideas of the thesis,indicating that it is the intertextual,anti-utopian and metaphorical literary qualities of postmodernism that have contributed to Makanin’s writing in this period,demonstrating the maturity of his creative skills and ideas.