Russian emigre literature of the Third Wave and the creation of exilic identity: Vasilii Aksenov, Eduard Limonov, and Zinovii Zinik

The present study of contemporary literature in emigration is an attempt to create a methodological approach to the literary production of the authors known collectively as the Third Wave. Taking into account the wide range of attitudes these authors exhibit toward exile, their relation to the Russian literary tradition, and their diverse literary methods, my approach seeks patterns in the creation of exilic personae, that is, those representations of the exiled author that are found in the author's work. Three arenas for the creation of exilic personae form the parameters of this approach: (1) the biographical legend of the author that emerges from the interrelationship of his literature and life; (2) authorial self-commentaries consisting of documentary genres such as interviews and essays in which the author addresses the condition of exile; (3) the author's literary texts produced following his exile from the Soviet Union. In the artistic production of Vasilii Aksenov, Eduard Limonov, and Zinovii Zinik, all three arenas reveal a high degree of internal organization and aesthetic structuring, demonstrating authors' awareness of the potential for creating exilic authorial personae in acts of journalistic self exposure as well as their literary works. Analyses of strategies of self-representation both inside and outside the literary text reveal the stability of each authors' artistic method in portraying and inhabiting exilic personae. Strategies include acknowledging the poetic influence of Nikolai Gogol and Vladimir Nabokov as émigré authors who have attained canonical status in the Russian tradition and blurring the boundaries between archetypal or mythical representations of exile and personal experience. Texts selected for detailed analysis include each author's post-exilic self-commentary texts, Aksenov's Say Cheese , The Paperscape, and In Search of Melancholy Baby; Limonov's It's Me—Eddie, The Torturer, and 316, point “B”; and Zinik's The Lord and the Gamekeeper, The Mushroom-Picker , and The Russian Service.