Interpretation of the 20th–21st Сenturies in Foreign “Histories of Russian Literature”

The object of research in the article is the genre of “a History of Russian literature&8j1;: such “Histories&8j1; include all periods of its development: from the beginnings to the current state. In Russia, the creation of “Histories&8j1; of native literature testified to a high level of cultural development, the accumulation of classical artistic material and the formation of adequate historiographic models. However, the article analyzes foreign histories of Russian literature that have been published or republished in German, French, Italian, and English over the past fifty years. These “Histories&8j1; differ in methodology, degree of spaciousness and conceptuality, but in any case they are carefully prepared. Their analysis shows that the forecasts of Western scholars about the crisis of the “History of national literature&8j1; (rejection of the category of “national history&8j1;, “change in the media landscape&8j1;) were not justified. Russian literature “Histories&8j1; written in Russia, however, should learn from the experience of foreign Russian literature “Histories&8j1;: this is a clarification of the assessments of specific writers, ways of understanding Russian literature of the 20th–21st centuries (especially the last two decades). Especially important is the dialogue between Russian and Western “Histories&8j1; in theoretical questions: that is, the statement of the problems of composition, periodization and сanon.