Article

Name: Paraliterature in a Transitional era

Authors: Yuliya M. Bryukhanova

Irkutsk State University, Irkutsk, Russian Federation

In the section Review

Abstract:

The paper reviews a monograph by Tat’yana Avtukhovich dedicated to identifying and explaining the parallels between the paraliterature of the 18th century and the mass literature of the 20th–21st centuries. The author interprets the concept of paraliterature within a broad sociocultural framework, highlighting its functional significance during transitional eras, when the “ordinary person” most acutely experiences an identity crisis and a loss of confidence in the future. Drawing on diverse literary materials, the monograph explores how grand utopian projects (from the Enlightenment and Soviet periods) are reflected in the mass consciousness. The specific features of the genre system, the interrelations within the Text–Author–Reader triad, and the search for a new literary language reveal meaningful correspondences between the two centuries, uniting them into a single cultural and aesthetic cycle.

Keywords: paraliterature of the 18th century, mass literature of the 20th–21st centuries, utopian project, transitional era, travel books, text, author

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