Ускользающие читатели: трансформации популярной культуры на русском языке как вызов исследователям литературных практик

Slavic Literatures (ранее - Russian Literature). 2020. Т. 118. № C. С. 1–24.

Samutina N.

This article – which functions as stand-alone analysis but which also allows readers entry into the cluster devoted to pop-cultural literary practices in this volume – highlights the possibilities and perspectives of an approach that puts the reader at the center of research on Russian-language literary practices and texts. The author focuses primarily on texts related to popular culture, but she also reflects on the contemporary reception of Russian classics and new novels. Drawing upon her experiences as researcher of online Russian-language literary communities that focus on fan fiction and manga, Samutina argues for methodologies that combine the underused classic paradigm of ‘Rezeptionsästhetik’ with new research possibilities that follow “real” readers’ traces online and offline. The author proposes Jenkins’ concept of ‘participatory culture’ as a tool that can potentially enrich scholarship on
contemporary readers of Russian-language literature. As examples of such research perspectives Samutina outlines three problems discussed within the framework of participatory cultures’ research: new affective schemes of reading and writing, i.e. the ‘new emotionality’ of popular literatures; the famous problem with ‘treating characters as if they were real people’ in popular reading; and the impact of participatory cultures on the transcultural flows of texts, ideas, and translations.

Keywords: чтение, market readers, современная русская литература, contemporary Russian literature, культуры соучастия, reading practices, participatory culture, Russian-language internet

Publication based on the results of: Contemporary Historical Culture: Popular Practices and Critical Debates (2020)