Novels of the end of 1990s-2000s on changing inter-generation relations and experience transfer
Russian literature of the 1990s-2000s emphasizes the relationship crisis between generations of "grandfathers", "fathers" and "children". The collision of stereotypes and values of generations - the archetypal process - is becoming too common in the era of Technos. The concept of a dynamic culture fundamentally changes the idea of consistency and efficiency of storing the generational experience. Formalists said that there is no one-way development, but only the polycentric one. This can be correlated with the idea of "rhizome" (G. Deleuze, F. Guattari), topical in the modern "communicative" era. The literature of the 1990s-2000s shows that forgotten "side lines", "older traditions" become important in private domestic life. In the novels of the 1990s the "indirect" situation (in the sense of kinship) of generational links is punctuated: uncle (aunt) / nephew (Runaround by A. Utkin, Medea and Her Children by L. Ulitskaya), teacher / student (Chapayev and Void by V. Pelevin, Slynx by T. Tolstaya), neighbours in the dorm (Underground or Hero of Our Time by V. Makanin), stepfather / stepdaughter (The Immortal by O. Slavnikova). This is typical for the approach of the1990s, due to either acute criticism of the "Soviet" values of "fathers", or loss of awareness of the "fathers" in historical cataclysms. This approach gives an unexpected transformation of generational inheritance practices, appropriate to the needs of the era of the 1990s in the story (continuity within a single generation, transfer of experience from junior to senior, etc.). In the novel Runaround A. Utkin shows by the material of fictional "historical" scene of the 1830s that continuity is only possible in synchrony, within one generation, outliving their experiences within themselves. In the novel of V. Makanin, The Underground or Hero of Our Time, an underground old writer P. learns from a young banker Lovyannikov how to exist without any support of the mass values and stereotypes, the observance of which leads either to anti-social acts (murder, committed by Petrovich), or to a spiritual dead end ( closure of the underground values). Novels of the 2000s show the interest of young characters in the "grandfathers" (Haze Lies on the Old Steps by A. Chudakov, The Resurrection of Lazarus by V. Sharov, Konigsberg by Yu. Buida, The Fish by P. Aleshkovskiy, Mathematics by A. Illichevskiy, etc.). The distance from the "grandfathers" in time and space, the fact that they have the "texts" allow "grandchildren" to take up the spiritual continuity in terms of civilization experience division. In Chudakov's novel the character realizes that all things his grandfather taught him every day are fading away. P. Aleshkovskiy, in his novel The Fish. The Story of One Migration, shows that as a result of communication with old strangers the character finds a salutary experience of alienation from the world and acceptance of its chaos. In the story by I. Kochergin, I Am Your Grandson, the state of being a grandson is a label by which the writer Ilya is remembered in Belgium. Ilya writes a novel about his grandfather, Stalin's supporter, plays with the text of grandmother's oral stories, but he is realizes the inexplicable life of the elders.