Sergei Kaledin: The author and his art (with special attention to "Smirennoe kladbishche" and "Stroibat").

Abstract

This dissertation discusses the life and work of the Russian writer Sergei Evgenievich Kaledin. Kaledin came to prominence in 1987 with the publication of "xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx" in the Moscow literary journal xxxxxxx xxxx. These were the early days of "glasnost'," the political policy that allowed greater freedom of expression in Russia after 1986. This dissertation is in part a contribution to the history of the literature of "glasnost'." It examines the work of Sergei Kaledin by, in the first chapter, introducing the man and his work and reviewing the reception his work received. The second chapter, drawing extensively on interviews both published and personal, provides material on Kaledin's views and opinions on literature in general, on the process of writing, and on the history and meaning of his own works. The last chapter of the dissertation concentrates on the stories "xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx" and "xxxxxxxx" (1989). They are examined from the perspective of themes, composition, style and language. Chapter Three also offers a comparison of Kaledin's style and language to that in Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's xxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx. Kaledin's style is further examined from the point of view of narrative structures, and the language is discussed as it compares to Conversational Russian (xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxx). Included as appendices are a list of Kaledin's works and an Russian-English Glossary of selected words and phrases found in the works. Thus, this work is also a contribution to Russian lexicography and the study of contemporary Russian.