Trauma in the Autobiographical Recollections of ‘the Late Grandson’ of Communism Pavel Sanayev (Micronovel ‘Bury Me under the Floor’) Cover Image

Trauma pokoleniowa w autobiograficznych wspomnieniach „późnego wnuka” komunizmu – Pawła Sanajewa (mikropowieść „Pochowajcie mnie pod podłogą”)
Trauma in the Autobiographical Recollections of ‘the Late Grandson’ of Communism Pavel Sanayev (Micronovel ‘Bury Me under the Floor’)

Author(s): Katarzyna Duda
Subject(s): Political history, Russian Literature, History of Communism, Theory of Literature, Politics of History/Memory
Published by: KSIĘGARNIA AKADEMICKA Sp. z o.o.
Keywords: post-memory; literature; totalitarianism; autobiographical recollections;

Summary/Abstract: In the 21th century, one of the representatives of the writers’ young generation, Pavel Sanayev, has written a novel related to the period of communism and at the same time, to his own family’s past. Many of his ancestors (grandfather, mother, stepfather) were involved with the film industry. As Sanayev has not considerably changed their surnames his book can be considered as an autobiography. The apartment where the eight-year old protagonist lived can be treated as a metaphor of a Soviet concentration camp. Sasha Savelyev was brought up by his cruel, crazy grandmother who did not allow him to leave home, play with other children or even go to school. She did that because she saw Sasha as a weak boy suffering from different serious diseases. Numerous injections, pills, drops, visits to doctors, nurses’ visits, sadness, disappointment… seem to be his torture and punishment. Limited space, regulations and orders can be seen to symbolise communist Russia.

  • Issue Year: 17/2020
  • Issue No: 65
  • Page Range: 99-110
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Polish
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