GENERATIONAL DIFFERENTIATION AND ARTISTIC STRATEGIES IN THE LITERATURE OF THE RUSSIAN ÉMIGRÉ COMMUNITY OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

Abstract

The article examines the literature of the Russian émigré community of the first half of the twentieth century as an independent and internally differentiated cultural phenomenon. Special attention is paid to the historical background of the first wave of emigration after the October Revolution of 1917 and to the formation of the so-called “Russia abroad” as a unique cultural space in Berlin, Paris, and Harbin. The study focuses on the generational differentiation within émigré literature and analyzes the artistic strategies of senior and junior writers. The older generation is characterized by its orientation toward preserving the traditions of nineteenth-century Russian classical literature and by its nostalgic reconstruction of the pre-revolutionary world. In contrast, the younger generation sought to reinterpret the émigré experience through modern aesthetic approaches and active engagement with Western literary trends. The article highlights key thematic dominants such as nostalgia, autobiographical discourse, reflection on the Revolution and the Civil War, and the problem of creative freedom. It is concluded that émigré literature became both a form of spiritual self-preservation and a significant stage in the development of twentieth-century Russian literary tradition.