Smells, things, sounds: Signs of the past in the works by A. Astvatsaturov

Abstract

A new wave of Russian writers began to publish their works at the turn of the 20th-21st century. Although it is not possible to speak of a homogeneous trend, in their novels and short stories we note a revival of traditional narrative forms and a renewed interest in psychology and life events. Among such authors, we find a St. Petersburg writer Andrei Astvatsaturov, who explores St. Petersburg’s present in close connection with Leningrad’s past through the memories of his main character. In the spotlight of his first two books, “People in the Nude” and “Skunskamera”, we do not find any simple objects but we find, using the terminology of Yu.M. Lotman, “signs of time”. In the present contribution, the linguistic and semiotic analysis of some examples from Astvatsaturov’s books focusing on things and sounds from the Soviet past indicates, in line with S. Boym’s definition of reflective nostalgia, that the world of childhood, not at all devoid of blame and weakness, and treated in an ironic Chekhovian manner, is lost and partially idealized because of the gloom of life in the present. A comparison with the film “Pioneer Heroes” by Natalia Kudriashova, where similar “things” are showed through iconic signs of the cinema, is also mentioned.