Diaspora Reads explores the role of literature and reading practices in the community life of Russian-speaking migrants in Britain. Russophone culture abounds with myths about the special mission of literature and the writer in society. The broader cultural myth of Russian literaturocentrism encompasses the sanctification of highbrow literature, the idolisation of authors as heroes and martyrs, and the idealisation of avid readership. In the diaspora, literaturocentrism takes on a new form, retaining elements of the Russian and Soviet tradition while primarily responding to the needs of migrant readers.
Following the discussions, games, and celebrations of a community book club in London, Diaspora Reads demonstrates how collective reading enables migrants to shape shared cultural identities, forge communities, build a long-distance relationship with their homelands, and become members of a global network of readers.
Angelos Theocharis is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the Department of Media, Culture, Heritage at Newcastle University.
Contents:
i-xii, 1-187
Diaspora Reads: Community, Identity, and Russian Literaturocentrism Angelos Theocharis Complete volume as single PDF
Introduction - Diasporas in a Global Context - Understanding Transnational Identities - A History of Russian-Speaking Migration - Russian-Speaking Migrants in the UK - Book Overview
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25-43
Chapter 1: Russian Literaturocentrism as a Myth and Reality Angelos Theocharis doi:10.59860/t.c160315
Introduction - Role of Literature in Russian Culture - The Soviet Literacy Project and the Creation of the Soviet Reader - The Soviet Author: Between the Writers’ Union and Samizdat - Post-Soviet Russia and the End of Literaturocentrism - Exporting Literaturocentrism - Conclusion
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86-109
Chapter 4: Reconciliation and Nostalgia for the Soviet Past Angelos Theocharis doi:10.59860/t.c48df86
Introduction - Part 1: Obitel’ and Cultural Memory of the Gulag - Shared Reading of Obitel’ and Collective Reconstruction of the Solovki Camp - Part 2: Soviet Nostalgia in Games and Celebrations - Conclusion
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110-30
Chapter 5: Russian Literaturocentrism in the Diaspora Angelos Theocharis doi:10.59860/t.c59d3cd
Introduction - The WRBC and the Search for a Community - Literaturocentrism and the Russophone Transnational Experience - Touring Writers and Diasporic Literaturocentrism - Conclusion
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146-160
Chapter 7: Enhanced Globality and the Covid-19 Pandemic Angelos Theocharis doi:10.59860/t.c6aef93
Introduction - The Waterstones Russian Book Club Goes Online - Hybrid Reading Practices and the Digital Turn - Enhanced Globality and the Russophone Reading Community - Conclusion
Introduction - The WRBC as a Diasporic Community Space - Literaturocentrism in the Diaspora - Relationship with the Cultural Homeland - Beyond the Waterstones Russian Book Club
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17 March 2025 • 200pp