The Vortex That Unites Us: Versions of Totality in Russian Literature

The Vortex That Unites Us explores the persistent ambition in Russian literature to gather the whole world into an artwork, examining how totalizing figures strive for the frontiers of space and time to guarantee the coherence of the globe and the continuity of history.

Format: Hardback
Length: 228 pages
Publication date: 15 May 2023
Publisher: Cornell University Press

The Vortex That Unites Us is a comprehensive exploration of totality in Russian literature, spanning from the establishment of the modern Russian state to the present day. By examining a diverse range of texts that have gained prominence in the Russian literary canon, Jacob Emery delves into the persistent ambition in Russian literature to encompass the entire world within an artistic masterpiece. Emery unveils how the diverse array of totalizing figures in the Russian canon, often aligned with ideologies such as the totalitarian state or enlightenment reason, strive to transcend the boundaries of space and time in order to ensure the coherence of the globe and the continuity of history. He explores various subjects, including romantic metaphors of supernatural possession, Tolstoy's conception of art as a vehicle for emotional contagion, the avant-garde's panoramic aspirations to capture the world in a new poetic medium, Soviet utopians' efforts to harmonize all aspects of social life along aesthetic lines, Mandelstam's evocation of writing as a transcendental authority that guarantees a grandiose historical rhythm, even when manifested as authoritarian repression, and the mass market of cultural commodities in which the exiled Vladimir Nabokov achieved success with his novel Lolita.

The Vortex That Unites Us reveals a cohesive thread that unites the diverse works it explores, bringing together a multitude of typically compartmentalized texts and artistic approaches. In each of these cases, the medium of totality is the body, inspired by artistic vision and driven by aesthetic response.

Weight: 454g
Dimension: 229 x 152 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781501769382