Post-Traumatic Hedonism

Abstract

Residing at the epicenter of a vibrant culture of modernity, Russian Parisians, especially those younger and better integrated, were attuned to diverse transnational aesthetic, ideological, and philosophical trends. Far from being preoccupied solely with their exilic predicament, these writers sought to engage with Western artistic models, even if such “disloyalty” to the national canon provoked criticism from the more Russia-centered members of the diaspora. The preceding chapters have focused on the reasons underlying the assimilation of the human document by the international “lost generation” as the most adequate genre for expressing its traumatic experience. As a Russian version of this cultural mythos, the “unnoticed generation” produced texts in a similarly unadorned, confessional style—but from an émigré perspective. The human document was particularly productive for textual representations of Paris, as it facilitated the correlation of post-apocalyptic sensibilities with the darker aspects of the modern metropolis.