“...Russia’s past affirms its identity”: Soviet and emigre literature in F.A. Stepun’s critical perspective

Russian emigre philosopher and critic F.A. Stepun held a centrist position in the literary-critical debates of the first wave of emigration. He was skeptical towards emigre literature, which irritated emigre writers and critics, but at the same time, he expressed restrained opinions about Soviet literature, suggesting that it should be discussed with a number of limitations. In an essay from his cycle “Thoughts on Russia”, published in “Modern Notes” in 1925, Stepun argued that Soviet literature was oriented towards the future, while emigre literature was focused on the past. According to the critic, both metropolitan and emigre writers, despite their formal and ideological differences, were united in their desire to negate contemporary Russia. Therefore, in Stepun's view, both literary traditions were unviable. The potential ways to bridge this gap were outlined by Stepun in his article “Post-Revolutionary Consciousness and the Task of Emigre Literature”, published in “Novy Grad” in 1935. By problematizing the categories of “memory” and “reminiscence”, the critic set the task for emigre literature to link literature and politics. Essentially, this was the same call not to deny contemporary Russia or the present in general. Overall, the temporal discourses described by Stepun explain his isolated position in the emigre literary-critical discussions about the development paths of Russian literature after the revolution and his aspiration to scrutinize Soviet and emigre literature impartially.