Li Xinmei

Cultural identity and self-awareness  of Russian immigrant writers in China   (illustrated in the works of P. A. Severny,  N. I. Ilyina and L. N. Andersen) P. 141 -151.

UDC 821.161.1.09(510)«19»

DOI 10.37724/RSU.2023.78.1.013

Abstract. After the October Revolution and the Civil War, the emigration flow of Russians to China increased, but most of them even preserved their Russian identity for many years. This article is devoted to analysis of the cultural identity of Russian immigrants as illustrated in the works of P. A. Severny, N. I. Ilyina, and L. N. Andersen. The authors singles out four aspects of this cultural identity. Firstly, it is the memory of the former Russia: although the post-October Russian emigrants were actually refugees abandoned by their homeland, the memory of the recent revolutions and the Civil War, of a prosperous life in tsarist Russia, and of its age-old cultural traditions, was fully preserved in their minds, which generally built up the collective memory of Russia and Russian identity. Secondly, they showed a tragic perception of life in emigration: the majority of the Russian diaspora went through incredible hardships and experience painful dramas, which increased the general longing and nostalgia for the homeland and, at the same time, self-identification as Russian people. Thirdly, they saw encounters of Russian and Chinese cultures, and the differences between the two led Russian emigrants to spiritual loss and even to internal conflicts. In order to resolve such conflicts in the immigrant community, they resorted to cherishing the same Russian identity. Fourthly, they expressed a passionate desire to return to Russia: when Russians had an opportunity to choose their fate and civic identity, practically all of them sought to return to their homeland (but not all of them succeeded in it). Thus, Russian emigrants, wherever they lived, always chose Russian culture, thereby preserving and confirming their own Russian identity.

 

Keywords: cultural identity, Russian emigrant writers, P. A. Severny, N. I. Ilyina, L. N. Andersen.

 

 

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