Russian Emigration in Search of Identity: “Modern Notes” (1920–1940) in the Context of Cultural Dialogue

Abstract

The “immigrant text” is considered in the article as a phenomenon of cultural refl ection of the Russian foreign countries in the post-revolutionary period of Russian history. The “Modern Notes” journal (1920–1940), published in Paris had a significant place in these processes enjoying unchanged popularity over the years. The problem-thematic and fi gurative-style unity determined the integrity and conceptuality of the artistic work that was formed inside the magazine. The “Modern Notes” united prominent writers, politicians, philosophers, publicists, and cultural fi guresunders during the most diffi cult turning point in Russian history. The philosophical and aesthetic searches of Russian emigration were connected with a number of pressing questions about the paths and destinies of Russia, about the identity of the artist and his place in the historical and literary process, about dual models of Russian mentality, dialogic consciousness of the Russian artist and the holistic character of Russian literature. The dynamics of cultural searches was intense and sometimes dramatic. Refl ections on the past and future of Russian literature, representing two branches of the same root, separated by revolution and civil war, conceptualized a new idea of its unifi ed cultural space associated with the traditions of Russian classical literature and its axiological foundations.