Trickster-Copycat: Van’ka Teliatnikov, or the Everyday Life of Venedikt Erofeev (Late Soviet Masculinity of an Artist)

• In Event: Russian Masculinities III: Post-Soviet Masculinities

Abstract

The paper is about Marina Palei’s novella “Under the Sky of My Africa…” and its main character Van’ka Teliatnikov. I argue that this character is based on Venedikt Erofeev (both fictional and biographical), and embodies the masculine identity of late Soviet and post-Soviet Russian intelligentsia as seen from a woman’s perspective.

Author

• Marija Fedjanina, U of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign