Historical Fiction as a Form of Escapism: The Case of Valery Shevchuk

• In Event: Escape to the Past: Escapist Trend in Ukrainian Fiction of the Turn of the 20th-21st Centuries

Abstract

In this paper I reflect on escapism in the historical novels by Valery Shevchuk. This prose is thematically related to the issue of the functioning of an individual in totalitarian conditions. The escape from reality to the past has here the form of avoiding situations that are in contrary to the characters’ conscience and sense of justice. I interpret the characters’ escapism as a strategy of resistance, as he is an author who in the years 69-79 was banned from publication by the Soviet authorities and chose internal emigration.

Author

• Marta Zambrzycka, U of Warsaw (Poland)