Alexei Navalny, Patriot

• In Event: 200 Years of Dissent: From the Decembrists to Navalny

Abstract

Memoir is by its nature a hybrid genre. Alexei Navalny’s memoir Patriot (2024) exploits this hybridity. It is alternatively a testimonial, a “whodunnit,” a prison diary, a series of social media posts, a meditation on the nature of truth, corruption, Russian history, and happiness. It is also a “How-To” book, detailing how to be an oppositionist, how to survive a SHIZO punishment cell, and how to have hope in Russia’s future. In this paper, I will explore how Navalny writes within the Russian memoir tradition, which opposition strategies he employs that hearken back to earlier dissenters and which techniques are his innovations. I would suggest that his memoir should be read as a companion piece to the 2022 documentary film "Navalny" by Daniel Roher, not to mention the multiple videos that Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation made, especially "Putin’s Palace" (2021).

Author

• Ludmilla A. Trigos, Independent Scholar