Reconsidering Ru(li)net: Russian literary self-publishing platforms and the war in Ukraine. A case study of Litnet.com

Abstract

In this paper, I examine online self-publishing literary platforms in Russia from a historical and legislative perspective. Using a mixed methods approach, including digital ethnography, field diary, phenomenological interviews, I trace how the Russian Internet, and particularly literary self-publishing platforms, transformed from a free space without legislation or geographical borders to a limited digital arena controlled by the Russian state. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this transformation was complete: the boundaries of the Russian literary Internet coincided with the geographical borders of Russia. The notion of Runet as a community of Russian-speaking people was broken by regulative acts of the Russian government and a war. Literary and online self-publishing practices, contrary to Soviet samizdat, depend on state legislation due to their commercial nature. Regulatory acts limit authors’ capacities to express their thoughts and feelings in literary work.