Smirnova, N. (2023). Literary fragment and unfinishable text: Conception and reading. Moscow: Kanon-Plyus. (In Russ.)

Abstract

Smirnova’s book deals with an interdisciplinary topic that is complex and little researched – unfinishable works and fragment as a form of existence of a literary text, also discussing the special prominence of unfinishable works in Russian literature of the first quarter of the 20th c. The transformation of the genre and semantics of a literary fragment and unfinishable work is examined across an impressive compilation of philosophical essays and fiction that allow for analysis of the genesis of unfinishedness and unfinishableness as an artistic creed. I. Smirnova creates a dynamic representation of the literary space of the period and a systemized description of the ideas about the essence of the literary phenomena in question. Such an approach enables a more accurate definition of literary fragment and unfinishable text, while the extensive body of analyzed personalities and works of diverse genres, the author’s genuine immersion in the period, and her original and individualistic judgements and conclusions create a reliable theoretical reference for subsequent research.