Bandits and Poets: Images of the Post-Soviet Generation in the Poems of Boris Ryzhy

Boris Ryzhy (1974-2001) has become a symbol of modern Russian culture. However, he has received little attention from critics or researchers, and so his poetry has been left unanalyzed as a post-Soviet lyric. Nevertheless, his poetry can be characterized this way because it deals with the peculiarities of the generation that came of age during the period that bridged Soviet and the post-Soviet eras. Ryzhy derived the image of “bandits and poets” from the tragedy of this generation, and the image manifests itself in various ways. The two figures are mediated through a marked time “night” when bandits and poets alike face the harsh reality of life. Likewise, violence blended with the poetry comes to characterize the culture of the post-Soviet period. The unique combination of the languages of subculture and high culture as commented upon by several researchers should be examined via the dynamics of the post-Soviet relationship between violence and poetry.