Histoire de la littérature russe en exil : la « période héroïque » de la jeune poésie russe à Paris

Toward the History of Russian Literature in Exile : the “Heroic Period” of Young Russian Poetry in Paris The definitive history of Russian émigré literature in France is yet to be written. Until present, ail works describing the development of Russian literature on French soil in the interwar period have followed the same methodological convention according to which Russian literature in exile was born in Berlin, while Paris did not become its capital until roughly 1925. It has been argued that, thanks to the fluidity of political demarcations and the popularity of the Soviet avant-garde among younger Russian literati in Paris between 1921 and 1924, one must exclude this chapter of artistic activity in exile from the study of Russian émigré literature. Due to this methodological approach, the literary life of Russian exiles in Paris has been implicitly treated as nonexistent until 1924. The present article argues that the Paris period of 1921-1924 was as important for the evolution of Russian émigré literature as its Berlin period, since the Paris period produced a large number of major émigré literary figures. It is impossible to comprehend the general evolution of Russian émigré literature in ail its complexity, as well as the artistic trajectories of many exiles, without taking into account this Paris period called by Dovid Knut "the heroic period of young émigré poetry."