Eduard Limonov, Sviashchennye monstry [Sacred Monsters]

Andrei Rogatchevski (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway)

Ed. by Neil Cornwell, University of Bristol
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 2.2.2.00: Post-1917 Writing and Culture in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, 1917-present.
Vol. editors: Neil Cornwell (University of Bristol), Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Andrei Rogatchevski (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway)

Dates

First circulation or publication 2003

Places

Russia (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Non-Fiction
- Essay Collection

Resources

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Sacred Monsters

(Sviashchennye monstry, 2003) is a collection of essays about famous people, written in 2001, when Limonov, an inmate at the FSB's Lefortovo prison in Moscow, sought comfort in the thought that some prominent authors, such as de Sade, Dostoevsky and Genet, had been incarcerated too. The example of these and other controversial but inspirational figures, who often acquired a cult following because “they were wild at heart” (

v nikh vo vsekh est' beshenstvo dushi

, p. 5), also helped to fortify Limonov's spirit and thus earned a mention in the book. Its title is a direct Russian translation of the French set expression

monstres sacrés

(first applied in the nineteenth century to famous thespians, e.g. Sarah Bernhardt, and later used in a title of a Jean Cocteau play),…

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1208 words

Citation: Rogatchevski, Andrei. "Sviashchennye monstry". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 17 May 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=24662, accessed 18 April 2024.]

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