Valeriia Narbikova belongs to the generation of young writers whose literary debuts took place during the last years of the Soviet Union. As Soviet society was undergoing complex social, cultural, and political changes under perestroika, official censorship disappeared and restrictions on publishing were lifted. Perestroika opened the way for new trends in literature that differed strikingly from the official Soviet canon. Narbikova's name figured prominently among the emerging writers and became associated closely with what critic Sergei Ivanovich Chuprinin described in the newspaper Literaturnaia gazeta (The Literary Gazette, 8 February 1989) as alternativnaia proza (alternative prose).

Alternativnaia proza, also known as drugaia proza (another prose), soon became a catchphrase and umbrella term for critics and readers. It referred to fiction that diverged greatly from the official critical realist model. Rather than exploring social and political issues in a realist vein, alternative prose was preoccupied with existential problems and literary experimentation...