SOURCE: “Breaking the Circle of the Self-Domestication, Alienation, and the Question of Discourse Type in Rozanov's Late Writings,” in Slavic Review, Vol. 52, No. 1, Spring, 1993, pp. 67-86.

In the following essay, Hutchings examines the problem of discourse and genre in Rozanov's later writings.

It is often the mark of a writer's sophistication and innovative powers that certain of his/her key works present difficulties in the area of genre. Pushkin's Evgenii Onegin, Dostoevskii's Diary of a Writer, Tolstoi's War and Peace and Belyi's Kotik Letaev serve as instructive examples from Russian literature. To this list one could certainly add the late writings of Vasilii Rozanov. The genre of Rozanov's trilogy Solitaria, Fallen Leaves and Apocalypse of Our Times is notoriously resistant to definition and generates a host of competing alternatives. Should they be treated as collections of fable-like anecdotes, as autobiographies, confessions, fictions or as something that combines elements...