Shaping Soviet Teenager into a Free Thinker: Vasily Aksyonov’s novel My Grandfather is a Monument

Abstract

Valeriia Denisenko's article provides an in-depth analysis of Vasily Aksyonov’s novel, My Grandfather is a Monument. First published in 1970 in the literary journal, Kostyor/The Campfire, its aim was the young adult. While working on the novel, the author was engaged in multiple projects that were directed at his adult audience. This particular text is full of cross-references, as well as stylistic and discursive “hints”, that go beyond the framework of this narrative. The experimentations with the very genre of an adventure novel, along with the innovations in style, could be easily cross-referenced with Aksyonov’s other works and they go far beyond the framework of children’s literature. Directed at young readers, these experiments demonstrate an attempt to introduce his audience to the unknown realia of Western culture. The author’s intention to expand his young readers’ horizon is one of the strategies of engagement used in this novel.   Keywords: Aksyonov, “My Grandfather is a Monument”, freethinking, children’s magazines, Kostyor/The Campfire, adventure novel, thriller, an “inside” reader