in Nina Berberova’s «The Billancourt Tales» short stories
The paper analyzes short stories from Nina Berberova’s first collection «The Billancourt Tales
» for their genre diversity. It demonstrates her search for authorial narration which combines
literary and journalistic discourses as an alternative to a confessional style which was a mainstream
among younger émigré writers. The use of journalistic genres of feuilleton and character
sketch is traced. The anecdotic storyline, the masked narrator, a collision of different speech
styles in narrator’s and characters’ speech facilitate the ironic and externalized depiction of émigré
masses. A departure from feuilleton devices and movement towards a sketchy narration is
explained by incompatibility between satire and author’s compassion for her characters. The latter
stories of the collection are studied for the genre traits of a sketch – a descriptive nature and detailed
elaboration of narration.
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in Nina Berberova’s «The Billancourt Tales» short stories // Сибирский филологический журнал. 2017. № 1. Pp. 92–102. DOI: 10.17223/18137083/58/9.