SOnly maintained by the Kremlin, the memory of the Second World War, designated as the “Great Patriotic War”, has never disappeared from the collective conscience of the Russians. And when the invasion of Ukraine began, this founding myth-a myth behind which, let us remember, there is the very real death of more than twenty million human beings-provided the authors presenting itself as “patriots” a vast arsenal of models and references.
Like visual propaganda, which draws from the imagery inherited from the old war, today's literature plays an important role in this device. It readily resorts to the revenues developed more than eighty years ago for what is called the “prose of lieutenants”, these works based on the military experience of the authors, who multiplied at the end of the conflict.
In fact, this reappropriation does not date from 2022, but already from 2014, at the time of the annexation of the Crimea and the beginning of the Russian invasion in the Donbass. The offensive, since then, also takes place on the cultural level: both poetry and prose are used, even if their roles are not identical. Poetry celebrates the greatness of warriors. The purpose of prose is to develop the version of the Kremlin of current events, to maintain in people the conviction of attending a just fight.
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Source: Lemonde