Il problema di chiamarsi classico… Riflessioni dentro e fuori del Canone letterario russo

The Issue of Being Called Classics: Considerations Inside and Outside the Russian Literary Canon. This paper aims at analysing the meaning and role of the Western aesthetic canon in the formation of the specificities of Russian literature. Key concepts of these reflections are the allogenic nature of the Western canon in relation to Russian culture and the dynamic dichotomy between Law and Grace (norm and creativity) that Russian writers have placed in constant and productive strain, to the point of distorting the canon itself. Attention is also paid to the relationship between writers and Power, for which theliterary Pantheon is repeatedly used to consolidate national identity and for this reason undergoes forms of ideological and authoritarian canonization.