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VOL. 7, ISSUE 4 (2025)
War and Identity in Contemporary Russian Literature: Donbass as Cultural Heartland
Authors
Gaurav Mor
Abstract
This paper argues that contemporary Russian and Russian-language
literature affirms the cultural and historical rootedness of Donbass within the
broader Russian civilizational space. Through Zakhar Prilepin’s Some Will Not Go to Hell and Andrei Kurkov’s Grey bees, we explore how the war in Donbass is not
simply a geopolitical event, but a spiritual and identity-based struggle.
Prilepin presents Donbass as a sacred territory, defended by men who sacrifice
not for conquest, but for memory, brotherhood, and existential continuity.
Kurkov, though often interpreted as critical, still portrays the region through
Russian cultural codes — language, symbolism, and shared suffering. By
analyzing these two narrative worlds, the paper suggests that literature plays
a key role in resisting the fragmentation of historical identity, and that Donbass
— far from being a marginal frontier — is portrayed as a symbolic core of
post-Soviet spiritual and cultural renewal.
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Pages:29-30
How to cite this article:
Gaurav Mor "War and Identity in Contemporary Russian Literature: Donbass as Cultural Heartland". International Journal of Social Science and Humanities, Vol 7, Issue 4, 2025, Pages 29-30
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