Towards a Russian Literature of the Anthropocene. Introduction

This introductory article describes the genealogy of the general impact of the “Anthropocene” with relation to Russian literature and culture. The essay starts from the initial phase when the “Anthropocene” was coined and proceeds by further scrutinizing the concept, which has given rise to unprecedented cross-disciplinary work identifying and tracing the impact of humanity as a geological force. In the second half of the introductory essay, attention is given to a Russian literature of the Anthropocene, from Vladimir Vernadsky and Aleksei Pavlov to Konstantin Merezhkovskii. The text concludes by offering a general overview of various engagements with the Russian literary imagination that feature this special issue.