Šklovskij Pro, Trockij Contra: “Canonizing” Vasilij Rozanov in the 1920s

This paper offers a reading of the critical work written on Rozanov in the 1920s with the focus on new interpretations of his style as an organic part of his ideas. It examines the opinions on various aspects of Rozanovʼs experimental narrative expressed by such leading literary personalities as Viktor Shklovskii, Viktor Khovin, Aleksei Remizov, Dmitrii Sviatopolk-Mirskii, Erikh Gollerbakh and Konstantin Mochulʼskii on one hand, and views by Lev Trotskii on the other. The aim is to create a representative typology of those opinions and interpretations which can be viewed as main trends of critical thought of the 1920s. The trends which in this decade mark the beginnings of the specificity of Russian culture in emigration still show aspects of homogeneity with intellectual thought inside Russia.