“THE MIRROR” AND “THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS” OF NEO-EURASIANISM: THE IMAGE OF CHINA AND THE CRISIS OF RUSSIAN SUBJECTIVITY IN V. SOROKIN’S NOVEL “MANARAGA”

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the specifics of the representation of the image of China in modern Russian dystopian prose against the background of the actual geopolitical discourse of the “Pivot to the East” (Turn to the East). The novel “Manaraga” (2017) by Vladimir Sorokin serves as the material for analysis, considered as a key text deconstructing the ideological myths of Neo-Eurasianism. The objective of the work is to identify the mechanisms of artistic construction of the image of China not as a traditional geopolitical ally, but as a subject of absolute technological and biological power. The research applies methods of geopoetic analysis and postcolonial theory, in particular, the concepts of “internal colonization” and “self-exoticization.” It is established that a rigid binary opposition “futuristic China — archaic Russia” is formed in the artistic world of the novel. It is proved that under the conditions of the technological dominance of the East, a process of “museumification” of Russian identity takes place: the national cultural heritage (logocentrism, classical literature) undergoes commodification and is used as a fuel resource to meet the needs of the new hegemon. The author concludes that such a narrative strategy diagnoses a deep crisis of Russian subjectivity and reflects the ontological anxiety of society regarding the transformation of the country into a cultural and raw material appendage of the Asian world.