The unfulfilled. After youth
The article analyzes prose works by Russian twenty- and thirty-year-old authors who emerged in the early 2000s and gradually fell into obscurity right after their initial success. Sekretov’s article discusses A. Babchenko, I. Denezhkina, A. Karasyov, and others. All of their works share numerous distinctive traits, such as a predisposition to uncensored autobiographical narration, full identification of the author with the protagonist, and preoccupation with challenges faced by young adults and the force of rebellion, which, however, boils down to the axiomatic teen defiance. As a result, the young authors-cum-protagonists lose their swagger upon the first breakthrough, with their subsequent career grinding to a halt after the highest but single achievement. Therefore, in his analysis of the novels, interviews and critical reviews dedicated to the books by I. Denezhkina, A. Karasyov, I. Mamaeva and others, Sekretov identifies the generational characteristics of early 2000s literature and tracks the authors’ subsequent progress, seeking the reasons for so many failures.