Marko Pavlyshyn, Marek Nekula, Klaus Harer, Stefan Simonek, Thomas Seifrid, Rainer Grübel, Wolfgang Schlott, Diana Hitzke

Zeitschrift für Slavische Philologie, Jahrgang 74 (2018), Ausgabe 1, Seite 197

Rainer Grübel

Zeitschrift für Slavische Philologie, Jahrgang 69 (2013), Ausgabe 1, Seite 81 - 106

This article addresses the problems of Deleuze’s and Guattari’s concept of nomadism. It investigates forms of strange nomadism such as the contemporary Russian “nomad” Eduard Limonov or his forerunner Vasilii Rozanov. One of the problematic aspects of poststructuralist and postmodern conceptions of nomadism are their concentration on a minority which is destroyed when the majority appropriates it. Another problem is the nomads’ supposedly higher ethics compared to settled people. The case of Eduard Limonov shows that modern “nomads” can be killers and fascists. The writer and politician Limonov travelled through various countries (the Soviet Union, the United States, France, and Russia), drifting through diverse professions and political beliefs. He shot at unarmed people in Sarajevo during the war in Yugoslavia and founded the National Bolshevik Party in Moscow in 2005. The Book of Water (2002) is his most “nomadic” writing. Rozanov’s nomadism may be characterized as “chambernomadism.” In contrast to Nietzsche, the journey almost exclusively takes place mentally and in his study (in this way he journeys through Egyptian religion, Judaism and Christianity) – even though he preferred to move from his apartment to a new one to avoid renovating. His mental nomadism appears in the presentation of different, often alternative political positions that depend more on the journal or newspaper in which they were published than on the author’s credo. This multiplicity of opinions undermines the identity of the subject as a stable agent in (Russian) culture. In his writings, sensitivity to location is documented by paratextual annotations such as “in the street”, “on the train”, “on the way.” However, exploring different compositional techniques in the miniatures in his series of poems and books is the most nomadic feature of his writing.