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Day Of The Oprichnik Essay

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Vladimir Sorokin's novel Day of the Oprichnik is a scathing critique of present-day Russia. The book is set in a fictional future Russia, where the ruling class has revived the Oprichnina, a brutal system of governance used by Ivan the Terrible in the sixteenth century. Through the character of Andrei Danilovich Komiaga, a high-ranking Oprichnik, Sorokin exposes the corruption, violence, and hypocrisy of modern-day Russia. This essay will discuss Sorokin's satirical approach in the book and how it highlights the problems of contemporary Russia.

The first aspect of Sorokin's satire is his use of historical allusions. The Oprichnina, the system of governance that Komiaga serves, is a direct reference to Ivan the Terrible's regime, which was notorious for its cruelty and oppression. The Oprichniki were a group of Ivan's loyal followers who acted as enforcers of his rule, executing anyone suspected of disloyalty. Sorokin uses this historical reference to highlight the parallels between Ivan's regime and the contemporary Russian government, which is similarly characterized by corruption and authoritarianism. By resurrecting the Oprichnina, Sorokin suggests that Russia has regressed to a medieval system of governance, where loyalty to the ruler is more …show more content…

The novel is written in a faux-medieval style, with characters speaking in an archaic form of Russian. This creates a dissonance between the language used and the contemporary setting of the novel, highlighting the anachronism of the Oprichnina in modern Russia. The characters also use a lot of slang and obscenities, which serves to underscore the coarseness and vulgarity of contemporary Russian society. The use of obscenities is particularly effective in highlighting the gap between the public and private personas of the characters. Komiaga, for example, is a devout Orthodox Christian in public, but in private, he engages in all sorts of debauchery and

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