Rosja za kamiennym murem. Nowe średniowiecze w twórczości Władimira Sorokina (na przykładzie powieści Dzień oprycznika)

The article debates the sources of the Russian national identity, inspired by the novel by Vladimir Sorokin Day of the Oprichnik. In this dystopian fiction Sorokin depicts Russia in the third decade of the 21st century as a place where technological progress meets a return to the ancient social order, encapsulated in the system of state controlled terror called the Oprichnina. Sorokin exploits that vision to reflect upon the Oprichnina as a diabolical constant relapsing in deceptively different costumes throughout centuries of Russian history. Indeed, in various press interviews the Russian novelist asserts that the Oprichnina constitutes the very foundation of the Russian national identity.