The theme of the Suslonger in fiction

Abstract

   The article systematizes the works of fiction, in which the image of the Suslonger training camp is found; there, in Mari forests, personnel were trained for the front in 1941 – 1943. Our analysis is based on the works of the following writers: Ayaz Gilyazov (1928 – 2002), Mark Rafalov (1924 – 2020), Nikolai Sorokin (1941 – 2021) and Firdavesa Khuzina (1955). When writing the paper, we used the cultural-historical and contrastive-comparative methods of analysis. The article proves that the discoverer of this topic in literature was A. Gilyazov, who addressed it in the 1980^s. The books by other writers were pub-
lished in the first quarter of the 21^st century. When developing the Suslonger theme, the authors based it on the personal memories of eyewitnesses-cadets and local residents. The poetics of the parable dominates in Ayaz Gilyazov’s story, whereas Mark Rafalov’s book is of the autobiographical memoirs type. In his novel “The Eternal Volga”, Nikolai Sorokin seeks to reconstruct the history of his ancestors, and Firdaus Khuzin turns to the history of his fellow villager. All of them are united by the desire to visibly show the abuses of power.