A Writer and a Witch: The Phenomenon of Mariana Romanova in Russian Literature of the 21st Century (2002-2021)

Abstract

The author discusses the persona of the master of horror, Mariana Romanova (b. 1979), a controversial contemporary Russian writer, who, for some critics, is the “Russian Stephen King”. The author traces Romanova’s life path from the earliest stage of her fascination with extreme sports to her most recent literary, para-literary and non-literary attempts, in which she demonstrates her fascination with the esoteric second dimension, the results of individual experiments with her own consciousness, and her passion for the dissemination of the world’s mysteries. This article constitutes an abridged introduction to the subject matter and poetics created by Romanova, whose individual style bears references to the classics of Russian literature: the astonishing writings of Nikolai Gogol, the fluidity of Nadezhda Teffi’s storytelling, and the mysterious narrations woven by Aleksey K. Tolstoy.