Russian Writer Evgeny Chizhov: Writers Should Stay away from Both Authorities and Opposition

... early 1980s. The last generation of Soviet youth were greatly influenced by Western counterculture: English-language music and the Beat literature. This counterculture was largely oriented towards the East, as distinct from the traditional, self-centred Western culture. It turned to the East not so much as a source of creativity but rather as a source of new spiritual horizons — mysticism, philosophy and religion. Georgi Bovt: Soft power of the Russian word I first visited Central Asia as a young university student, and continued ...