Outlook on the Next Generation: Aleksandr Utkin’s New Printed Classics

Abstract

This outlook on the younger generation examines Aleksandr Utkin’s (b. 1983) serial design of national and foreign literary classics for Terra’s Knigovek book club with special attention to his reinterpretation of Chekhov’s collected works. Today, when monopolization and serialization along with the state-supported monumental return of canonized classics dominate the book market, Pristed argues that Utkin introduces an element of Disneyfied variation and surrealism to the classic series. Though few people have time to read any more, Utkin’s cover design is instrumentalized in the recurring public reading campaigns. However, like most of his generation, Utkin turns to the web before he turns to the medium of the printed book.