Accelerated Development and the Formation of North Caucasian Postmodern Literature

In the mid-twentieth century, the academician G. D. Gachev proposed the theory of “accelerated development,” according to which the literatures of minority peoples having been delayed in their historical evolution for various reasons are capable of rapidly integrating into the unified global literary process and, within a short period, catching up with or even surpassing highly developed national literatures. The present article substantiates the relevance of Gachev’s theory through the example of North Caucasian postmodern literature, which has emerged as a coherent literary school. Focusing on the novel In Your World I Am a Passer-By by Dina Damian (the pseudonym of Madina Tlostanova), the study demonstrates how a single “turbulent genius,” represented by the Kabardian writer, accomplishes a dual task: elevating regional postmodernism to an unprecedented level while simultaneously enriching world literature with an innovative poetics and a range of original philosophical concepts. The novel also addresses several additional issues related to clarifying the philosophical, historical, social, and aesthetic foundations of postmodernism.