Second Conceptualist Wave (Parschikov, Iskrenko, Arabov, Irten'ev, Bunimovich, Druk, Rubinstein)

          If by XX century, we truly mean a “short century” (1914-1989) beginning from a shot in Saraevo and ending with the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the second conceptualist wave concludes this chapter of the Russian poetry.

          Most of these poets were already in their thirties and forties when they first appeared in public during the Perestroika years (1985-1989), and, some continue their poetic oeuvre in the new Russia (or America). The brightest stars of this generation, Parschikov and Iskrenko, are deceased, the “last decadent” Yuri Arabov (whom author remembers as looking like a very large insect) became accomplished screenwriter and Evgenii Bunimovich launched a successful career in Moscow City politics.

        Another umbrella term used to describe them is “Moscow mytho-poets”, which accurately characterizes their main unifying feature as the troubadours of the collective (sub) consciousness of the Soviet era quickly descending into a popular myth.