Threatened Scholars: Writer and Public Intellectual Dmitry Bykov on Russian Ressentiment and Resilience

This is the first in a series of profiles of fellows participating in OSUN’s innovative Threatened Scholars Integration Initiative, which supports writers, researchers, teachers, and intellectuals who have fled authoritarian governments in their home countries.

Surviving Poisoning and Professional Attacks

The only thing Dmitry Bykov remembers as he lay comatose for five days in a hospital bed in Russia during April 2019 was a feeling of euphoria. Even though he had been poisoned by Russian federal security services and was gravely ill,“I felt like I was 20 again,” he says. “I felt flattered because it meant I was not being ignored,” says the darkly humorous and charismatic journalist, novelist, public intellectual, and outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin. 

“Russian literature still holds some power, and if you write well, you begin to be accepted as a prophet,” says Bykov, who migrated to the US three years later under the aegis of OSUN’s Threatened Scholars Integration Initiative (TSI). TSI offers fellowships at OSUN institutions to scholars, writers, and other intellectuals whose critical work, or even identity, forces them to leave their home countries due to threats from authoritarian regimes or other types of persecution.
 
The initiative offers fellows a safe haven and a place where they can integrate into the local community while pursuing their teaching, writing, or research. It also benefits students and faculty at the host institution, giving them valuable exposure to the various global perspectives and stories that visiting fellows provide.
 
Since its inception in 2021, TSI has supported 166 individual fellows from 23 countries. Residential and non-residential academic affiliations have been hosted by 18 OSUN institutions, with fellows in exile from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Morocco, Myanmar, Nigeria, Palestine, Russia, Serbia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Turkey, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Venezuela.
 
Bykov survived the poisoning and stayed in his much loved Moscow for three years, until the Russian government’s clampdown on his writing and broadcasting work became increasingly oppressive. Eventually, the opportunity to come to the US presented itself and just one week before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Bykov fled.

Ressentiment and the War in Ukraine

Since his arrival in the US, Bykov has lived up to his aforementioned identification as a prophetic (and prolific) Russian literary figure, writing biographies of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov, as well as a science fiction novel. Simultaneously, he has taught at Cornell University in New York state for the 2022/23 academic year and is currently at the University of Rochester, specializing in literature courses focused on prison and exile in Russia and Gogol’s creation of the Ukrainian national mythology.

Bykov says this area of post-Soviet literature reflects a certain ressentiment that abides in the Soviet/Russian consciousness, an amalgamation of unexpressed feelings of despair, frustration, and hostility generated by the loss of 15 former republics. He thinks this sentiment plays a key role in current popular Russian support for the war on Ukraine.

“I think that the real support for the war can be compared with the real opposition to war, with about 10% of the Russian population supporting either side and about 80% just waiting for any winner that will help them to define their attitude,” he says. Current surveys report that roughly 60% of Russians support the war but this percentage fluctuates as daily events unfold.

While Bykov originally thought sanctions and global disapproval would bring the war to a swift end, he now thinks more military support from the US and EU is urgently needed. “The war can be finished at any moment when the West is ready to stop it,” he says. “You can't win without arms and you can't lose with such a courageous population,” he says, referring to the Ukrainian people. He adds that Russian citizens “have no private hatred for Ukraine and no true devotion for the motherland.”

A Lost Generation Ready for Action

Bykov says he has enjoyed his time at Cornell and he appreciates the hospitality of his hosts, the curiosity of students who attend his lectures, and the institutional resources he has benefited from while researching and writing his books. But he’s also eager to return to Russia, where he hopes to one day serve as the head of a university or the editor-in-chief of a newspaper or press agency.
 
Bykov believes that his cohort of Russian migrants–the “lost generation,” who acutely experienced the chilling effect of Putin’s regime on culture and social mobility–would be happy to get back home and use their skills and abilities to enhance life in Russia. “We're waiting for a chance to do something. That's the reason I feel so young and so ready for action,” he adds.

Look for more profiles of fellows from the Threatened Scholars Integration Initiative.

Post Date: October 17, 2023