Problem of anti-genre in the works of Yevgeny Zamyatin

The research aims to substantiate the presence of anti-genre formations in Yevgeny Zamyatin’s works. The article examines the history of the question: the emergence of the term “anti-genre” and its development in Russian literature. The research argues for the appearance of the anti-vita, the anti-patericon, and the anti-utopian novel. The interrelation of form and content in Zamyatin’s works is traced: “anti-genre” as a reflection of Zamyatin’s worldview, his aesthetic principles. The scientific originality of the research reflects the transformation of genres in the light of modern studies, the emergence of the anti-vita and the anti-utopia as anti-genres in contemporary Russian literary studies. The article presents the explorations of literary theorists seeking to prove the close relationship between form and content in a work, reflecting how form influences the author’s concept in the text. The results show that this new genre formation allows for the identification of the writer’s worldview and his attitude towards religion – issues that have long been debated in literary scholarship and criticism. Analysis of the works in the light of this updated genre system makes it possible to substantiate a concept of Russian life that was anathema to Zamyatin himself. The formation of this concept stemmed from Soviet power and Zamyatin’s increasingly complex relationship with it over time.