This volume is an up-to-date, scholarly, and lucid, examination of major works of some of the Russian writers who have come to prominence since 1985, when Gorbachev rose to power and effectively abolished all literary controls. The title of the book is taken from articles in the Soviet/Russian literary press which sought to address this new and often outrageous type of literature.

The author contends that 'alternative prose' in Russia deserves serious critical attention, and that in discarding the 'civic mindedness' of a former era, it is aligning itself more with Western literature and is rediscovering pre-Stalinist literary trends.