Meaning of chernukha | Babel Free

Definitions

A gloomy genre of Russian horror.

uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“Though the USA came in for severe criticism, it was admitted that at least the Americans had perfected a form⟳ for the horror film. The Russians were unsure of genres. One speaker made the helpful observation that we should distinguish between home-grown 'chernukha' and foreign 'chernukha'.”

“It should be emphasized that, although Petrushevskaia's subject matter⟳ is weighty, serious, often horrific, her texts abundant in image of loss, death, and difficult love⟳, and her awareness of social problems acute, her style is the factor that raises her work⟳ above other practitioners of 'chernukha'.”

“Purveyors of screen chernukha, caught up in the late- and post-Soviet 'pathos of pure negation', threw out several perfectly useful babies with the Bolshevik-tainted bathwater, including: (1) narrative coherency, rejected by virtue of its association with Soviet film and perhaps also because it smacked of teleology […]”

“There are welcome⟳ flashes of humor throughout, particularly the dark, sardonic strain⟳ that Russians call⟳ chernukha. Watching his hapless father speak⟳ about his passion project — a homemade space capsule to be used in the event of a nuclear war — Alexei remarks that “his cheeks remained red with excitement and dermatitis.””

CEFR level