Traditionality and/or alternativity as options for reflecting the past in modern Russian prose

The article examines an important contemporary trend related to the deepening attention of contemporary authors to the past. The unabated interest of Russian writers in history and its prominent figures throughout the 20th century is strongly reflected in the literature of the new millennium. The combination of documentary, memoir, and autobiographical elements has allowed contemporary prose writers to create a wealth of interesting literary works. These works have revealed new perspectives on the author's presence in literature. The article pays the most attention to the phenomenon of alternative history in the modern literary process. The strategies for creating a "new" alternative history in contemporary literary texts are diverse. The transformation takes place both through pure fiction and, at times, through science fiction, as well as through revision, deconstruction, and even blatant distortion of well-known historical realities. This includes the reinterpretation of the lives of famous individuals and historical figures. The article focuses on Anna Matveyeva's novel "Every Hundred Years," Andrey Astvatsaturov's novel "Autumn in Pockets," and Alexey Kolmogorov's debut novel about the fate of the last royal family, "OTMA. The Rescue of the Romanovs." These texts allow us to see both traditional and new trends in the restoration of historical realities and the creation of alternative history within the latest literary process.