The relationship between the norms of the standard language and the norms of the language of literature is characterised by both proximity and distance. On the one hand, authoritative, normative dictionaries and grammars often use examples from prose fiction or even poetry to illustrate language usage, while, on the other, fictional texts – prose and poetry – have long played an important norm-maintaining, exemplary role in general education. The traditional status of the language of literature with regard to the norms of the standard language is quintessentially expressed in the preface to the Academy Grammar of Russian published in 1980:

This view of the (ideal) relationship between the language of literature and the standard language has been challenged in the post-Soviet era by several processes of sociolinguistic change. These have to do both with the marginalisation of literature in Russian society today, and with the linguistic and stylistic make-up of the wide variety of contemporary literary texts. Still, authoritative voices in public discussions about language continue to highlight the privileged role of the standard language, as well as the idea that there should be a close link between the language of literature and the norms of the standard language. This can be seen, for example, in recent trends in linguistic and cultural policies, a topic to which I will return towards the end of this chapter. We will start, however, by examining a couple of different views on the relationship between the norms of the standard language and the language of literature.

When justifying the inclusion of writers in a broad survey on attitudes towards the language situation in post-Soviet Russia, the editors of the volume Pisateli o iazyke (Writers on Language, 2004), argue for a close interrelationship between linguistic awareness and the language of literature.