SUMMARY
Multinational imperial Odessa was a unique city on Russia’s periphery. After its destruction, it lived on in the Odessan style and as the myth of “Old Odessa,” both of which provided Russian culture with ways of talking about diversity. The article analyzes the right-wing Zionist Vladimir Jabotinsky’s novel The Five against the backdrop of the Odessa myth. It argues that its narrative construction and stylistic composition were designed to undermine a politicized, “textbook” reading of the plot. Jabotinsky instead draws a multivocal artistic image and, in his poetic activity, overcomes the confines of nationalist ideological discourse.