The article proposes a reading of two novels by Evgenij Popov (b. 1946), Nakanune nakanune (1993) and Podlinnaja istorija «Zelenych muzykantov» (1999), as a response to “the language question” in post-perestroika Russian culture and society. The heterogeneous linguistic landscape of Nakanune – a remake of Turgenev's classic Nakanune – is compared to the “theoretical” reflections on language and style found in the numerous footnotes contained in Podlinnaja istorija. The comparative view opens up for a discussion of two principal types of metalanguage and the differences and interactions between them: explicit commentary on language and linguistic reflexivity through linguistic practice. For the latter, I propose the term “performative metalanguage”, and point to the numerous ways in which linguistic norms and styles may be negotiated, challenged and commented on through the linguistic practice, and in combination with straightforward commentary.