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‘My mother left behind a few manuscripts.’ On the author’s perspective of L. Petrushevskaya
https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2021-5-109-125
Abstract
The genre-specific nature of L. Petrushevskaya’s The Time: Night [Vremya noch] and its intertextual aspect are examined in the context of ideas about the folk character of art. The paper especially focuses on drawing parallels with A.Akhmatova’s works. The authors pose a question: how does the story interpret the topic that is paramount for Russian literature — public consciousness? Petrushevskaya’s works typically evoke the drama of antiquity, Russian folklore and the Narodnichestvo ideology. Her prose brings back the images of the classical tragedy (fate, retribution, the chorus), common Russian folk mythologemes (an orphaned child, a frisky steed, and sister Alyonushka), as well as Pochvenniks’ theses about popular wisdom. The article suggests that The Time: Night both subverts and pays homage to it. The novelet parodies but also celebrates folk epos and its creators.
About the Authors
T. A. Gordon
Hofstra University
United States
United States
Tatiana A. Gordon, Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
Hofstra University, Hagedorn Hall, Hempstead, New York, 11549
N. S. Rafalson
Slovo/Word magazine
United States
United States
Nadezhda S. Rafalson, editor
PO Box 1768 Radio City Station, New York, NY 10101
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Review
For citations:
Gordon T.A., Rafalson N.S. ‘My mother left behind a few manuscripts.’ On the author’s perspective of L. Petrushevskaya. Voprosy literatury. 2021;(5):109-125. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.31425/0042-8795-2021-5-109-125
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