The image of the old woman in the fairy tales of L.S. Petrushevskaya

UDC 821.161.1-32(081)
DOI 10.20339/PhS.3-26.079

Burylova Arina V.,

PhD student of the World Literature and

Methods of its Teaching Department

Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University named after V.P. Astafiev

e-mail: arien91@mail.ru

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4799-069X

The subject of study is the fairy tales of L. Petrushevskaya published in the collections “Real Fairy Tales” (1999) and “King Lear” (2022). The aim of the research is to analyze the features of the transformation of the archetype of the wise old woman, taking into account gender issues in the prose of L. Petrushevskaya and contemporary literary fairy tales as a whole. The key methods of the research include narratological analysis, which allows the examined works to be interpreted as texts reflecting modern ideas, values, and sociocultural characteristics. A comparative method was also employed to identify similarities and differences in the portrayals of the old woman in literary fairy tales from different eras, as well as a holistic analysis of the artistic text, which provides a deeper understanding of the inseparable connection between the poetics and themes of Petrushevskaya’s fairy tales. As a result of the analysis, it was established that the transformation of characteristic traits and functions of archetypal characters (using the image of the old woman as an example) is conditioned by changes in society. The reevaluation of the archetypal image of the old woman reflects a process of new interpretation not only of entrenched views on the role of women but also of a different perspective on the experience of living as a woman. Such changes in the poetics of the images lead to the transformation of established fairy tale plots, as they cannot align with contemporary gender socialization.

Keywords: L.C. Petrushevskaya, contemporary literary fairy tales, female characters, gender issues

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