УДК 821.511.152 

EDN VAFNHO

 

Interpretation of a Female Image in V. Mishanina’s and Yu. Kuznetsov’s Prose: Comparative Aspect

Levina N. N.

 

Abstract

Introduction. The article considers the embodiment of a female image in the works of such Mordovian writers as V. Mishanina and Yu. Kuznetsov. The novelty of the research is dictated by the insufficient study of the interpretation of a female image in the prose of these authors and is realized in the comparative aspect of their creativity, as well as in the inclusion in scientific circulation of some works that had not previously been studied in Finno-Ugric literary studies.

Materials and methods. The materials of the study are the stories and novellas of V. Mishanina and Yu. Kuznetsov, in which a gallery of female images is presented. The use of problem-aesthetic, structural-semantic and comparative methods contributes to a more productive analysis of the authors' works and disclosure of the stated topic.

The results of the study and their discussion. In Mordovian literature, there are rich traditions of depicting female images. From the point of view of the stated topic, the creative experiments of prose writers V. Mishanina and Yu. Kuznetsov, who presented a whole gallery of multifaceted, ambiguous and memorable female images, are of scientific interest. In this article, focusing on established traditions and individual writer's preferences in the representation of the character sphere, the strategy of modeling the female image in the prose of these authors is analyzed.

Conclusion. In the course of analyzing the prose of V. Mishanina and Yu. Kuznetsov, the author of the article comes to the conclusion that, revealing the essence of female images, each of the writers uses both a set of traditional means of representing the character sphere, and individual author's methods due to the originality of the artistic worldview. The types of heroines presented by the authors are polar and ambiguous. V. Mishanina in her works assigns a special place to the images of single women, who dream of personal and family happiness, or mothers, who are the embodiment of modesty, femininity, hard work. In the works of Yu. Kuznetsov, despite the presence of positive female images, a different trend has emerged. The heroines of a number of his works are characterized by frivolity, indifference, the desire for material enrichment, lack of spirituality. However, in any case, the female characters of the authors represent a complex set of a number of parameters, a set of multiple personality-psychological, spiritual and moral characteristics.

Keywords: female image, character, author, hero, prose, short story, novella, plot, composition, artistic medium

For citation: Levina NN. Interpretation of a Female Image in V. Mishanina’s and Yu. Kuznetsov’s Prose: Comparative Aspect. Bulletin of the Research Institute for the Humanities by the Government of the Republic of Mordovia. 2023;15(3):178—190. EDN VAFNHO

 

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The article was submitted 01.06.2023; approved after reviewing 07.07.2023; accepted for publication 10.07.2023.

 

Information about the author:

Natalia N. Levina, Associate Professor of Department of Finno-Ugric Philology of National Research Mordovia State University (68 Bolshevistskaya Str., Saransk 430005, Russia), Candidate of Philological Sciences, Associate Professor, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4826-8607, lev.nataliyan@yandex.ru

 

Conflict of interest: the author declares no conflict of interest.

 

The author has read and approved the final version of the manuscript.