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MASTERING SPACE IN WOMEN’S PROSE OF THE END OF THE 20TH CENTURY

Literary Сriticism , UDC: 82-3 DOI: 10.25688/2619-0656.2023.11.14

Authors

  • Gavrilina Olga Vadimovna PhD (Philology)

Annotation

The research of women’s literature of the late twentieth century remains in the circle of topical issues for study. The aim of this article is to describe the space in the works created by women and to identify the images, details, and ideas related to it. To realize the goal, we, following G.D. Gachev, turn to the concept of “world model”, which combines spatial, psychological, and mental categories. We conclude that space in women’s literature is divided into closed (the house), which is traditionally associated with women, and open (garden, forest, field, etc.), which women gradually master. Going outside the house becomes a metaphor for a woman’s liberation, her acquisition of inner strength. The concept of “own” house is often correlated with the grandmother’s house (this house is cozy, keeps the history of the family), and “someone else’s” house is a dormitory room in which the woman is forced to live with others (this space is uncomfortable, it reflects the unsettledness of the heroine’s life). The open space gradually expands, each locus (balcony, garden, city, city, forest, field, or steppe) is connected with different details. Thus, on the balcony may appear a vine, symbolizing the male experience; in the garden – apple trees, the fruits of which carry a different meaning from the biblical one, they embody the bodily experience of the heroine. The image of the forest is usually off to the side, the heroine does not enter it. Much more meaningful are the images of the steppe or the field, which connect with different facets of the female experience. The findings of the study help to expand the ideas about the specificity of the world model in women’s literature and can be used in the future.
Tags:
gender studies , women’s literature , world model

How to link insert

Gavrilina, O. V. (2023). MASTERING SPACE IN WOMEN’S PROSE OF THE END OF THE 20TH CENTURY Bulletin of the Moscow City Pedagogical University. Series "Pedagogy and Psychology", Russian and comparative studies, 221–236. https://doi.org/10.25688/2619-0656.2023.11.14
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