Abstract. The present paper aims to analyze how Russian literature addresses the issue of women’s status in society, particularly in the 1860s, a decade that marks a break with the literary tradition of the era. The works analyzed here are On the Eve by I. S. Turgenev and What Is to Be Done? by N. G. Chernyshevsky, both of which address the situation of women in Russian society, paving the way for new interpretations of the “women’s plight”. The way in which the two novels address women’s issues contrasts sharply with the literary tradition that predates them, as they give female characters a complexity previously unseen in literature. The two female characters analyzed here are Elena Nikolaevna Stakhova, the protagonist of the novel On the Eve, and Vera Pavlovna, the protagonist of the novel What Is to Be Done? There are similarities in the way these characters are constructed, both possessing a conviction and strength that sets them apart from the female characters that precede them, but also numerous differences that stem from the ideological divergences between the two authors. They represent different models of women’s liberation, paving the way for feminist literature in Russia.

Keywords: feminism; womanhood; Russian literature; liberalism; nihilism; women’s liberation.

Abstract. This paper analyzes Vsevolod Garshin’s short story An Incident (1878) through the perspective of Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity and Julia Kristeva’s concept of the Abject. By focusing on the character of Nadezhda, a young prostitute, the article explores how her identity is constructed and constrained by societal norms, male expectations and patriarchal discourse. This research aims to investigate how gender roles, social recognition and abjection shape Nadezhda’s subjectivity, revealing the limits of her personal agency within inflexible social structures. This analysis demonstrates that the protagonist’s attempts to maneuver between socially prescribed roles are temporary and eventually coerced, while her encounter with her counterpart, Nikitin – a civil servant who falls in love with her –, illustrates the destabilizing power of the Abject. Ultimately, the fates of both characters exemplify the inevitable tension between desire, social regulation and identity, thus highlighting the structural forces that trap individuals in liminal roles.

Keywords: Vsevolod Garshin; An Incident; identity; gender performativity; Abject; agency; prostitution.

DOI: 10.62229/slv15/11

Abstract. The issue of identity and its loss has often been addressed in émigré literature, as it deals with the inner conflict that individuals feel in relation with themselves and the society in which they live. Thus, many Russian writers at the beginning of the 20^th century who experienced emigration turned to literature in order to express their feelings and ideas about integrating in a new environment, but also to represent the impact that this change may have on immigrants’ perception of their own life. The purpose of this article is to analyze the psychological mechanisms through which some of Nina Berberova’s characters (a writer belonging to the first wave of Russian emigration 1920-1940) come to define their identity, attributing their social and professional failures to the changes brought about by emigration. To this end, we will consider the characters’ perspective as well as the narrator’s discourse. We will also analyze the possible causes of the emergence of an identity crisis in the lives of these characters, both before and after their refuge abroad.

Keywords: Nina Berberova; Russian emigration; social identity; exile.