The Space for Emigration vs. Identity Profile of Heroines in a Short Story "Woman of Russian Villages" by Ludmila Uliytskaya

Abstract

The object for analysis and interpretation of this paper is the specificity of depicting female “I” on the emigration background as a measure of cultural identity of the heroines in a short story Woman of Russian Villages by Ludmila Uliytskaya. The space as a category is viewed here as a range of oppositions: “one of us”–“a stranger”, Russia–USA, East–West, woman–man, good–evil, etc., which are semantically connected with philosophical, axiological, ontological, and cultural issues. In this text, the above-mentioned category is a base for the ongoing dialogue of the three female protagonists. One of them presents a patriarchal Russian type of thinking; however, for others, living on the verge of two different spaces raises the need for change and revision of the current Western lifestyle. As a result, all of them emerge to be typical women of Eastern cultural space, together with their sensitivity to someone’s misery, sacrifice, and propensity for alcohol which both helps and destructs. Moreover, alcohol is seen as a source of motivation, which allows learning the mystery of existence, makes both fool and sage of the man. It is of use to be a “funny man” or “tragic jester”, standing on the verge of life and death, false and truth, reason and insanity, sobriety and drunkenness.