Ofiara czy drapieżca? Kobieta-potwór w wybranych powieściach Aleksieja Szołochowa
Victim or predator? Female Monster in Alexei Sholokhov’s Selected Novels

Author(s): Anna N. Wilk
Subject(s): Language and Literature Studies, Studies of Literature, Comparative Study of Literature, Russian Literature, Philology
Published by: Ośrodek Badawczy Facta Ficta
Keywords: Russian literature;Contemporary Russian literature;Russian fiction;Alexei Sholokhov
Summary/Abstract: Anna N. Wilk’s chapter delivers an analysis of novels by Alexei Sholokhov (Tyelo and Podval ) as an example of an updated vision of the dark side of femininity. Over the centuries, women have been accused of having magical abilities. Consequently, their physicality have been viewed as arousing both desire and fear of death, or loss of control over one’s life. Different varieties of female monsters survived in cultures aroundthe world as the antithesis of the usual “human” women, such as, for example, demonic lovers or vindictive, malicious ghosts. Despite the development of civilization and social changes leading to the empowerment of women in family, social, and professional life, the aforementioned concerns are still haunting the collective imagination. In Sholokhov’s novels, “women-monsters” focus their attacks on men, exhibiting outrageous brutality and sadism. Wilk’s analysis allows to demonstrate that the fear of the negative femininity is still an actual, timeless trope in popular culture.

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