Information about the author:

Acknowledgements:

The research was carried out with support of a grant from the Russian Science Foundation (project no. 19-78-10100, https://rscf.ru/project/19-78-10100/) at IWL RAS.

Abstract:

The article deals with literary criticism about foreign female writers in the pro-feminist magazines Zhenskoe delo and Zhenskii vestnik in the aspect of constructing female role models. Articles by Zinaida Vengerova and Maria Tsebrikova published in Zhenskoe delo give examples of women influencing the development of society. At the same time, Vengerova considers the importance of women’s literary creativity on the example of the anti-war works of Bertha von Suttner, and Tsebrikova examines the types of literary heroines of George Eliot. Piotr Boborykin, whose essay on George Eliot was published in Zhenskoe delo, reduced the importance of women’s activities compared to men’s, guided by sterotypes about female and male behavior and characters. In the Zhenskii vestnik most of the articles on foreign literature belonged to E.V. Fuks. In many articles, on the example of the biographies of Matilda Serao, Neera, Alvilde Prydz, Maria Konopnicka, Selma Lagerlöf, and others, she constructs a model of a national woman writer who represents the image of the national character, the history of her country, the fate of fellow citizens and receives national recognition. In the articles reviewed, such characteristics as daydreaming, chastity, the ability to compassion, to raise children, which were traditionally attributed to the behavior of women, are transferred to their role as writers. The similarity in the understanding of female role in society and family in Tsebrikova and Fuks reveals similarities in that they both show how a woman successfully combines the traditional female roles of mother and wife with other roles.