Illness and Death in Vasjakina's Trilogy
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2024-02-17
Author(s)
Abstract
Contemporary Russian literature began to reflect on dying in the 1990s. In the 2020s, a new trend is emerging in literature: more is being written and published about dying. It is noteworthy that feminist autofictional prose deals with this topic. Several autofictional works by female authors deal with what for many is a difficult subject, such as Apoptoz by Nataša Grin' or Choreja by Marina Kočan or Esli by ne ty, to by i ne ja by Vera Tichonova. Oksana Vasjakina is a prominent figure in Russian feminist writing with her trilogy Rana, Step' and Roza. The trilogy deals with the death of family members: Rana is a novel about a mother dying of cancer. Step' deals with the death of her father, who died of AIDS. In Roza, the author describes the life of an aunt who died of tuberculosis. In all these novels, three diseases have shaped human life in the last century and continue to do so. From the perspective of narrative ethics, I critically examine this trilogy and its moral phenomena and contexts to find out how the author creates a new language to speak about the death of her family members.
Language
English (United States)
Keywords
Slavic literature
Medicine
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Refereed
Yes
Event Title
Annual AATSEEL Conferences 2024
Event Location
Las Vegas
Event Date
14.02-18.02
Official URL
Subject(s)