Zuleikha and Artyom, Literary Characters of Post-Soviet Fiction: An Attempted Comparison

Abstract

This paper focuses on the novel Zuleikha (Зулейха открывает глаза) by Russian-Tatar author Guzel Yakhina and on its eponymous literary protagonist. It discusses the change and personal growth of a literary character, a muslim Tatar woman, who was raised in accordance with strict Muslim traditions. Her transformation takes place in the 1930s, at the peak of the Stalinist purges and persecution of kulaks and other anti-Soviet elements, in a lawless and often chaotic reality of her exile to Siberia and ultimate settlement in a camp. She is transformed from the notorious Other (object) into a personality (subject), frees herself from the fetters of tradition and adapts to a new environment without having to abandon her ethical beliefs. The paper compares the literary characters of Zuleikha and Artyom from The Monastery (Обитель), a novel written by controversial Russian author and journalist Zakhar Prilepin. It compares their personal growth or degradation, their position in the lawlessness of the camp, and their relation to God.