Marginalization, Intersectionality, and the Petersburg Myth in Maria Zhukova’s 'Nemaia'

• In Event: 19th-Century Russophone Women Writers IV: Noblewomen at the Intersection of Class and Gender

Abstract

Maria Zhukova’s povest’ “Nemaia” (“The Mute Girl”), from her longer work Evenings on the Karpovka, has not received much scholarly attention and has not even been translated in its entirety into English. In this presentation I hope to shine light on some of the timeless topics that make the story worth modern academic study. Zhukova depicts the identities of her characters as intersectional, displaying different social statuses and accompanying power dynamics between people based on gender, class, and ability. I will argue that Zhukova depicts characters situated at the metaphorical and literal peripheries of Russian society as central to the Petersburg myth, offering a counternarrative to the myth that criticizes social hierarchies and depicts borders as permeable and mutable.

Author

• Kelly Gallagher, The Ohio State U