The Theme of Female Loneliness in the Writings of Lyudmila Petrushevskaya and Can Xue

Abstract

The issue of female loneliness is observed in many works by Russian and Chinese women writers of the XX-XXI centuries. Attention to this problem reflects the deep concern of women authors for the fate of women. Lyudmila Petrushevskaya and Can Xue are representatives of Russian and Chinese women’s literature of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Despite the fact that the writings of Petrushevskaya and Can Xue belong to different cultural traditions and were created within the different artistic and aesthetic frameworks, attention to the fate of women, the dark sides of life and an attempt to rethink modern life values bring them together. This paper compares and contrasts the writings of Petrushevskaya and Can Xue on the subject of loneliness. The essence and causes of loneliness are revealed. Based on a thorough analysis of their works, it is concluded that each of them approaches this issue from different seemingly opposing perspectives. Petrushevskaya pays attention to the daily life, in her works she depicts the individual loneliness of women through the image of a terrible but entirely real life. While Can Xue is interested in existential being of all mankind, she reveals the inner emptiness of human existence through various metaphors and illusions.