E. N. Tsimbaeva. Women and men in the history and literature of the mid-18th — early 20th centuries: Behind the stage of a literary text

Abstract

E. Tsimbaeva’s monograph analyzes the literature of the mid-18th — early 20th cc. in comparison with the realia of the everyday that were omitted from books by contemporary writers as too obvious and have become obscure and unknown to present-day readers. Notably, the book suggests that the commonly accepted rules and conventions of a period would often determine the plots of contemporary works of literature and shape the images and psychology of their characters, whereas new generations of readers may have trouble understanding their seemingly random and strange behaviour. The scholar argues that the bygone realia of the everyday and customs left behind the scenes of a literary text may not be deduced by the modern reader and therefore provide material for studies by present-day historians. Tsimbaeva’s study focuses on this missing knowledge and its cultural and literary significance.