THE IMAGE OF THE RIGHTEOUS WOMAN IN E. VODOLAZKIN’S NOVEL “JUSTIFICATION OF THE ISLAND”

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the poetics of the image of Princess Xenia, the main heroine of E. Vodolazkin's novel "Justification of the Island," in the context of the hagiographic tradition. The image of Xenia is endowed with the features inherent in the righteous hero thanks to a whole complex of hagiographic topoi used by the author: fervent faith, otherworldliness, the ability to foresee the future, the choice of a "celibate marriage," etc. The same features can be traced in the description of the child's image of Xenia, and in the plot drawing associated with the heroine in different periods of life. The article draws typological parallels with the hagiographic saint Ulyana Osoryina. At the same time, the external level of the hagiographic topic, oriented towards the formal side of image construction, is reinforced by the corresponding axiological imperative. The latter is the idea of spiritual and physical salvation, which manifests itself in the plot of the novel. The key feature of the author's narrative is the combination of hagiographic and literary techniques in building the image of the righteous. The hagiographic features are complemented by artistic, purely novelistic features, which makes the poetics of the image more complicated: it is characterized by internal conflict, emotionality, elements of psychologism that are not characteristic of the hagiographic righteous. The image of Xenia remains integral, the hagiographic tradition does not undergo a transformation, but on the contrary, intensifies the image, explicating new meanings for the reader. The dominance of Xenia’s image, expressed in the idea of salvation, testifies to its belonging to the hagiographic tradition.