Article

Name: The Story of Parasha Lupalova in 19th Century Russian Fiction

Authors: Nadezhda N. Puryaeva

Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russian Federation

In the section Plot, motif, genre in literature and folklore

Abstract:

In a little over a hundred years (from the beginning of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century), the story of Parasha Lupalova served as a plot basis for at least fifteen literary and musical works. In this story a brave girl takes up a long dangerous journey from Siberia to the capital to plea for mercy for her convict father, and she succeeds. Our hypothesis is that “Parashia’s plot” based on the true story of Parasha Lupalova was formed and reproduced in Russian fiction of the 19th – early 20th centuries.

French authors were the first to use the plot in there works: Sophie Cotten in the novel “Elisabeth L*, or Unhappiness of the family exiled to Siberia and then returned: The true occurrence” (1806) and Xavier de Maistre in the story “A young Siberian: A true incident” (1825). The development of the “Russian” branch of “Parasha’s plot” began much later, with the play “Parasha Sibiryachka” by Nikolay Polevoy (1840). Around the 1870–1890s, Parasha Lupalova was the subject of at least four anonymous popular print stories. “Parashia’s plot” was further developed in Eugene Salias’s “Vania” (1896) and Lydia Charskaya’s “Sibirochka” (1910). The radical changes in socio-political realities that occurred in Russia in the first quarter of the 20th century apparently made “Parasha’s plot” irrelevant: in the 1930s it was replaced by stories about heroes of the new era.

Although “Parasha’s plot” originates in a historical fact, the plot itself quickly became mythologized. Passing from text to text, it easily adopts features of different literary genres: fairy tales, hagiographies, stories, and novels. “Parashia’s plot” offers a new archetype – an active heroine – and joins the list of female types and role models (female ruler, female warrior).

Keywords: Parasha Lupalova, “Parasha’s plot”, Xavier de Maistre, Nikolay Polevoy, Eugene Salias, “Vanya”, Maryasha-Siberian, Lidya Charskaya, “Sibirochka”

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