Stories of initiation into adulthood

[Amy Adams]

Valentin Rasputin's "Live and Love" (Vek zhivi, vek liubi) is a
particularly moving tale on that subject (and has for a hero a young
boy).
 
You may also look into Russian fairytales. They often feature male
heroes who undergo initiation into adulthood -- sometimes along the Snow
White or Sleeping Beauty model.
 
Amy Singleton Adams
Associate Professor of Russian 
College of the Holy Cross
Worcester, MA 01610 USA
(508) 793-2543
aadams at holycross.edu 



>>> Alla Lamp <al3p at CMS.MAIL.VIRGINIA.EDU> 1/15/2008 1:07 PM >>>
Dear Seelangers,

I am doing research dealing with Russian stories of initiation into 
adulthood. I interpret initiation as experiences which lead to a
dramatic 
change in a child's (teenager's) worldview. This change is perceived as

sudden either by the hero himself or by people around him. So far, I
've 
looked only at stories describing female experiences:
1)Karolina Pavlova "The Double Life";
2)          Dostoevsky "Netochka Nezvanova";
3)Leo Tolstoy "Family Happiness";
4)Nadezhda Khvoshchinskaia "The Boarding-School Girl";
5)Vsevolod Krestovsky "The Little Demon";
6)Fyodor Dostoevsky "The Karamazov Brothers" – Liza Khokhlakova’s 
plot-line;
7)Boris Pasternak "The Childhood of Luvers";
8)Nina Berberova "Ladies from St. Petersburg";
9)Marina Tsvetaeva "The Devil"
10)Vera Panova "Valia"
I would greatly appreciate if you could suggest any other Russian
literary 
texts that are worth looking at in regard to female or male initiation
into 
adulthood.

Alla Lamp,
graduate student
al3p at virginia.edu 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface
at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/ 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------