The problem of memory in “women's” prose by Olga Sedakova

The article deals with the topic of trauma studies with its various aspects (memory, national and cultural-historical identity, art in the post-catastrophe era). For the analysis, we selected essay texts by Olga Sedakova, which touch on the issues of “national memory” and the “moral state of man” in the modern world, as well as the functions of women associated with culture in times of distress. Olga Sedakova is primarily a poet, representative of contemporary Russian metaphysical poetry, and a translator of European literature (R. Rilke, T. Eliot, P. Claudel, P. Celan, F. Petrarch, Dante). She has also written a number of essays on philosophical, moral, and theological topics, as well as essays in which she discusses poetry and the literary destinies of writers. The article analyzes the position of Olga Sedakova in relation to women (poets, writers, cultural figures), such as: Anna Akhmatova, Svetlana Alexievich, Antonia Arslan, Marina Tsvetaeva, Anna Barkova, Natalia Trauberg, etc., who in their texts treated the problem of man in borderline, catastrophic circumstances. Thanks to the essayistic optics, Sedakova’s arguments and ideas on the topic of the creative and cultural activities of these women are revealed. The essayist is particularly interested in the work of the Nobel Prize winner - Svetlana Aleksievich, as well as the work “The Story of the Book from Mush” by the Italian writer of Armenian origin - Antonia Arslan. The analysis in the article is made using the hermeneutical method of research, taking into account the historical, socio-political and literary context. Since Sedakova’s essays are rich in literary and non-literary quotations, allusions and reminiscences, we also used the intertextual method.