Girls in Combat
Zoia Kosmodem'ianskaia and the Image of Young Soviet Wartime Heroines
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10481643 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anja Tippner (0000-0001-6903-1145, Professor of Slavic Literatures at the University of Hamburg Germany, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 73 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 371-388 |
| Publication date | 2014-06-04 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Russian Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0036-0341 • E-ISSN: 1467-9434 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/russ.10736 |
| OpenAlex | W2016318971 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
This article explores the literary stylization of adolescent girls as wartime heroes and martyrs. The most famous Soviet adolescent girl heroes of World War II were Zoia Kosmodem'ianskaia, Liza Chaikina, or Zinaida Portnova, but Zoia's short life more than any was transformed into an inspirational story for young Soviet readers. She was presented as the perfect female embodiment of the Stalinist values of innocence, youth, altruism, impatience, intellectual curiosity, modesty, and above of all, strong willpower. I demonstrate how the stories about Zoia and other girl fighters became iconic in Soviet culture, and how the following generations of Soviet girls were expected to emulate them. Zoia's story conceptualized life experiences of girls who were both exceptional and ordinary and projected a vivid picture of the Soviet understanding of emancipation, gender equality and progress
Art · Curiosity · Developmental psychology · Emancipation · Girl · Innocence · Literature · Political science · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Sociology · Eastern European Communism and Reforms · Gender Studies · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology · Soviet and Russian History
| Citations per year | 0.38 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2018 - 2026 (9) |
| Highly cited | No |