Specificity of Author Identification in Memoir Prose by I. Odoevtseva and Z. Gippius

n the context of modern culturology, the memoiristic works of Z. Gippius and I. Odoevtseva are studied. It is established that, on the one hand, memoirs of Z. Gippius and I. Odoevtseva, on the one hand, represent the position of the author-observer and the author-chronicler, but not the object of observation and study, which gives the opportunity to present one's vision of the world; on the other hand, they represent fundamentally opposite styles of authorial presentation, authorial identification types. The unifying features of the memoirists’ recollections are socio-cultural and world outlook problems, the theme of creativity, the departure from the family and domestic theme, the desire to reflect the question of finding one's own place in the world, the theme of spiritual quest and one’s own destiny. At the same time, the embodiment of author's identity in the memoirs of female writers is characterized by a number of principal features. First of all, Z. Gippius’s autoheroine makes her own choice and takes responsibility for herself. Gippius herself makes a choice and takes responsibility for herself, revealing a new type of woman who does not show feelings, living by reason, self-sufficient and independent. Secondly, I. Odoevtseva imaginatively and emotionally recreates portraits of her contemporaries and the creative atmosphere of the writer’s community. Finally, while in terms of style Gippius’s memoirs are extremely rational, precise, logical and consistent, Odoevtseva's narrative, on the contrary, is characterized by a purely feminine type of writing with heightened expressiveness.