CONDIȚIA FEMEII ÎN LITERATURA RUSĂ A ANILOR 1860. ABORDĂRI ALE SITUAȚIEI FEMEII ÎN ROMANELE ÎN AJUN DE TURGHENIEV ȘI CE I DE FĂCUT DE CERNÎȘEVSKI?

The present paper aims to analyze how Russian literature addresses the issue of women's status in society, particularly in the 1860s, a decade that marks a break with the literary tradition of the era. The works analyzed here are On the Eve by I. S. Turgenev and What Is to Be Done? by N. G. Chernyshevsky, both of which address the situation of women in Russian society, paving the way for new interpretations of the “women’s plight”. The way in which the two novels address women’s issues contrasts sharply with the literary tradition that predates them, as they give female characters a complexity previously unseen in literature. The two female characters analyzed here are Elena Nikolaevna Stakhova, the protagonist of the novel On the Eve, and Vera Pavlovna, the protagonist of the novel What Is to Be Done? There are similarities in the way these characters are constructed, both possessing a conviction and strength that sets them apart from the female characters that precede them, but also numerous differences that stem from the ideological divergences between the two authors. They represent different models of women's liberation, paving the way for feminist literature in Russia.