Russian Christmas Story

A Christmas story is a type of calendar prose that has emerged from folklore and has only recently come to the attention of researchers. Elena Dushechkina's monograph represents the first and most significant attempt to study this phenomenon in domestic literary studies. The author recounts the history of the emergence and formation of the Christmas story genre in Russia, tracing its fate over three centuries - from the 18th century to the present. Based on extensive material, including archival records of folklore texts and literary works published in Russian periodicals from the 18th to the 20th centuries, Elena Dushechkina reveals the artistic nature of the genre and highlights its characteristic main themes. As an appendix to the book, the reader is offered a selection of Christmas stories compiled by the author of the monograph, which includes texts that originally appeared in Russian magazines and collections from the second half of the 19th to the early 20th century.
Elena Dushechkina (1941-2020) was a Doctor of Philological Sciences, a professor at St. Petersburg State University, and an outstanding specialist in Russian literature and culture.