Article

Name: Not Female Arctic: The Plot of the Polar Heroine in Soviet Culture of the 1920–1930s

Authors: O. A. Skubach

Altai State University (Barnaul, Russian Federation)

Abstract:

The new concept of heroism, created in the Soviet world in the 1930s, relied heavily on Arctic theme. The plots that make up the domestic Arctic epos are well known. There isn’t full-fledged narrative about the polar heroine among them, although a request for its appearance was formed at a certain period in Soviet culture, and even attempts to create it were made. This lacuna deserves to attract the research interest. The Arctic discourse of the 1920–1930s. largely anticipated the space theme of the 1960s; the absence in the pantheon of the Soviet conquerors of the Arctic “polar Tereshkova” has a certain meaning.

In fact, European women in the Soviet Arctic appeared from the beginning of the 1920s. As a rule, these were wives who supported their husbands- explorers and remained in their shadow. In the literature canonizing polar heroes these women are not often mentioned, and their rare stories are noticeably tailored to the plot of the wives of the Decembrists. Nina Demme, “the world’s first woman – polar explorer”, as Soviet media called her, tried to create a completely different story about herself. Demme sought not only to compete with men on an equal footing in the Arctic world, but also to prove her own – female – superiority. However, the legend did not work out. The article discusses the attempt to canonize the woman – polar explorer and the reasons for its failure.

Keywords: Soviet Arctic, women – polar explorers, heroic canon, cultural myth, utopia, family model in the Arctic

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