N. Leskov’s “Fefela”: “The Maid of Orl'eans” vs “The Virgin of Orl'eans”

The article describes how Nikolai Leskov’s views on female emancipation, which he develops in his article “Russian women and emancipation” (1860) are embodied in his story “The Lady and the Wench” (1894). In this story the French national heroine Joan of Arc is mentioned. The authors of the article underline that this reference is not accidental, and that some of the paradigms of Joan’s image correlate with the positive side of emancipated woman described by Leskov.