An artist and his model in L.Ulitskaya's Sonechka and Byatt's a Lamia in the C'evennes

The typological comparative study of Russian and English contempo-rary woman's fiction demonstrates national traditions, gender peculiaritiesand individual approaches to the topic of art and an artist. Sonechka andYasya are two examples of beauty (Dostoevsky's “echo”) in Ulitskaya'slong story. Melania as a Lamia in Byatt's story has her origins in the Frenchlegend and the Keats' poem (as a woman - in English ironical tradition).Both writers regard France as a modern art centre and a place of pilgrimagefor artists. For female mentality an artist is a creator, a lover and a husband.