“A true female character”: the motive of righteousness in the essay "Parunya" by Viktor Astafiev

The article deals with fabula-forming and other functions of the motif of righteousness in the essay by Viktor Astafiev. The stages of this motif development in the prose of traditionalists in general, and in B. Astafiev’s works in particular are traced. The article proves that righteousness forms the character and destiny of the heroine in the essay "Parunya", draws parallels between Astafyev's essay and A. Solzhenitsyn's novella "Matryona's Place", describes the aims and results of corrections in the structure of the essay made by the writer in 1985. We have emphasized the correlation between problems of the essay with the spiritual search of Russian culture based on Christian traditions, with other works of the artist, with the literature of Siberia, "village prose". It is concluded that the motif of righteousness is natural for many works of Astafiev and Russian literature of the second half of the 20th century.