Family values in L. Ulitskaya's novel "Yakov's ladder"

The article discusses family values depicted in the novel "Yakov's Ladder" by L. Ulitskaya, which was awarded the "Big Book" prize in 2015. The novel describes the life of four generations on the back of the Russian history throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries. The author shows the changing process from the creation of a family to its crisis and destruction, but at the same time she emphasizes the continuity of generations, which is manifested not only in physical resemblance or common interests, but also in the mental and spiritual kinship of souls. Births and deaths in the Osetsky family are in the same plot and composition series, compensating each other and setting the motive for procreation. Part of the novel is presented in the letters of Yakov Osetsky - the epistolary genre allows maintaining intimacy, giving truthiness and depth to the characters’ feelings.