Transformation of female imagery in Christmas story: from traditionalist prose to 21st century texts

Statement of the problem. The genre of a Christmas story has existed since the 19th century, and is still in demand by authors and readers. However, changes in society affect major trends within literature. Even a genre as narrow and well-established as the nativity story has changed with regard to gender issues. The purpose of this article is to examine how the images of women in the Christmas story genre have been transformed in terms of gender issues. The following methods are used in the work: historical-cultural and structural-typological analysis of the text. Research results. The typology of female characters in a Christmas story is usually quite stable - an orphan girl, a mother, an old woman and a young girl about to get married. These images have also moved into modern texts, but have undergone changes. Conclusions. The genre of a Christmas story in modern prose does not lose its relevance, but it is being rethought, and with it the system of images is changing. Female characters come to the fore, transform from static images of innocent girls, future wives and hearth keepers, characteristic of the canon, become more complex, multifaceted, acquire androgynous features. The Virgin motifs in the images fade into the background or disappear altogether, gender roles change, women take on male functions, which generally corresponds to the mood of the time.