Abstract
The article concludes the analysis of the “plots” of “The Diary» by E. A. Dyakonova, a well-known diarist of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Superficially, the main plot of the second part of her diary – “The Diary at Higher Women's Courses” – becomes the plot of «studies»: life in a boarding school, lectures, exams, visits to clubs, evenings, etc. There is intense mental work going on inside Dyakonova: she is looking for her life's purpose and is increasingly moving away from the norms and values of her former life – patriarchal and provincial. By the beginning of 1897 she is strengthened in her desire to serve the people in the field of teaching, and by the end of her studies at the Courses, in the field of law, to become a lawyer. During these years, Diakonova's diary contains memoir entries in which she summarizes some life results, recalls and rethinks the past. This is especially affected by the traumatic experience of her life: the death of her father, an uncomplicated relationship with her mother, loneliness, illness, etc. After a year of studying at the courses, the diarist realizes that she needs a «kindred spirit» – a male friend. The search for him will become an important plot of “The Diary”. Life in St. Petersburg and lectures by professors who were indifferent to Christianity undermined Dyakonova's childhood faith in God, and by the end of 1898 she was shifting to the position of scientific atheism. In place of love for God comes love for humanity and progress. The third part of the diary, “The Diary of a Russian Woman”, is an autobiographical love story in the form of a literary diary. Its archetypal plot is the «Russians abroad» plot, a well-known Russian documentary tradition starting with Fonvizin and Karamzin. The content of the story is the discovery and disclosure of the autobiographical heroine's own femininity. The “Line of fate” by Dyakonova and her heroine ends with death.
Keywords
E. A. Dyakonova, narratology, diaristics, genderology, diary plot, “studies” plot, “Russians abroad” plot, early Russian feminism.