Mothers and Daughters: Family Dysfunction in Post-Soviet Literature and Life

Upon the collapse of the Soviet Union, parent-child dynamics underwent fundamental restructuring. The reemergence of patriarchal culture and socio-economic crisis during the post-Soviet era called for the return of women to their maternal duties. However, growing instances of social orphanhood, infanticide, and child abandonment indicated the underlying dysfunction that pervaded mother-child dynamics. This master’s thesis offers an in-depth analysis of mother-child relations in post-Soviet social history and literature. Demonstrating the destructive effects of the state’s advocacy of patriarchal family dynamics, this thesis explores literary interpretations of this socio-cultural phenomenon in the works of Liudmila Ulitskaia.