Лу Андреас-Саломе

Based on the material of the story «Birthmark» (1923) by Lou AndreasSalome, a prominent German author of Russian descent, the paper considers differentiating attributes and levels of national identity. The paper draws on the contemporary researchers’ theoretical works on national identity.

The article draws together biographical and spiritual roots of the theme of Russia in the creative work of a Russian-born German writer Lou Andreas-Salomé, a friend of Nietzsche, Rilke and Freud. Her role of a mediator between the Russian and German cultures is established; her perception of the Russian traditional peasant culture is revealed; the main fictional texts by Lou Andreas-Salomé for studying the image of Russia are singled out.

On the material of the novel "Rodinka" (1903) by the German writer Lou Andreas-Salome, the author's representation of the Russian gender identity is examined, the correlation in her of stereotypes of traditional Orthodox culture and a new vision of gender roles typical for the culture of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries that came to Russia from the West.