Transnational Historical Novels in Times of Totalitarianism: Natanela Koroleva, Zynaida Tulub and the lnvention of Ukrainian Women Historical Prose

The aim of the project is to study the overlooked treпd in the development of Eastern European historical fiction-attempts to move beyond а narrow national perspective-using materials from Ukrainian literature and through the lens of the works of two female writers: Natanela Koroleva (1888-1966) and Zynaida Tulub (1890-1964). Koroleva has а unique place in Ukrainian literature as ап author, who avoided Ukrainian topics in her historical novels, addressing instead world ancient and medieval history, and who wrote the only Ukrainian historical novel about the Western European Middle Ages. Zynaida Tulub became famoцs for the novel "Manhunters", devoted to the phenomenon of human trafficking in 17th century. The project seeks to comblne in-depth primary research оп the Ьiographies of little-studied Eastern European women writers with ап analysis of their works in the broader context of both historical knowledge and the development of the historical novel. The project studies the phenomenon of "feminization of the historical novel" оп Eastern-European materials and addresses the next research questions: peculiarities ofthe female perspective in Eastern European historical novels of 1920-1960s; the image of the female historical novelist in the eyes of critics and readers; the impact of historical education оп the writers and their polemics with academic historiography. The main sources for the project realization a_re the literary texts Ьу Tulub and Koroleva, their memoirs and archival materials.