Female Agency in Epic: a Cultural-status Typology in Old Russian Tradition and the Armenian Sasna C’rer

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Category: Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature: Issue 25
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The study was completed with the support of the Science Committee of the Republic of Armenia, within the framework of the research project no. 24SSAH-6B014.
Abstract:

The article analyzes female figures in Old Russian sources (byliny, The Primary Chronicle, The Tale of Igor’s Campaign, and The Tale of Peter and Fevronia) and in the Armenian epic Sasna C’rer. These figures are viewed as part of the mechanisms that shape cultural memory and national character. Instead of functional classifications that reduce women to “helpers” or “rewards” for the male hero, the study proposes a cultural-status typology with three categories: normative, liminal, and transgressive. Normative heroines  legitimize  order  through  written  institutionalization  (Olga, Fevronia) or oral sacralization of kinship (Tsovinar, Ismil khatun). Liminal heroines gain temporary freedom in moments of crisis or choice, but their agency is eventually closed by marriage, sanction, or sacrifice. Transgressive figures (Ilya’s daughter, Chmshkik Sultan, Sarye) cross the boundaries of what is allowed and are removed from the narrative. The novelty of the research lies in shifting attention from functions related to the male hero to mechanisms that legitimate female action, and in proposing an operational triad applicable to both the multi-genre Old Russian corpus and the unified Armenian epic.
Keywords: epic, byliny, Armenian literature, Old Russian literature, female agency, cultural memory, national character, comparative literature
Author: Ani Petrs-Bartsumia
Information about the author:

Ani Petrs-Bartsumian, PhD in Philology, Research Fellow, Yerevan State University, Alek Manukyan St., 1, 0025 Yerevan, Armenia.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2720-6522

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
For citation:

Petrs-Bartsumian, A. “Female Agency in Epic: a Cultural-status Typology in Old Russian Tradition and the Armenian ‘Sasna C’rer’.”  Germenevtika drevnerusskoi literatury [Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature]. Issue 25. Ed.-in-chief O.A. Tufanova, sci. ed. M.V. Kaplun. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2026, pp. 473–501. https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2026-25-473-501 (In Russian)
EDN:

https://elibrary.ru/PVZZYP
UDC: 821.161.1.0+821.19.0+82.0
Publication Type: Research Article
DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2026-25-473-501

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