The aim of the paper is to explore how the myth of Dunkirk is depicted in one of contemporary British historical novels, Lissa Evans’s Their Finest Hour and a Half (2009). With reference to relevant examples from the novel, it is asked if the myth is cultivated or debunked. The article poses the question whether the novel evokes nostalgia for national unity, conveys a hopeful message about more equal opportunities for women than before the war, or reassesses history in a tragicomic manner. Three aspects addressed in Their Finest Hour and a Half are taken into consideration, namely, first, women’s role in myth-making; second, soldiers’ attitude towards uplifting myths surrounding the evacuation of Dunkirk; third, the impact of propaganda films on those living in the 1940s and facing the harsh reality of the war.

The article discusses J.M. Coetzee’s Diary of a Bad Year to argue that although the main protagonist’s views upon social, ethical, political, and scientific matters may be described as rather pessimistic, the novel still portrays artistic creation as a source of solace, hope, and a motivation for improvement in human life. The validity of the protagonist’s despondent outlook upon human life is undermined by the tripartite composition of the narrative, in which his opinions are questioned when juxtaposed with the alternative views voiced by the other characters. It is argued in particular that the story narrated in the novel reinforces the image of the positive role of literature in human existence.

By analyzing the depiction of androgyny in Marge Piercy’s science fiction novels in the context of gender performativity and constructionism, this article demonstrates that androgyny may be used as a tool for deconstructing gender roles. Arguably, Piercy proposes a new, non-essentialist vision of humankind through the creation of androgynous or agender human and cybernetic bodies. Moreover, the article substantiates how the images of utopian worlds, which present futuristic hope, are connected with the postgender idea of gender transcendence, while the dystopian ones seem to be strongly related to gender essentialism.

The article presents the function of reticence in Jean-Philippe Toussaint’s writing in the context of the return to the story in francophone literature, initiated in the 80s of the 20th c. Jean-Philippe Toussaint is a contemporary Belgian writer, photographer and film-maker. He has written twelve novels and short stories, as well as authored films and installations. Belonging to the generation of minimalist writers, Toussaint sets his use of reticence in the context of the tendency to return to Genette’s category of story (récit). Since the publication of his novel La Réticence (1991) reticence has become the key category of his écriture. In his books, it shapes the form, the narration and the plot, the construction of characters, temporality, and space. Thus, its function in Toussaint’s writing enables us to observe idiosyncratic aspects of his “infinitesimalist” texts which play with the canonical, realistic model of the novel.

The article focuses on the issue of Poland as a specific artistic space in queer poetry in Russia of the 90s and 2000s. Drawing on the creative work of Alexandr Anashevich, Yaroslav Mogutin, Alexandr Ilyanen and Ilya Danishevskiy, it reveals the connection between traditional narratives present in the Soviet official and unofficial, underground literature and new perceptions of gender. While partly sharing in “gender anxiety,” Poland is, nevertheless, considered a commonplace setting in queer poetry practices and performances on account of its unreliable, limitrophe, “threshold” nature for Russian-speaking recipients.

The capital of the Republic of Tatarstan is a multicultural city. It is a combination of “Russian,” “Tatar” and, not least, “German elements”. The writer Guzel Yakhina has repeatedly addressed this cultural diversity in her literary works. In them a native of Kazan explores the past and present of the city. Excellent knowledge of German language and culture allows her to study in detail the “German trace” in the history of the capital of Tatarstan to determine its status. The article offers a brief imagological analysis of the images of “German Kazan” presented in the novel Zuleikha and the essay Garden on the Border, or the Garden “Russian Switzerland”. The imagological study conducted at the macro-, meso- and micro-levels shows that in Yakhina’s literary works the images of “German Kazan” are equivalent to the images of “Russian Kazan” or “Tatar Kazan.” The “German elements” are firmly rooted inthe texture of the city and have been an integral part of its cultural code for several centuries. At the same time, following the novel and the essay, they do not have the status of an exotic “foreign,” but a familiar “other.”