Miti ai margini: tra la mitologia dello "Scrigno di malachite" in "2017" di Ol'ga Slavnikova e gli spiriti di "Zulejcha apre gli occhi" di Guzel' Jachina

The two authors object of this paper come from two “marginal” regions of the Russian Federation. Olga Slavnikova is from the Urals, Guzel Yakhina comes from the Tatarstan. Slavnikova’s novel "2017" is set in the future, and deals with events of love and greed in which the mythical characters of the Ural folklore take active part against the background of the tragic repetition of the trauma of the Bolshevik Revolution. Yakhina’s novel "Zuleikha opens her eyes" retraces the campaign of forced collectivization in the early 1930s and the deportation of the protagonist to the Angara River. Zuleikha retains an animistic attitude towards the environment, which is inhabited by spirits that are not always benevolent. The new land where she rebuilds her home, assumes the name of a legendary bird in Tatar folklore that helps the characters of the novel overcome their trauma.