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Studia Litterarum

Philological journal

A.M. Gorky Institute of World Literature
of the Russian Academy of Sciences

ISSN 2500-4247 (Print)

ISSN 2541-8564 (Online)

Povarskaya St., 25A, bld. 1, 121069 Moscow, Russia

+7 (495) 690-50-30

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  • For citation:

    Isakov, A.V. “History, Memory and Identity of Russian Old-Timers of Mongolia in A. Veretnova’s Novel White Mongolian Woman.” Studia Litterarum, vol. 10, no. 4, 2025, pp. 238–257. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2025-10-4-238-257

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  • Funding Sources:

    Acknowledgements: The research was carried out at IWL RAS and supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 23-18-00478 (https://rscf.ru/en/project/23-18-00478/).

  • Author: Aleksandr V. Isakov
  • Information about the author:

    Aleksandr V. Isakov, Junior Researcher, Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies of the Siberian Brunch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Sakhyanovoy St., 6, 670047 Ulan-Ude, Russia.

    https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3416-9683

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

  • Received: January 29, 2025
  • Approved after reviewing: March 25, 2025
  • Published: December 25, 2025
  • Issue: 2025 Vol. 10, №4
  • Department: Russian Literature
  • Pages: 238-257
  • DOI:

    https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2025-10-4-238-257

  • EDN:

    https://elibrary.ru/IYCEYX

  • UDK: 821.161.1.0
  • BBK: 83.3(2Рос=Рус)7
  • Publication Type: Research Article
  • Keywords: Russians of Mongolia, literature of the Russian diaspora, historical memory, diaspora identity, cultural trauma.
  • Abstract: The article examines A. Veretnova’s novel White Mongolian Woman, dedicated to the history of the Russian diaspora in Mongolia, of which the author herself is one. The article examines the specifics of her construction of the history and identity of Russians in Mongolia based on various discourses — both those that had previously existed within and around the diaspora and those brought to this topic for the first time. It has been established that the novel is inextricably linked with the processes of constructing the collective memory and identity of the Russian diaspora in Mongolia, which began in the second half of the twentieth century. It reflects internal and external discourses about the diaspora, as well as the cultural trauma that has become part of the identity of modern Russians in Mongolia. At the same time, the author brought a new vision of the historical fate of the diaspora, using specific literary discourses. The novel emphasizes the discourse of the exceptional fate of the Russians of Mongolia, which coexists with the discourse of rejection and compensates for it, symbolically “healing” the collective trauma. The negative experience of the past is contrasted with the idea of exceptional patriotism, connection with ancestors, unique Siberian origin, and special purpose of the people of the frontier, which in the novel includes the Russian old-timers of Mongolia.

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