Gendered experiences of loneliness in later life: comparing Soviet and Yugoslav legacies through literature

This article provides a close reading of literary texts written by Russian and Croatian women authors that address the topic of lonely ageing. The comparative analysis shows that loneliness in later life is deeply gendered, albeit in varying ways. In Soviet fiction, as well as in contemporary Russian literature that refers to Soviet times, the recurrence of older widows or single, and often childless, female characters is conspicuous. The fact that older Soviet women outnumbered older Soviet men is largely due to significant male population losses during the Stalinist purges (the Great Terror) and WWII. Literary works not only reflect this disproportion but also display the challenges for and coping strategies of older women who had to face an existential loneliness rather than willingly chose to live alone in their old age. Loneliness, on the other hand, can also be experienced by people who live in a partnership, or co-reside with children or other relatives, respectively. This latter form of loneliness will be explored, in this contribution, using the example of selected works of post-Yugoslav literature. It will be argued that differences in the prevailing patterns of fictionalized loneliness may be linked to different historical trajectories and legacies.