THE IMAGE OF MOTHER AND MOTHERHOOD IN EARLY PROSE OF LUDMILA PETRUSHEVSKAYA

The objectives of this study are t o investigate the idea of power relations through the image of a mother in the pros e of Soviet and Russian post war female writer Lyudmila Petrushevskaya (1938) and understand its connection with mother’slove. The two novels («Our Circle, 1988» and «The Time: Night, 1992») were chosen because of the following reason s . First, the author raises social topics and talks about domestic violence in a Soviet family. Second, the author explores the psychological characteristics of women. In this research, through the textual analysis research method, the language, and images of mothers presented in the writer’s prose will be examined. Also, this research represents the systematic analysis of the narrative patterns through which motherhood will be studied. Due to the chosen approach, the following conclusion is made. An image of a powerful or abus ive woman (mother) might be interpreted both as a destructive woman whose actions lead to catharsis or as a woman whose destructive and abusive behavior becomes an act of pure love