Zoya Kosmodem’yanskaya, Evolution of the “Hero” as a “Cultural Icon” in the 1940s

Abstract

This article is dedicated to the analysis of the notions “hero” and “cultural icon” as applied to the interpretation of Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya’s image in the 1940s. The evolution of this image is traced in three main texts of the period about Zoya: in the poem by Margarita Aliger, in the film by Leo Arnshtam, and in the novel by Lubov’ Kosmodemyanskaya (Frida Vigdorova). At the core, this article probes the evolution of the “hero” function and the change of the ways this hero is correlated to “all” (the meanings “common” / “extraordinary”).   Keywords: hero, cultural hero, heroic, common, extraordinary, norm, standard, Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, Margarita Aliger, Leo Arnshtam, Lubov’ Kosmodemyanskaya, Frida Vigdorova