Literay Fact Literay Fact 2541-8297 2542-2421 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2541-8297-2020-16-243-277 Articles A miracle in a dairy shop: On a typology of an “emigrant” novel 2020 émigré prose “emigrant” novel Alja Rachmanowa adaptation integration national and sociocultural identity Russian literature literary quote literary translation Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 Alja Rachmanowa (real name Galina Dyuryagina-Hoyer) is a Russian writer with a European success in 1930s. Her books were published in German translation made by her husband Arnulf Hoyer, and still remain obscure in Russia. The phenomenon is rather fascinating from the point of view of typology of émigré prose. A novel “Milchfrau in Ottakring” (1933) of the prolific author of three dozen books was extremely popular, not only it remains relevant, but looks very modern as an “emigrant” novel of special type. In a diary form based on a personal experience, the writer sets out a story of success. A qualified philologist, Alja Rachmanowa (her literary pseudonym is usually referred to) was forced to become for a couple of years a saleswoman in a rented dairy shop. This experience of a “foreigner”, her national and sociocultural identity, adaptation, and ultimately successful integration are reflected in the diary autobiographical novel. The Russian component of the book in German whose author / heroine balances between the spheres of “own” and “stranger,” has driven a success of the “Milchfrau in Ottakring”. Russian realities, Russian mentality, nostalgie for the native country permeating the narration, especially attracted the readership. One of the important markers of “Russianness” is a citation of Russian literature, not in the form of a mere quotation, but as a rethinking, re-interpretation, a dispute with the classics. The article deals with some examples of such citing (F.M. Dostoevsky, A.V. Koltsov, A.N. Pleshcheev, Z.N. Gippius). A fragment of the novel in Russian translation is given in Annex. “Esli chudo voobshche vozmozhno za granitsei…”: epokha 1950-kh gg. v perepiske russkikh literatorov-emigrantov [“If a miracle is possible abroad at all...”: Era of the 1950s in correspondence of Russian literary emigrants], ed., comp., intro. O.A. Korostelev. Moscow, Russkii put’ Publ., 2008. 816 p. (In Russ.) Literaturnoe nasledstvo. T. 110: I.A. Bunin. Novye materialy i issledovaniia. Kn. 1 [Literary heritage. Vol. 110: I.A. Bunin. New Materials and Studies. Book 1], ed., comp. O.A. Korostelev, S.N. Morozov. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2019. 1183 p. (In Russ.) Marchenko T.V. Alia Rakhmanova: russkaia pisatel’nitsa kak fenomen nemetskoi literatury [Alja Rachmanowa: Russian writer as a phenomenon of German literature]. Ezhegodnik Doma russkogo zarubezh'ia im. A. Solzhenitsyna [Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russian Abroad Annual], 2014, no. 5, pp. 753–770. (In Russ.) Marchenko T. “Ne nuzhno nenavidet’, nuzhno tol’ko liubit”: fenomen Ali Rakhmanovoi [“No need to hate, just love”: Alja Rachmanowa phenomenon], Luminarze rosyjskiej emigracii. Pisarki Rossyjskiej Zagranicy w literaturze, kulturze i korrespondencji, eds. B. Kozak, I. A. NDiaye. Olzstyn, Instytut Słowiańszczyzny Wschodniej Publ., 2016, pp. 65–84. (In Russ.) Marchenko T.V. Po parallel’nomu ruslu: ob Ale Rakhmanovoi i ee avtobiograficheskoi trilogii [Along a parallel channel: About Alja Rachmanowa and her autobiographic trilogy]. Ezhegodnik Doma russkogo zarubezh'ia im. A. Solzhenitsyna [Alexander Solzhenitsyn House of Russian Abroad Annual], 2017, no. 7, pp. 164–181. (In Russ.) Marchenko T.V. V ozhidanii “chuda”: nobelevskie mytarstva Dmitriia Merezhkovskogo [Waiting for a miracle: Nobel hardship of Dmitry Merezhkovsky]. Izvestiia RAN. Seriia literatury i iazyka, 2000, no. 1, pp. 25–35. (In Russ.) Niqueux M. 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(In German) Riggenbach H., Marti R. «Na knige stoit “Aleksandra Rakhmanova”, no eto ne moia kniga». Eine Raubübersetzung und ihre Kritik. Contributions suisses au 14 congrès mondial des slavistes à Ohrid, Bern, Peter Lang, 2008, pp. 197–214. (In German) Stahr I. Das Geheimnis der Milchfrau in Ottakring. Alja Rachmanowa. Wien, Amaltea Signum, 2012. 239 p. (In German).