User:Charlottereid1/Evaluate an Article

Which article are you evaluating?
Lyudmila Petrushevskaya

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
I chose an article about a woman Russian writer because, as a Russian major, almost all the readings in my Russian literature courses are written by men. I chose Lyudmila Petrushevskaya's article specifically because she is one of Russia's most important living writers, but it can be relatively difficult to find detailed information about her works online. Part of the problem, I think, is that her name is not always transliterated consistently; many sources, including her own publisher, use the spelling Ludmilla, while Wikipedia uses Lyudmila. The first thing I noticed about the article is that, in the Works section, her works are not linked to their own Wikipedia articles. This is especially strange given that The Time: Night already has an article of its own.

Evaluate the article
I think the first paragraph of the lead section is good, but I do not think that it adequately conveys the importance of Petrushevskaya in contemporary Russian literature. I would have moved the sentence "She is considered one of Russia's premier living literary figures, having been compared in style to Anton Chekhov and in influence to Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn" from the second paragraph of the lead section to the end of its first paragraph.

In terms of content, there are several paragraphs on Petrushevskaya's literary career, but only a few sentences on her musical and artistic careers. It would be nice to have more information about her career in art especially, given that her work has been shown in Russia's major museums.

Almost all the sources included in the article come from newspapers and magazines. It would be better if more peer-reviewed articles had been included in the list of sources. Also, at one point, the article states that Petrushevskaya's work "combines postmodernist trends with the psychological insights and parodic touches of writers such as Anton Chekhov," citing an interview. Chekhov is mentioned in the interview, but not in that way at all.

Lastly, Petrushevskaya is famous for her dark, elaborate hats. Personally, I would have liked the picture included in the article to be one of Petrushevskaya wearing her signature accessory.