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Author Andrei Bitov's novel 'Penelopa' revolves around a man and a woman who got acquainted in a cinema that shows a motion picture based on Homer's 'Odyssey.' The protagonists identify with the characters in the film, but not completely. The woman, who seems to have just been released from a detention camp, has ulterior motives in desiring the man's company. She needs someone to help her find a job. The man, on the other hand, identifies with the film's Odysseus, but sees his female partner as vastly short of the charms portrayed in the film's heroine.

Studies the intertextual complexity of the short story `Penelopa,' by Bitov which was published in 1962 in Russia. Plot of the story; Narrative mechanism of the story; Role of Bitov's heroine in the narrative.