writing_womans_lives_symposium_paper_book_v2

Finally, we need to consider Rostopchina as a woman writer and the daughter of a woman writer.
Evdokiia Rostopchina (1811‐1856) was a celebrated Romantic era poet. Like other nineteenthcentury
Russian women writers, Rostopchina mère wrote within a literary culture defined by male
writers and critics. “[Evdokiia] Rostopchina accept[ed] the rules of the game and remain[ed] within
the sphere legitimized as feminine, but she destroy[ed] it from within or, to be more precise, she
re[wrote] and [remade] what [was] permitted by patriarchal discourse in her own way.” 6
Rostopchina mère’s practice of working within accepted structures influenced how her daughter
contributed to larger historical narratives. The most acceptable way Rostopchina could engage with
national narratives and individual legacies was to embed her scholarly inquiry amidst benign, even
frivolous, recollections of everyday life, family stories, and personal memories. Rostopchina's
understanding of historical truth was a combination of documented facts, eyewitness accounts, and
readers’ moral lenses, which echoed the context of Rostopchina’s work. Extensively quoting firsthand
accounts, her strategy for presenting sources respected the perspectives found in those
documents. She depended on the principled, ethical values of her readers, and emphasized the
emotional impact of events on her family members to connect with readers’ hearts and consciences.
This strategy encouraged the audience to develop their own conclusions. In this way, Rostopchina
attempted to reshape national narratives and popular opinions.
This approach was used in her investigation of her mother’s controversial poem “The Forced
Marriage,” published in the journal The Northern Bee in 1845. A dialog between a husband and wife,
the ballad depicted two sides of an unhappy marriage. First, the baron laments to his household staff
and servants about wife’s ungratefulness and disrespect, despite having showering her with material
goods. The baroness responds, describing her marriage as a form of captivity; with her freedom lost,
she had become a slave in the arranged marriage. 7 Upon its publication, the poem generated great
gossip. Many readers considered the work a description of Rostopchina mère’s marriage or a
commentary of Russia’s political relations with Poland. When Emperor Nicholas I read the poem, he
considered the baron to represent himself and the baroness, Poland. Ordering the confiscation of all
copies of the journal, Nicholas I, condemned the poet for her disloyalty, exiling her from St.
Petersburg and the Imperial Court. 8
Rostopchina introduced this episode with her own memories, “I was a little distracted by the
unhappy history of the “Ballad” owing to the peculiar gossip of my age” (190‐191). The sources she
incorporated in this episode – her mother’s diary, her uncle’s reminiscences, and her own
recollections – engaged with the rumors about “The Forced Marriage.” The familial perspectives
revealed the emotional and social consequences of the poem on the Rostopchins.
Rostopchina recalled her mother’s deep sympathies towards the people they met in Poland
during travels in the mid‐1840s. She quoted her mother’s diary entry of 18/30 September 1845 at
length. Justifying this decision, she wrote, “I found her memories of this journey worthy of being
published” (194‐195).
I feel a deep pity for this poor Jewish race, despised and oppressed everywhere, who
nevertheless persevered in their willingness to provide service and hospitality. Richly
endowed by nature, they pay a high price to shelter among an angry population hostile to
them.… I feel sorry for the Jews because of the Poles who harassed and oppressed them;
at the same time I also feel sorry for Poland, humiliated, enslaved, destroyed… An
impression of sadness lies deep in these extremities, seemingly rich, flourishing, and well
treated. But prosperity cannot replace the freedom, lost nationality, and military exploits
of the past. This country reminds me of a woman in rich dress, living amidst luxury… but
ruled over by a coarse husband, she is burdened by her slavery, secretly lamenting their
wealth (191‐192).
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