Evgenia Tur
Encyclopedia
Evgenia Tur (August 24, 1815 – March 27, 1892) was a Russian
writer, critic, journalist and publisher. Her birth name was Elizaveta Vasilyevna Sukhovo-Kobylina. Her full married name was Countess Elizaveta Vasilyevna Salias De Tournemire. The playwright Aleksandr Sukhovo-Kobylin
was her brother.
Elizaveta received a good education at home. Her teachers were various professors from Moscow University.
As a young woman she had a romantic relationship with a man of lower social status named Nikolay Ivanovich Nadezhdin. They wanted to get married but Elizaveta's parents sharply opposed her marriage, seeing Nikolay as being unworthy of their daughter's hand. Elizaveta and Nikolay wanted to get married secretly, but their plan failed. Elizaveta was soon taken abroad by her parents.
In 1838, in France, Elizaveta married Count Andrey Salias de Tournemire, a nobleman from a very old French family, dating back to the year 1264. Soon the young countess and her husband returned to Russia and settled in Moscow.
In 1846, Andrey was expelled from Russia for participating in a duel. He went alone, virtually abandoning his wife and three children.
After the departure of her husband, Elizaveta began to lead an emancipated life. She became interested in literature, and arranged a literary salon that was considered one of the best in Moscow at that time. The salon was frequented by many popular writers and literary figures including Ivan Turgenev
, Alexander Levitov
, Vasily Sleptsov
, Nikolai Leskov
, Konstantin Leontiev
, Nikolay Ogarev
and others.
She soon took up the pen herself. Her first work of fiction was published in The Contemporary
, under the pen name Evgenia Tur. Her debut was a great success. Her novel was favorably reviewed by Aleksandr Ostrovsky, who welcomed the birth of "a new and original talent". He acknowledged that the novel was well written and that the characters for the most part were skillfully drawn and true to reality, but pointed to the only drawback that he saw- the redundancy of long descriptions and arguments.
The following year she published another novel The Niece (also in The Contemporary) which was greeted enthusiastically by readers and critics. Ivan Turgenev wrote that she had exited great hopes in the literary world and that her talent and abilities were able to withstand rigorous assessment. In the next few years, Elizaveta published many new works, including Duty and Two Sisters (1851), Vicious Circle (1854), Old Lady (1856), At the Turn (1857), and Flower Girl (1859).
In 1861 she established her own journal Russian Question (the magazine, however, lasted only 13 months). She also published several critical articles in the journal Russian Speech, on such writers as Nadezhda Khvoshchinskaya
and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was clear to her even at this early date that Dostoyevsky possessed great talent. She also published critical articles in the journals Reader's Library, Notes of the Fatherland
and the newspaper Northern Bee
.
Of literary-historical interest is her critical essay on Ivan Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons
published in Northern Bee. Although she had been friends with Turgenev, and had celebrated his writing, she responded to Fathers and Sons with scorn and indignation. It was her view that the young people of Russia were much better and stronger than Turgenev had portrayed them. In her opinion, he had embodied the good exceptions of the old generation in the fathers, and the ugliest exceptions of the young generation in the sons.
After leaving Russia, she wrote mainly novels and stories for children and youth: Catacombs (1866), Crystal Heart (1873), The Shalonski Family (1879), The Last Days of Pompeii (1882), The Sacred History of the Old Testament (1888) and other books are very popular and frequently reprinted in modern Russia.
She spent her last years living in Warsaw
, where she died in March 1892.
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
writer, critic, journalist and publisher. Her birth name was Elizaveta Vasilyevna Sukhovo-Kobylina. Her full married name was Countess Elizaveta Vasilyevna Salias De Tournemire. The playwright Aleksandr Sukhovo-Kobylin
Aleksandr Sukhovo-Kobylin
Aleksandr Vasilyevich Sukhovo-Kobylin , was a Russian nobleman, chiefly known for the works he authored as an amateur playwright. His sister Evgenia Tur was a popular novelist, critic and journalist.-Biography:...
was her brother.
Early years
Elizaveta was born in Moscow into a noble family. Her father was Vasily Sukhovo-Kobylin (1782–1873), a veteran of the Napoleonic wars, and Marshal of the Nobility for the Podolsk district, Moscow province. Her mother was Maria Ivanovna Sukhovo-Kobylina, nee Shepeleva (1789–1862).Elizaveta received a good education at home. Her teachers were various professors from Moscow University.
As a young woman she had a romantic relationship with a man of lower social status named Nikolay Ivanovich Nadezhdin. They wanted to get married but Elizaveta's parents sharply opposed her marriage, seeing Nikolay as being unworthy of their daughter's hand. Elizaveta and Nikolay wanted to get married secretly, but their plan failed. Elizaveta was soon taken abroad by her parents.
In 1838, in France, Elizaveta married Count Andrey Salias de Tournemire, a nobleman from a very old French family, dating back to the year 1264. Soon the young countess and her husband returned to Russia and settled in Moscow.
In 1846, Andrey was expelled from Russia for participating in a duel. He went alone, virtually abandoning his wife and three children.
Literary career
Ivan Turgenev
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright. His first major publication, a short story collection entitled A Sportsman's Sketches, is a milestone of Russian Realism, and his novel Fathers and Sons is regarded as one of the major works of 19th-century...
, Alexander Levitov
Alexander Levitov
Alexander Ivanovich Levitov , born August 1, 1835 – died January 16, 1877, was a Russian writer.-Biography:Levitov was born in the village of Dobroye, in Tambov Governorate, where his father was a sexton. He learned to read and write in a school for peasant children set up by his father in...
, Vasily Sleptsov
Vasily Sleptsov
Vasily Alekseyevich Sleptsov , , was a Russian writer and social reformer.-Biography:Sleptsov attended the medical school at Moscow University in 1855-56. He then went to Yaroslavl to try being an actor. He soon returned to Moscow, where he was in government service from 1857 to 1861-62...
, Nikolai Leskov
Nikolai Leskov
Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov was a Russian journalist, novelist and short story writer, who also wrote under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky. Praised for his unique writing style and innovative experiments in form, held in high esteem by Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky among others, Leskov is...
, Konstantin Leontiev
Konstantin Leontiev
Konstantin Nikolayevich Leontyev was a conservative, monarchist reactionary Russian philosopher who advocated closer cultural ties between Russia and the East in order to oppose the catastrophic egalitarian, utilitarian and revolutionary influences from the West...
, Nikolay Ogarev
Nikolay Ogarev
Nikolay Platonovich Ogarev , was a Russian poet, historian and political activist. He was deeply critical of the limitations of the Emancipation of the Serfs claiming that the serfs were not free but had simply exchanged one form of serfdom for another.Ogarev was a fellow-exile and collaborator of...
and others.
She soon took up the pen herself. Her first work of fiction was published in The Contemporary
Sovremennik
Sovremennik was a Russian literary, social and political magazine, published in St. Petersburg in 1836-1866. It came out four times a year in 1836-1843 and once a month after that...
, under the pen name Evgenia Tur. Her debut was a great success. Her novel was favorably reviewed by Aleksandr Ostrovsky, who welcomed the birth of "a new and original talent". He acknowledged that the novel was well written and that the characters for the most part were skillfully drawn and true to reality, but pointed to the only drawback that he saw- the redundancy of long descriptions and arguments.
The following year she published another novel The Niece (also in The Contemporary) which was greeted enthusiastically by readers and critics. Ivan Turgenev wrote that she had exited great hopes in the literary world and that her talent and abilities were able to withstand rigorous assessment. In the next few years, Elizaveta published many new works, including Duty and Two Sisters (1851), Vicious Circle (1854), Old Lady (1856), At the Turn (1857), and Flower Girl (1859).
Critical and journalistic activities
In 1856, Elizaveta became the head of the fictional department of the magazine Russian Gazette. In this magazine, starting in 1857, she began to publish critical articles and periodicals devoted to the life and work of foreign writers. She worked for the Russian Gazette for almost 4 years before leaving in 1860 because of controversy with the editor. The critic Dmitry Pisarev, at this time period, stated that the Russian Gazette "didn't respect the intellectual independence of its employees."In 1861 she established her own journal Russian Question (the magazine, however, lasted only 13 months). She also published several critical articles in the journal Russian Speech, on such writers as Nadezhda Khvoshchinskaya
Nadezhda Khvoshchinskaya
Nadezhda Dmitryevna Khvoshchinskaya , May 20, 1824 – June 8, 1889, was a Russian novelist, poet, literary critic and translator. Her married name was Zayonchkovskaya. She published much of her work under the pseudonym V. Krestovsky...
and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It was clear to her even at this early date that Dostoyevsky possessed great talent. She also published critical articles in the journals Reader's Library, Notes of the Fatherland
Otechestvennye Zapiski
Otechestvennye Zapiski was a Russian literary magazine published in St Petersburg on a monthly basis between 1818 and 1884. The journal served liberal-minded readers, known as the intelligentsia...
and the newspaper Northern Bee
Northern Bee
Northern Bee was a semi-official Russian political and literary newspaper published in St. Petersburg from 1825 to 1864. It was an unofficial organ of Section Three - the secret police....
.
Of literary-historical interest is her critical essay on Ivan Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons
Fathers and Sons
Fathers and Sons is an 1862 novel by Ivan Turgenev, his best known work. The title of this work in Russian is Отцы и дети , which literally means "Fathers and Children"; the work is often translated to Fathers and Sons in English for reasons of euphony.- Historical context and notes :The fathers...
published in Northern Bee. Although she had been friends with Turgenev, and had celebrated his writing, she responded to Fathers and Sons with scorn and indignation. It was her view that the young people of Russia were much better and stronger than Turgenev had portrayed them. In her opinion, he had embodied the good exceptions of the old generation in the fathers, and the ugliest exceptions of the young generation in the sons.
Later years
In 1861 Elizaveta's life underwent considerable change. Her son Evgeny was involved in the prevalent student unrest of the time. A writer himself, albeit of moderate-liberal positions, he made no secret of his sympathy for young people. She was also deeply concerned with relations between Poland and Russia, and was strongly influenced by the ideas of Polish Professor Henryk Wyziński (1834 - 1879), who often attended her salon. During this time, she was placed under secret police surveillance. In early 1862 she was forced to leave for France where she lived in Paris for several years. Here she developed close ties to the Polish aristocracy, and became interested in issues of religion, especially Catholicism , which largely determined the evolution of her work.After leaving Russia, she wrote mainly novels and stories for children and youth: Catacombs (1866), Crystal Heart (1873), The Shalonski Family (1879), The Last Days of Pompeii (1882), The Sacred History of the Old Testament (1888) and other books are very popular and frequently reprinted in modern Russia.
She spent her last years living in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, where she died in March 1892.
English translations
- The Shalonski Family, (Novel), Remington and Co, London, 1882. from Google Books
- Antonina, (Novel), Northwestern University Press, 1996.