| Summary: | The article examines the role of European and Russian history in the mostly unpublished diaries and correspondence of Russian women aristocrats in the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth century. These writings include written evidence either on actual events or on the perception of past historical events. By assessing the role of history in female life writings, the article explores how events and historical thoughts were integrated into the narrative of everyday life. The following themes, in particular, are emphasized in their writings: their treatment of the education for women of the Russian nobility, the example of famous women, the social position and involvement of the diary writers’ family members, their travels through Europe and direct contact with the actors of history, and their devotion to Napoleon which was typical of Russian girls throughout the nineteenth century. Their cosmopolitan lifestyle and habit of speaking French did not prevent these Russian women, however, from filling their writings with patriotic claims.
|
|---|