Journal archive

Abstract: The book by Elizaveta Dyakonova (1874–1902) «The Diary of a Russian Woman» (Moscow: Zakharov, 2004), published posthumously in 1905, served as the material for Pavel Basinsky’s literary biography. Her diary reflects the stages of its formation as a person in the struggle to get a full-fledged education and the opportunity to find its place in life. He is the most valuable ego document: Dyakonova leads him to the gymnasium, then at the Bestuzhev courses, then in Paris, becoming a student at the Sorbonne. Basinsky traces the events of Dyakonova’s life, captured by a talented girl, reflecting on them and giving her comment. The image of an «ordinary Russian girl», although somewhat exalted and unpredictable, created by her biographer Basinsky, does not quite correspond to the seriousness and ambitiousness of her intentions and life plans. Dyakonova’s worldview, formed under the influence of the cult of the heroic personality and the teachings of Leo Tolstoy, is distinguished by its integrity and makes it look for ways to solve the «women's issue» in Russia. A penchant for posing philosophical problems makes her diary an important evidence of understanding religious issues, problems of individual existence, as well as problems of women's emancipation. The heroine of Basinsky is a strongwilled and strong woman who can go all the way in the search for truth. Having revalued the usual forms of social life, she affirms the right of women to higher education and the freedom to choose their own life path.