To Be a Woman in Sovremennik: Poetry and Truth in Avdotia Panaeva’s Fiction

Abstract

The article focuses on Avdot'ia Panaeva’s fiction as a source for reconstructing the writer’s subjectivity. Examined from this point of view, her prose allows for an understanding of how Panaeva, the only female contributor to The Contemporary [Sovremennik], felt about the progressive declarations and daily practices of the male editorial staff of the periodical. The article also discusses in detail both the defining characteristics of Panaeva’s prose (such as prototypism, or the emancipation project outlined in her prose) and her literary reputation as a fiction writer, in particular examining her retirement from literature a few decades after the publication of the novel A Woman’s Lot [Zhenskaia dolia, 1862]. Although, due to historical circumstances, Panaeva’s progressive project turned out to be unpopular with her contemporaries, the legacy of her prose gives researchers an opportunity to view the editorial staff of The Contemporary through a woman’s eyes. This article is the updated version of a Russian language article published by the authors in the journal New Literary Observer [Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie] in 2023 (No. 3).