The Princess of Siberia: the Story of Maria Volkonsky and the Decembrist Exiles Pdf

FREE THE PRINCESS OF SIBERIA: THE STORY OF MARIA VOLKONSKY AND THE DECEMBRIST EXILES PDF

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Beautiful, cultivated, the daughter of a hero of the Napoleonic wars, Maria Volkonsky had been married only one year to Prince Sergei Volkonsky when the ill-fated Decemberist uprising against the tsar, in Decemberended with her husband's exile to Siberia. Despite her family's and the tsar's opposition, Maria was determined to join her husband thousands of miles from Beautiful, cultivated, the daughter of a hero of the Napoleonic wars, Maria Volkonsky had been married only one year to Prince Sergei Volkonsky when the ill-fated Decemberist uprising against the tsar, in Decemberended with her husband's exile to Siberia. Despite her family's and the tsar's opposition, Maria was determined to join her husband thousands of miles from St. She was more than halfway there when the tsar's decree that she could never return from Siberia was read to her. The reunion occured in the depths of a silver mine, where she fell at her husband's feet and kissed his chains. Christine Sutherland's fascinating portrait of Maria and members of the Decembrist circle is based on the unpublished memoirs and diaries of the princess, which the Volkonsky family made available to her. The exile in Siberia lasted for almost thirty years, when an amnesty following the tsar's death freed them. In exile, Maria brought to Prince Volkonsky her love, gaiety, and artistic talents, together with a force of character, courage, and integrity which sustained them through the long years. A second son and a daughter were born to them in the detention camp of Chita in Transbaikalia. The Volkonskys were eventually allowed to settle in Irkutsk in a large, well-furnished wooden house. Maria's benevolent influence on the govenor of the province, in establishing local schools, in building the first theater in Siberia, and in promoting farm cooperatives, won her the love of the populace as "our Princess. Get A Copy. More Details Original Title. SiberiaRussian Federation. Other Editions 7. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about The Princess Of Siberiaplease sign up. What's the difference between the first edition and the newer edition? See 1 question about The Princess Of Siberia…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of The Princess Of Siberia. Nov 08, Catherine Weir rated it really liked it The Princess of Siberia: The Story of Maria Volkonsky and the Decembrist Exiles russian-history. I first read this book when it was originally published. Re-reading it some years later, I was struck by her description of one of the Decembrist wives - a Frenchwoman Paulina Gueble. It piqued my curiosity to find out more about her. Once I got researching, I decided I wanted to write a book about her! This was the The Princess of Siberia: The Story of Maria Volkonsky and the Decembrist Exiles point for my novel, Paulina Annenkova Paulina Annenkovawhich has just been published as an ebook. View 1 comment. Jan 30, Dave rated it it was amazing. Fascinating story, well researched, and excellently presented by the author. I've been to the Volkonsky house, now a museum dedicated to the Decembrists and Maria, in Irkutsk--it was wonderful. I spent a week in Irkutsk and Listvyanka on Lake Baikal The Princess of Siberia: The Story of Maria Volkonsky and the Decembrist Exiles The area is beautiful and interesting and I would recommend it as a The Princess of Siberia: The Story of Maria Volkonsky and the Decembrist Exiles destination. Jun 19, Eva Thieme rated it it was amazing. I read this on recommendation from a friend or I might not have discovered it. What a pleasant surprise! It was like opening a window into a new world. Both depict characters who are dealt hard blows by fate and could easily have been defeated by it. Instead, not only do they survive and even thrive, they also become a source of inspiration and support to those around them. Maria Volkonsky was a remarkable woman who was able to adapt to the circumstances around her with grace, courage, and great practicality. Even though a life in Siberian exile much reduced her station in society and curtailed her The Princess of Siberia: The Story of Maria Volkonsky and the Decembrist Exiles resources, she never ceased to help others in need, never gave up the idea that her privileged birth gave her an obligation to serve. Her story in this excellent biography reads more like a novel than an historical account — I highly recommend it! Oct 01, Ann Wingerstrand rated it really liked it. This is an interesting and easy-to-read description of an important historic event which could have changed the course of history: if the Decembrists had succeeded with their revolt, the Russian Revolution may never have happened this is my view, not one aired by the author. I read this as I was going to visit beautiful Irkutsk. The two museums in Irkutsk the houses where two of the Decembrists lived with their wives in towards the end of their exile in Siberia are fascinating and havin This is an interesting and easy-to-read description of an important historic event which could have changed the course of history: if the Decembrists had succeeded with their revolt, the Russian Revolution may never have happened this is my The Princess of Siberia: The Story of Maria Volkonsky and the Decembrist Exiles, not one aired by the author. The two museums in Irkutsk the houses where two of the Decembrists lived with their wives in towards the end of their exile in Siberia are fascinating and having read the book gave me some good background information. I really enjoyed the book. The story itself is riveting -- I would happily read a novel or watch a movie about Maria Volkonskaya or read another biography! The writing in this book leaned towards the kinda sexist and racist occasionally. Amazing woman with a super interesting life that makes for a really compelling narrative -- not super great writing from Christine Sutherland at times. Shelves: european-history. The Princess of Siberia tells the story of Maria Volkonsky who chose to follow her husband to Siberia when he was banished for having participated in the Decembrist Revolt. As such it is an excellent case study of the exile experience in Siberia in Tsarist Russia and thus it will please any reader with a high degree of interest in the history of nineteenth century imperial Russia. I enjoyed Ms. Sutherland's novel for somewhat idiosyncratic reasons. My interest in the book came from my great The Princess of Siberia tells the story of Maria Volkonsky who chose to follow her husband to Siberia when he was banished for having participated in the Decembrist Revolt. My interest in the book came from my great fascination with Tolstoy's War and Peace. I had heard that Tolstoy had contemplated a continuation of his great masterpiece in which his hero Pierre Bezukhov would be implicated in the Decembrist revolt. Thus I read Ms. Sutherland's book hoping to learn more about the Decembrists and was greatly pleased by The Princess of Siberia: The Story of Maria Volkonsky and the Decembrist Exiles I discovered. Indeed Maria Volkonsky, her husbands and her numerous friends in exile come across as decent, intelligent and sincere people motivated by the desire to modernize their country. Tolstoy's Pierre Bezukhov of course had all the same qualities. Nov 04, Kathy rated it really liked it Shelves: russianbiography-memoir. The Princess of Siberia is about Maria Volkonsky. As a twenty-one-year-old bride, she followed her husband to Siberia where he was exiled for his involvement in the Decembrist uprising of They spent 28 years there. Her determination in caring for her husband and others improved conditions for them. She asserted herself on their behalf and made things happen. It also carried over to the area they were living as her benevolence involved the building of a foundling hospital, a theater and a c The Princess of Siberia is about Maria Volkonsky. Her community loved her very much. However, I still read about the servants they managed to have even there. Sep 27, Eleanor rated it really liked it. Beautiful and romantic Princess Maria Volkonsky only 21 travels thousands of frozen miles to be with her exiled husband, Prince Sergei, in Siberia. Bucket list???? Dec 09, Rebecca eley rated it liked it Shelves: biography. I got this book as last year I was searching out biographies in particular of significant historic women. This has, along with a couple of other biographies sparked a bit of an interest in Russian history. I found the book to be a really enjoyable read. Princes Maria Volkonsky married one of the leaders of the December rising during the time of Tsar Nicholas. The Princess Of Siberia by Christine Sutherland

Volkonskaya had a sister Sophia. At the age of eighteen Mariya married Prince Sergey Volkonsky, who was older. Popularly known in Irkutsk as the Princess of Siberia, she founded a local hospital and opened a concert hall, in addition to hosting musical and cultural soirees in her home. In Irkutsk Mariya had a blue and white timber mansion. The Volkonskys had four children; two died at early age. The eldest one, Nikolay 2 January — 17 January was born before the exile and died in St Petersburg after his mother's departure for Siberia. The second child named Sophia died on her birth day 1 Julywhile Mikhail — and Yelena Princess Kotchoubey-Rakhmanoff — survived into the 20th century. A passage in Eugene Onegin reads:. Init was proved that Volkonskaya was the subject of six poems by Pushkin written in, and From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Redirected from Maria Volkonsky. Mariya Volkonskaya. Portrait by Pyotr Sokolov. The The Princess of Siberia: The Story of Maria Volkonsky and the Decembrist Exiles of A. Categories : births deaths 19th-century Russian people People from Irkutsk Russian nobility Volkonsky family Russian internal exiles. Namespaces Article Talk. Views Read Edit View history. Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file. Download as PDF Printable version. Wikimedia Commons. Mariya Volkonskaya - Wikipedia

By Christine Sutherland. ALTHOUGH the 19th century demanded female selflessness, it rarely found examples of self- sacrifice to match that of the women who left Russia to follow their men to Siberia. Dostoyevsky paid homage in fiction to Sonya's devotion to Raskolnikov, a thief and ax- murderer. But how much greater was the prestige of those innocent women who suffered for the criminals, when the crime was the pursuit of liberty, equality, fraternity. Among the most famous female martyrs in Russia were the heroic wives and occasionally lovers of the Decembrists, named for an abortive military revolt of December Czar Nicholas I was threatened less by this poorly organized mutiny than by the secret discussion groups from which it sprang schemes for freeing the serfs and introducing parliamentary democracy were intolerable to the new absolute monarch. With the severity that became his dubious hallmark, he sentenced idealistic young men to death or hard labor, exile and the loss of property and titles. Reluctantly, he eventually allowed their wives to join them in frigid climes, provided they too gave up their positions in Russian society. One of the first to leave St. Petersburg was an attractive young noblewoman whose husband had never told her about his liberal friends and their dangerous conversations. When her father, Gen. Nicholas Raevsky, a hero of the war against Napoleon, had asked his daughter Maria in the autumn of to wed Sergei Volkonsky, a fellow military man almost 20 years her senior whom she hardly knew, she had meekly acquiesced. So it was rather a shock to her family when she violated the injunction of both her father and brother, refused to divorce the political The Princess of Siberia: The Story of Maria Volkonsky and the Decembrist Exiles as the law allowedleft her infant behind and prepared to follow Volkonsky east, to Siberia. What transformed Maria Raevsky Volkonsky into a full-scale heroine? Christine Sutherland, her biographer, has a clever answer: Byron. Having spent only three months of her first year of marriage with her husband because of his military postings, Maria could easily confuse him with a Byronic hero who fights for liberty. In fact, her sister, who had found her reading ''Mazeppa,'' suspected that life was about to imitate art. This particular youthful fantasy of revolutionary heroism would be put to the test, however, for wives were permitted to go past Irkutsk only after having renounced their right to return to European Russia, even in the event of their husbands' death. Of course, each sacrifice demanded by the Czar only added to the cult surrounding the Decembrists' wives. The images of once-privileged ladies washing floors, mending their husbands' linen and eating only kasha and black bread - for the first time in their lives - became a model of strength and self-abnegation for a later generation of more militant Russian women. Disdainful of the female revolutionaries who came along in the 's and 80's, Miss Sutherland is careful to distinguish her heroine from them; unfortunately, in so doing, she divorces the Decembrists' wives from Russia's radical tradition and the movement for women's liberation, in which they or rather their idealized portraits were to play an inspirational role. Letters and memoirs show that women could win concessions from prison commandants as well as the respect of Siberian tribesmen. In their houses on Damskaya Ulitsa Ladies' Street in Chita which their husbands could visit twice a weekthese Decembrist wives formed what Maria called ''a kind of family. Petersburg died, this family of women provided some solace. Yet this circle was no support group in the modern sense of the term, for the women's goal was not personal fulfillment in their daily lives but service to others, imitatio Christi. When her closest friend was dying, Maria wrote, ''She received the last rites like a saint, and afterwards comforted her husband as well as she could. Alexandrine died at her post. The men's leg irons became a sort of status symbol, Miss Sutherland cannily notes, and when the Czar allowed them to be removed, two Decembrists made them into bracelets the women wore on their wrists. Miss Sutherland describes the way the Decembrists and their companions-in-exile created a warm and cultured atmosphere in the frozen north. A small piano, which a relative had surreptitiously placed in the wagon with Maria's belongings, brought music to the wilderness, and when wives were permitted to live with their husbands in a new prison in Petrovsk, the Volkonskys made their virtually windowless cell into a salon of sorts. There was also a prisoners' ''Academy'' in which informal lectures were exchanged on Russian literature, agronomy, even political economy. And though this tight-knit community ended when the Decembrists were released from prison and settled in various Siberian hamlets, the Volkonskys were, fortunately, sent to a village where friends resided. With her usual resourcefulness, Maria finally contrived to move to Irkutsk, near a school for her two children born in Siberia; her husband prefered their village. In Irkutsk, her charitable projects included the improvement of a foundling hospital and the construction of a theater. Siberia was the site of her deepest pain, but also of her finest hours of public and private achievement. She herself was a popular figure of some social influence in the frontier community, hence the sobriquet ''princess of Siberia. But it takes some embroidering to make a romance out of a national tragedy. Although the Raevskys' family friend Alexander Pushkin may have used Maria's life as the inspiration for some verses, it is far from clear that the young poet was ''one of Maria's earliest suitors'' who ''triggered in her an awareness as a woman. This biography conveys many of the Decembrist legends and therein lies both its charm as a story and its weakness The Princess of Siberia: The Story of Maria Volkonsky and the Decembrist Exiles history. The two-story log house in Irkutsk used by the Decembrist, Prince Sergei Trubetskoy, a colonel of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, and his family from until the amnesty of is now a museum dedicated to the aristocratic revolutionaries who were exiled to Siberia by Czar Nicholas I in Trubetskoy's wife, Yekaterina, holds a special place in Decembrist lore. Born Katherine Laval, the vivacious and then childless Frenchwoman was the first of the Decembrist wives to reach her husband in exile. Although she set off several weeks in advance of Maria Volkonsky, she arrived just two days earlier. The small piano Princess Trubetskoy brought by sled is proudly displayed alongside Maria Volkonsky's larger piano. Princess Trubetskoy died in Irkutsk of cancer inand her grave at the Znamensky convent is still adorned from time to time by fresh-cut flowers. The Trubetskoy log The Princess of Siberia: The Story of Maria Volkonsky and the Decembrist Exiles is a handsome structure, considerably more spacious than most of the picturesque wooden houses still standing in Irkutsk, though a far cry from the Decembrists' princely homes in St. Petersburg and Moscow. The exhibits The Princess of Siberia: The Story of Maria Volkonsky and the Decembrist Exiles the ground floor are largely copies The Princess of Siberia: The Story of Maria Volkonsky and the Decembrist Exiles numerous documents and letters pertaining to the Decembrists' period of hard labor and exile in Siberia, but there are also several items of household furniture and appliances brought out by the exiles. The Volkonskys' house, with its large, well- proportioned rooms and double windows, is also being restored and is considered part of the museum, though officials would not venture to say when work might be completed. Both of the Decembrist houses survived a fire that swept through Irkutsk in The Volkonskys bought their house from a prosperous fur merchant and some of the their furniture remains, including a fine Oriental rug and a large sideboard ordered from St. Petersburg in Among the many Decembrist mementos in the Volkonsky home are embroideries made by the wives, the iron kettle on which Princess Volkonsky and Princess Trubetskoy learned to cook, the bracelets made from the prisoners' fetters and the heavy iron wedding rings the wives wore. View on timesmachine. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Home Page World U.