Home – Home – Jornals – Humanitarian sciences in Siberia 2015 number

This article considers the problem of historical biography, its specifics as a genre and a research field; reveals the role of a biographer and his/her life experience in biographical writing. The article is focused on the biography of Alexander Pushkin (“Zhizn’ Pushkina”) written by Ariadna Tyrkova-Willams, her reasons to write Pushkin’s biography in 1920-1930s. The article shows how the historical events in revolutionary Russia and personal experience of Ariadna Tyrkova influenced her picture of Pushkin’s life. The aim of this article is to reveal the interconnection between the biographical text and autobiographical narrative, based on the analysis of “Zhizn’ Pushkina”, memoirs and correspondence of Ariadna Tyrkova. She wrote Pushkin’s biography in England, after her emigration from the Soviet Russia, contributing to the formation of “Pushkin’s myth” and part of the struggle for Pushkin between the Soviet scholars and Russian emigres. Writing a biography (along with writing memoirs) is one of the means of identification and self-identification. The author argues that, first, the generational identity was prominent for Tyrkova and this kind of identity was reflected in the biography of Pushkin, creating links between the generation of Tyrkova and Pushkin. While portraying the circle of young friends of Pushkin, Tyrkova kept in mind her brother’s friends. Second, the description of the Russian nobility reflects the significance attached to the social identity by Tyrkova, while Mikhailovskoe reminded Tyrkova of her estate located not so far from the Pushkin’s place. “Zhizn’ Pushkina” reveals much about Tyrkova’s political views because she pointed out that Pushkin was closer to the “liberal conservatism” than “revolutionary liberalism”. There are several female portraits in this biography revealing Tyrkova’s feminist views and ideas about the role of women in society. Thus, we can learn much about Tyrkova’s values, political and religious constellations, her doubts and beliefs from her work about Pushkin. The lives of Tyrkova and Pushkin are brought together in the biographical context, connecting different times and spaces.