Anna or the Misfortunes of Virtue: (Self-)Upbringing in the Late 18th-Century Russian Women’s Autobiography

Abstract

The Memoir of Anna Labzina is a unique document about the experience of women’s growing up and maturing in the late 18th century. Modelled after hagiography, the worldly virtue presented here as Christian legacy is confronted with the temptations of the Enlightenment . This author’s growing up within the context of a premature marriage to a man of an incompatible world view becomes a series of contradictory attempts of upbringing which eventually lead to a compromise. Based on previous readings, this paper will attempt to demonstrate the aforementioned upbringing concepts to which the autobiographer has been exposed, starting from the parents and relatives to her husband and some prominent public fiures. It will also attempt to synthetically describe her self-upbringing, which is especially indicated by the end of the text. Masonic inflences and the complex issue of the function of the text, most probably not intended for publication, will present the basis this interpretation.