Lyudmila Petrovna Shelgunova , nee Michaelis (1832-1901) - translator, writer, memoirist and social activist, wife of the writer N.V. Shelgunov and common -law wife of the poet and people's activist M.L. Mikhailov , sister of E.P. Michaelis (1841-1914 ) [2] .
| Lyudmila Shelgunova | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Birth name | Michaelis |
| Date of Birth | February 27, 1832 |
| Place of Birth | |
| Date of death | December 13, 1901 (69 years old) |
| Citizenship (citizenship) | |
| Occupation | translator |
| Language of Works | |
Biography
Born in Perm , the daughter of a German, state adviser Pyotr Ivanovich Michaelis from his marriage to a graduate of the Smolny Institute - Eugenia Egorovna Afanasyeva. She studied in St. Petersburg , in the English hostel Low . In 1850, she married her cousin uncle Nikolai Shelgunov, a forestry scientist who in 1861 became a co-owner of the Vek newspaper . Living with her husband in St. Petersburg, the young Shelgunova shone in the leading literary circles; her interlocutors and acquaintances included Turgenev, Chernyshevsky , Dobrolyubov , D. I. Pisarev , Ya. P. Polonsky and M. L. Mikhailov .
According to E. A. Shtakenschneider , Shelgunova was a “smart woman and could talk about everything”, she was “not pretty, pretty thick, wore short hair and dressed without taste; her hands were only very beautiful, and she knew how to please men, while women did not like her. She called her husband to you, he called her Lyudinka. She had no children, so she freely had her time ” [3] .
Developed, comprehensively educated, active, energetic Shelgunova gave her husband complete freedom in his personal affairs and herself enjoyed the same freedom [4] . In 1861, with the consent of her husband, she began to live with his close friend, 32-year-old poet Mikhail Mikhailov (1829-1865), who had been in love with her for many years and "would have gladly thrown herself into the fire for her" [3] .
Despite the birth of their son Mikhail (1862-1897), their common-law marriage was short-lived. For spreading revolutionary proclamations in St. Petersburg, Mikhailov was arrested and sentenced to exile. In 1862, Lyudmila Shelgunova, together with her husband, who retired, went to Mikhailov to Nerchinsk as a child. According to one version, she wanted to arrange an escape for him and send him abroad. There they were searched, placed under house arrest and in January 1863 sent to Irkutsk.
In March, Nikolai Shelgunov was arrested for connection with a state criminal Mikhailov and sent to prison in the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he spent two years. In November 1864, he was deported to the Vologda province. Shelgunova was allowed to return to St. Petersburg, from where she went abroad in the autumn of 1863, first she lived in Zurich, and then in Geneva. In both cities, she kept a boarding house for Russian political emigrants. In Zurich, she became close to one of the leaders of the “ Earth and Freedom ” disgraced A. A. Serno-Solovievich (1838-1869) and gave birth to his son Nikolai (1864-1909) [5] .
In 1865, Shelgunova returned to Russia with her children and again met her husband. Their daughter Lyudmila (1870-1942) was married to a teacher Mikhail Andreevich Lukin (d. 1922). Shelgunov lived in different cities of the Vologda province, Lyudmila Petrovna either came to him, then left for Petersburg, where she bothered about his transfer to another city, acted as an intermediary between him and the publishing house and handed over her works to the press. She placed her translations mainly in The Russian Word , The Cause , The Week, and Picturesque Review . She translated Schlosser 's World History and Steel and Roland, Auerbach's short stories, and Jules Verne’s novels. For the publication of Pavlenkov, she made an arrangement of Dickens' novels.
In 1887, Shelgunov suffered great grief, her son Nikolai, a graduate of the St. Petersburg Naval Academy, was convicted of revolutionary activity. A blow happened to her and she was partially paralyzed, after which her health could no longer fully recover. Soon she buried her husband and eldest son. In her declining years, Shelgunova began to write her memoirs in 1896-1900. She published letters of Nikolai Shelgunov to her and her memoirs in the book “From the recent past” (St. Petersburg, 1901; earlier in “Women's Business”). She lived in the family of her daughter and son-in-law, surrounded by her grandchildren who loved her. She died in December 1901 in St. Petersburg.
Literature
- Shelgunova, Lyudmila Petrovna // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
Notes
- ↑ Encyclopedic Dictionary / Ed. I.E. Andreevsky , K.K. Arseniev , F.F. Petrushevsky - St. Petersburg. : Brockhaus - Efron , 1907.
- ↑ G. B. E. P. Michaelis // Siberian Archive. Journal of Archeology, History and Ethnography of Siberia. - Minusinsk, No. 7-8, July-August 1914, p. 312-317
- ↑ 1 2 Voice of the past. - 1915. - No. 11. - S. 168-169.
- ↑ P.V. Zasodimsky. From the memories. - M .: type. t-va I. D. Sytin, 1908. - S. 427.
- ↑ N.V. Shelgunov, L.P. Shelgunova, M.P. Mikhailov. Memoirs: In 2 t. M. - 1967. - T. 2.