Smirnova, Olga Nikolaevna

Olga Nikolaevna Smirnova, the eldest daughter of Alexandra Osipovna and Nikolai Mikhailovich Smirnov , was born on June 18, 1834. A. S. Pushkin wrote to his wife ^[1] :

Smirnova gave birth safely and, imagine, two! .. Today, it seems, is the ninth day, and it is audible that the mother and children are healthy.

The second of the twin girls, Alexandra, did not live long. She died in Paris in 1837 from meningitis. Already in early childhood, Olga Nikolaevna absorbed a lot of vivid impressions, traveling with her mother abroad. In 1842, the Smirnovs, passing through Germany, lived first in France, then in Rome . Life in Italy, surrounded by historical monuments, the study of ancient traditions, arouse interest in the inquisitive mind of the girl. In letters to Zhukovsky, Alexandra Osipovna wrote:

“My eldest is smart, like a devil, loves to study and tells amazingly funny stories about Greeks and Romans. My children are nice girls. I have a beautiful governess. God sent it to me because I am completely unable to raise children.

As a child, Smirnov gave daughters to read the Bible, the Gospel, the lives of saints and the catechism. Later, they studied the history of the church, the history of sects, the history of ancient religions, Judaism, Islamism, the Old Believers. The general bias of education was deeply religious. Remembering in her declining years about her childhood, Olga Nikolaevna said:

I learned to write the Bible with pictures. At the age of four she cried over one of the prophets, at five she got acquainted with the book “Pilgrim's Wandering” in English and learned to write in Italian earlier than in Russian.

After living abroad until 1845, the Smirnov subsequently settled for six years in Kaluga , where Nikolai Mikhailovich was appointed governor. June 18, 1846 I. S. Aksakov wrote to relatives from Kaluga: ^[2]

Olga Nikolaevna grew up a sentimental and dreamy young lady, kept a diary, read M. Aurelius , was genuinely interested in her studies, and developed her observantness. Balls and entertainment did not interest her, she defended a secluded life in the home circle.

In Olga Kaluga, life was not easy. A constantly sick mother, often leaving her children alone and having been treated for a long time (sometimes for years) in Moscow or in St. Petersburg, father burdened with governorship ... Olga Nikolaevna early felt like an adult, mistress of the house. In 1852, she was appointed, along with Pushkin's daughter Maria and Tyutchev's daughter Anna , a maid of honor under the future Empress . In the Crimean campaign , captured by the spirit of patriotism, Olga Nikolaevna was going to go to Sevastopol, but received a rejection from her parents. She grew up serious, and maybe a little dry girl. She never powder, rarely looked in the mirror. In 1853, she had a groom. From a letter of M. A. Pushkina to Olga:

It is not known why Olga did not get married. She herself said to herself later with the words of Vyazemsky: "I was born a widow." In 1857, the Smirnovs lived abroad. They were seen in Switzerland by E. V. Saburova (daughter of V. I. Sollogub ), from whom the shadow sides in the Smirnov’s life did not escape: “Lack of native soil, loneliness, narrow circle of acquaintances, difficult relations between mother and daughter and, finally, material the difficulties that were growing in this family. ” The relationship between Alexandra Osipovna and Olga Nikolaevna was really not easy. Olga Nikolaevna was usually in a nervous state, passing from anger to tears. Her health was shaken, and not just by one physical ailment. She was very demanding, did not want to come to terms with the idea of ​​saving.

In 1867, Olga Nikolaevna traveled to Constantinople with her mother and brother. On the way, in Odessa , she met with her mother's uncle, the Decembrist N.I. Lorer . The public sympathies of the Smirnovs more and more began to lean toward England. Not only Alexandra Osipovna, but also Olga Nikolaevna suffered from Anglo-mania. In Russia, the Smirnovs were only arrivals. In 1882, Olga Nikolaevna came to Moscow , accompanying the ashes of Alexandra Osipovna .

Left alone, Olga Nikolaevna settled in Paris . Her money affairs were extremely confused. In 1884, when Olga Nikolaevna was ill with typhus, the manager of the Smirnovs' house, Countess Odiffre , robbed her. Part of the furnishings, books, archives, even notebooks disappeared, all the boxes were empty. Considerable time was taken away from her from secular affairs and visits. Olga Nikolaevna loved the theater, she reviewed all the plays of her beloved Shakespeare . She read a lot in all European languages, including Spanish, on a wide variety of issues. She lived mainly at night, in a world created by her imagination. As a feminist, Smirnova admired the heroines of the past and the representatives of science. In her letters to V.S. Solovyov , with whom he is on friendly terms, Olga Nikolaevna complained about her loneliness. Everyone around her considered her eccentric. Being a highly educated person in the field of art and literature, in a vital sense, it was a man of little fit.

She died of consumption on December 13, 1893 in Paris , and was buried there at the Pere Lachaise cemetery .

The real passion of Olga Nikolaevna, her natural talent was writing . She left a huge amount of epistolary material. She wrote on a wide variety of often insignificant occasions. Smirnova was a serious enough person who worked in several directions she had chosen. The true subject of love for Smirnova was Russian literature, caused by the traditions of the family — her mother’s communication with Pushkin , Lermontov , Gogol . Olga Nikolaevna herself saw Zhukovsky , Turgenev , Aksakov , A.K. and L.N. Tolstykh. She knew Polonsky , Tyutchev , Markevich well .

In the 1880s, Smirnova, continuously working, created a number of works: a study of Pushkin and Gogol, philosophical essays “50 Years in Russia (1837–1887)”, “Political Tragedies and Russian Historians”, a book on religious sects. All her works were intended for a foreign public, primarily French. In 1885, Olga Nikolaevna wrote Notes and Memories. Unable to publish her works abroad, Olga Nikolaevna tried to publish them in Russia. In 1893, her main work, The Notes of Alexandra Osipovna Smirnova, was published in the journal Northern Vestnik . This is a huge work - written in French, then was published as a separate book. The debate about the authenticity of the Notes does not subside; many believe that Olga Nikolaevna falsified her mother’s notes. Pushkinist P.E. Rainbot , having thoroughly studied the notes, confirmed the opinion that they were written precisely by the daughter of Smirnova, who not only wrote them from the words of an elderly mother, but also added something from herself.

• The Imperial Order of the Holy Great Martyr Anastasia (August 20, 2013, the Russian Imperial House ) - to pay tribute to the Fatherland and the Russian IMPERIAL House and as a testament to our special favor ^[3]

• Notes by A.O. Smirnova, nee Rosset from 1825 to 1845. - M.: Moscow Worker, 1999. ISBN 5-239-01936-3 .
• A.O. Smirnova-Rosset. Memories. Letters. - M .: True, 1990.