Anna Pavlovna Barykova
Anna Pavlovna Barykova (1839-1893) was a Russian writer and poet born in St. Petersburg to a noble family with literary roots. Educated at home and at the Ekaterininskii Institute, she began writing poetry early in her life. Barykova's literary career was marked by her keen social consciousness, particularly regarding the struggles of the impoverished, which she explored through her poetry and prose. Her work often criticized the societal hypocrisy of both the wealthy and the poor, as seen in her poem "V durnuiu pogodu," which highlights the disparity between charitable acts of the rich and the plight of the marginalized.
Barykova was also politically active, aligning herself with the revolutionary group Narodnaia Volia, which ultimately led to her brief arrest. Her best-known work, "Skazka pro to, kak Tsar' Akhreian khodil Bogu zhalovat'sia," satirizes autocratic authority and advocates for social change. Despite facing censorship and limited recognition during her lifetime, her writing remains relevant, addressing themes of social justice and artistic responsibility. Barykova's legacy continues to resonate, reflecting the struggles and aspirations of those advocating for equality and reform.
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Subject Terms
Anna Pavlovna Barykova
Fiction Writer
- Born: December 22, 1839
- Birthplace: St. Petersburt, Russia
- Died: May 31, 1893
- Place of death: Russia
Biography
Anna Pavlovna Barykova was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, on December 22, 1839. Her parents were Pavel Pavlovich Kamenskii, a nobleman and writer, and Mariia Fedorovna Kamenskaia, née Tolstaia, also a writer. Barykova was educated at home, by her father and her governess, and at the Ekaterininskii Institute, where she began writing poetry and from which she graduated, in 1856, with honors. In 1857, Barykova married N. N. Karlinsky, an artillery officer; together they had a son and a daughter. Barykova’s second marriage, in 1862, to the barrister S. L. Barykov, resulted in two more daughters.
Barykova’s first attempt at publication, a prose piece titled “Ptichnitsa” (the little bird), was censored. Beginning in 1872, Barykova published her writing in the journal Otechestvennye zapiski (notes of the fatherland). Her translations from French, German, English, and Polish appeared in the journals Severnyi vestnik (the northern messenger) and Russkoe bogatstvo (Russian wealth), among others, and were later collected in her posthumous Stikhotvoreniia i prozaicheskie proizvedeniia (1897; poetic and prose works). The sole collection of Barykova’s verse published during her lifetime appeared in 1878 in Piatigorsk.
A prominent theme in Barykova’s work is the relationship between the beauty of art and the daily troubles of the impoverished masses. She exposes the hypocrisy present in the upper and lower classes alike, in such poems as “V durnuiu pogodu” (in bad weather), first published in the 1878 collection. In the poem, wealthy women on their way to charity balls “au profit de nos pauvres” (for the benefit of the poor) pass by in carriages, while prostitutes work in bad weather. Barykova’s unstinting sympathy for the voiceless poor in the Russian Empire of the late 1800’s led even progressive critics to label her the “poetess of the dung heap” and the “washer girl.”
In the early 1880’s Barykova lived in Rostov-on-Don, where her radical politics found an outlet in the revolutionary group Narodnaia Volia (The People’s Will), which attempted violent agitation and succeeded in assassinating Czar Alexander II in March of 1881. Barykova’s connection to the group led to her arrest and brief imprisonment. Her best- known work, Skazka pro to, kak Tsar’ Akhreian khodil Bogu zhalovat’sia (the tale of how Czar Akhreian went to god to complain), first published anonymously in St. Petersburg in 1883, was illegal in the empire. The work is a mock folktale with an unconventional ideological edge; it advocates revolt against autocratic authority and the false doctrines the czar presides over by divine right. In satiric poems such as “Zhretsu estetiki” (1884; to the priest of aesthetics), Barykova declares art’s responsibility to represent the suffering of the poor and to urge social change. Barykova died on May 31, 1893, believing that a single life could effect positive social change. Her obscurity reflects her lack of concern for literary legacy, but does not lessen the relevance of her work to contemporary social problems.