Mar'ia Semenovna Zhukova
Mar'ia Semenovna Zhukova, born in 1805, is recognized as one of Russia's pioneering female professional writers. She grew up in a family with a court official father and received her early education in the Nizhnii Novgorod province. After marrying district judge Razumnik Vasil'evich Zhukov, their relationship ended in separation, leading her to support herself and her son through her artistic and literary talents. Zhukova gained prominence with her first collection of stories, "Vechera na Karpovke," published in 1837, which was well-received for its exploration of women's lives and relationships. Throughout her career, she addressed themes such as adultery and the autonomy of women, establishing a space for female creativity in her work. Following her move to the Mediterranean for health reasons in 1838, she continued to publish in leading literary journals. In her later years, Zhukova focused on painting and botany while remaining engaged with intellectual circles. Her contributions to literature, particularly in advocating for women's rights, have garnered renewed interest from scholars and readers in recent decades.
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Mar'ia Semenovna Zhukova
Writer
- Born: 1805
- Birthplace: Arzamas, Russia
- Died: July 14, 1855
Biography
One of Russia’s first female professional writers, Mar’ia Semenovna Zhukova, née Zevakina, was born in 1805, to Semen Semenovich Zevakin, a court official in Arzamas, and Aleksandra Andreevna Zevakina. Zhukova was the oldest of five children. Although little is known about her early life, it is conjectured that she received her early education locally, in the Nizhnii Novgorod province.
In 1822, Zhukova married Razumnik Vasil’evich Zhukov, a district judge with whom she lived in Lipnia and Ardatov and had a son, Vasilii. The marriage ended in separation and Zhukova became the common-law wife of Philippe Berger. Required to support herself and her son, Zhukova earned a living as an artist—copying paintings at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg—and as a writer. From 1830 to 1837, she divided her time between Saratov, where her father lived, and St. Petersburg, where her son studied and she lived with Princess Sof’ia Alekseevna Golitsyna, a close friend and patroness who held a prominent literary salon.
Zhukova’s first collection of stories, Vechera na Karpovke (evenings on the Karpovka), was published anonymously in 1837. A second volume followed the next year. These books, as well as Povesti (stories, 1840), were critical and popular favorites. Zhukova was praised not only for her stylistic acumen, but also for her depiction of women’s lives and relations with men. In various modes, including the historical tale and the society tale, Zhukova addresses the issue of adultery, endorses a woman’s prerogative to eschew marriage, and creates a space for women as creative beings.
For health reasons, Zhukova was forced, in 1838, to leave St. Petersburg for the Mediterranean. However, she remained productive. She published stories in such leading journals as Biblioteka dlia chteniia (a reading library), Otechestvennye zapiski (notes of the fatherland), Sovremennik (the contemporary), and Syn otechestva (son of the fatherland). Her companion, Berger, illustrated her two-volume travelogue, Ocherki Iuzhnoi Frantsii i Nitstsy: Iz dorozhnykh zapisok 1840 i 1842 godov (sketches of southern France and Nice: from travel notes of 1840 and 1842), which appeared in 1844.
After 1842, Zhukova spent most of her time in the countryside, in Saratov, where she was active in a community of younger intellectuals. Her fiction from the 1840’s and early 1850’s remains engaged with women’s concerns, but—in keeping with the rise of realism—in a more psychologically accomplished way. In her final years, Zhukova painted and studied botany. Interest in Zhukova’s fiction, its advocacy of women’s rights, and its place in the continuum of nineteenth century fiction flourished in the late twentieth century.