Evgenia Tur facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Evgenia Tur
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Portrait by Pimen Orlov
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| Born | 24 August 1815 Moscow, Russia |
| Died | 27 March 1892 (aged 76) Warsaw, Poland |
| Genre | fiction, criticism, journalism |
| Notable works | The Shalonski Family Antonina |
Evgenia Tur (born Elizaveta Vasilyevna Sukhovo-Kobylina) was a Russian writer, critic, journalist, and publisher. She was born on August 24, 1815, and passed away on March 27, 1892. Her full married name was Countess Elizaveta Vasilyevna Salias De Tournemire. She used the pen name Evgenia Tur for her writings. Her son, Evgeny Salias De Tournemire, also became a novelist. Her brother was the famous playwright Aleksandr Sukhovo-Kobylin, and her sister, Sofia Sukhovo-Kobylina, was a talented painter.
Early Life
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Elizaveta was born in Moscow into a noble family. Her father, Vasily Sukhovo-Kobylin, was a military veteran. Her mother was Maria Ivanovna Sukhovo-Kobylina.
Elizaveta received an excellent education at home. She was taught by professors from Moscow University.
When she was young, Elizaveta fell in love with Nikolay Ivanovich Nadezhdin. Her parents did not approve of him because he was from a lower social class. They wanted to marry secretly, but their plan did not work. Soon after, her parents took her to travel abroad.
In 1838, while in France, Elizaveta married Count Andrey Salias de Tournemire. He came from a very old French noble family. After their marriage, the young couple returned to Russia and lived in Moscow.
In 1846, Andrey had to leave Russia because of a conflict he was involved in. He left his wife and their three children behind.
Becoming a Writer
After her husband left, Elizaveta started living a more independent life. She became very interested in literature. She even hosted a popular literary salon in Moscow. Many famous writers and thinkers visited her salon. These included Ivan Turgenev, Nikolai Leskov, and Konstantin Leontiev.
Soon, Elizaveta began to write herself. Her first story was published in a magazine called The Contemporary. She used the pen name Evgenia Tur. Her first work was very successful. The famous writer Alexander Ostrovsky praised her debut. He said she was a "new and original talent." He liked her writing and how real her characters felt. He only noted that some descriptions were a bit too long.
The next year, she published another novel called The Niece. This book was also very popular with readers and critics. Ivan Turgenev wrote that she had created "great hopes in the literary world." Over the next few years, Elizaveta published many more works. These included Duty and Two Sisters (1851), Vicious Circle (1854), and Flower Girl (1859).
Her Work as a Critic
In 1856, Elizaveta became the head of the fiction section for The Russian Messenger magazine. Starting in 1857, she began writing critical articles for this magazine. These articles were about the lives and works of foreign writers. She worked for The Russian Messenger for almost four years. She left in 1860 because of disagreements with the editor.
In 1861, she started her own magazine called Russian Speech. However, this magazine only lasted for 13 months. In it, she published several articles reviewing other writers. She wrote about Nadezhda Khvoshchinskaya and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. She could see that Dostoyevsky had great talent, even at that early time. She also wrote critical articles for other magazines and newspapers.
One important article she wrote was about Ivan Turgenev's novel Fathers and Sons. Even though she was friends with Turgenev, she strongly disagreed with his portrayal of young people in Russia. She believed that the young generation was much better and stronger than he showed them. In her opinion, he had made the older generation look good and the younger generation look bad.
Later Life
In 1861, Elizaveta's life changed a lot. Her son, Evgeny Salias De Tournemire, was involved in student activities of the time. Elizaveta supported young people, even though her own views were more moderate. She was also very interested in the relationship between Poland and Russia. She was influenced by the ideas of a Polish professor, Henryk Wyziński. Because of her views, she had to leave Russia in early 1862. She lived in Paris, France, for several years. There, she became close with Polish noble families. She also became very interested in religion, especially Catholicism, which influenced her later writings.
After leaving Russia, she mostly wrote novels and stories for children and young people. Some of her popular books include Catacombs (1866), Crystal Heart (1873), and The Shalonski Family (1879). Her books are still popular and are often reprinted in modern Russia.
She spent her final years living in Warsaw, Poland. She passed away there in March 1892.
English translations
- The Shalonski Family, (novel), Remington and Co, London, 1882. from Google Books
- Antonina, (novel), Northwestern University Press, 1996.
See also
In Spanish: Yelizaveta Vasílievna Salias de Tournemir para niños
