Maria Shkapskaya facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Maria Shkapskaya
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 15 October 1891 Saint Petersburg, Russia |
| Died | 7 September 1952 (aged 60) Moscow, Soviet Union |
| Notable works | No Dream |
Maria Mikhailovna Shkapskaya (Russian: Мария Михайловна Шкапская; 15 October 1891 – 7 September 1952) was an important Russian and Soviet poet and journalist. She wrote many poems and articles, sharing her unique view of the world and the changes happening around her.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Maria Shkapskaya was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 1891. She was the youngest of five children. Her parents were educated, but her family often struggled with money. Her father had retired from his government job due to health issues, and her mother had a condition that caused paralysis.
Even with these challenges, Maria went to school at a gymnasium (a type of high school) on Vasilyevsky Island. She showed her talent for writing early, completing her first essay at just nine years old. By age eleven, she started working to help her family. She did various jobs like laundry, writing addresses at the post office, tutoring, and helping actresses.
Maria also began to learn about politics at school. She joined a student reading group and even published poetry in their journal. She finished high school with excellent grades in 1910.
Life in Pskov
In 1910, Maria got married and moved with her husband to Pskov. There, she helped her husband's father with a study of the local lake region. She interviewed people and collected information. As a hobby, she gathered a list of over 200 local dialect words. This experience was very helpful for her later work as a journalist. She and her husband also joined a local group that discussed social and political ideas, often based on the teachings of Karl Marx.
Becoming a Writer and Activist
Maria's first published works appeared in 1910. She wrote a fable for the newspaper Narva Leaflet and a poem about the death of famous writer Leo Tolstoy for Pskovian Life.
In 1911, she started studying medicine at the Saint Petersburg Psycho-Neurological Institute, but she only stayed for a year. She became involved in student activism and was arrested twice in 1912. Once, it was for taking part in a public demonstration. The second time, she and her husband were arrested for being part of a student group that wanted social change. They were both sentenced to three years of exile. Luckily, a kind merchant gave scholarships to all the students involved in the case, so they could continue their studies while in exile.
Time in France
Maria and her husband spent three years in France. She studied literature at the University of Toulouse in 1914 and attended lectures in Paris. During this time, she continued to publish her poetry in Saint Petersburg journals. She got help from famous writer Vladimir Korolenko, whom she had met in Paris. While in Paris, she also met other important writers like Maximilian Voloshin and Ilya Ehrenburg.
When World War I began, Maria worked with organizations that helped refugees from Belgium and France. Her experiences gave her ideas for a collection of four essays called Over Here and Over There. She published these essays when she returned to Russia in 1916. She was surprised by some of the unfairness and greed she saw in Russia compared to France. In 1916, she published several essays that compared Russia and France, often favoring France.
During the Russian Civil War, Maria and her husband faced very difficult times. By 1919, they had two sons. In 1920, she became a member of the Petrograd Poets Union. In 1921, she worked with the famous poet Alexander Blok.
Her Writing Career
From 1916 to the early 1920s, Maria's poetry often explored themes of faith, motherhood, and lost love. After this period, her writing style began to change, taking on a more social and political focus.
Her poetry collection Blood-Ore (published in 1923) received strong reactions. Some critics, like Valery Bryusov, were disappointed. However, Maxim Gorky, another famous writer, praised her work. He felt she gave a new and important voice to women's experiences. Her book Tsa Tsa Tsa also came out in 1923.
In 1925, Maria published a collection of nursery rhymes called Alyosha's Galoshes. She also released her last collection of poetry, The Earthly Crafts, that same year. In December 1925, she joined the staff of Red Newspaper, where she worked as a reporter for eight years. She was a very productive writer and a skilled researcher. People praised her writing for its lively, "cinematographic" (like a movie) style. Her articles also appeared in important newspapers like Pravda. In 1927, writer Vera Inber called her one of the four best Soviet journalists. Maria's third child, a daughter, was born in 1928.
Later Life
From 1931 to 1936, Maria Shkapskaya took part in a huge project started by Maxim Gorky. It was called The History of Factories and Plants and involved thousands of writers across the Soviet Union. Maria worked on the Karl Marx Factory in Leningrad, which was founded in 1832. Her book about this project, Lessner's Workers, was never fully published, though parts of it appeared in newspapers. This was her favorite project.
After 1929, her poems were no longer published in the Soviet Union. In 1934, she publicly stated that her earlier poetry was "socially uninformed," meaning it didn't focus enough on social issues.
She moved to Moscow in 1937. After World War II, she worked as an editor for the Anti-Fascist Committee of Soviet Women. During this time, she faced health problems, overwork, and injuries. Sadly, her younger son was taken prisoner during the war and later sent to a labor camp in 1950. Maria Shkapskaya passed away in September 1952.
English Translations
- No Dream, (a long poem), found in An Anthology of Russian Women's Writing, 1777-1992, published by Oxford University Press, 1994.
- ’’Mariya Shkapskaya, The Mother and the Stern Master, Selected Poems’’ translated and introduced by Sandra Shaw Bennett, Astra Press 1998.
