The Crimean War, Seen from the ‘Estate in the High Road’ (Essays and Letters by N. S. Sokhanskaya)

Abstract

The article examines a little-known example of a woman’s view of war — responses to the events of the Crimean War in the essays, stories and letters of Nadezhda S. Sokhanskaya (literary pseudonyms: Makarovskaya and Kokhanovskaya). Among the literary reflections under considerations are direct impressions recorded in essays of 1854, and a memorial cycle of “Sevastopol impressions”, which was created just before the Russian-Turkish War (1877–1878). An interesting material is represented by the kind of folk poetic “feuilletons”, ridiculing the enemy. The main objective of the article is to trace how the perception of war as martyrdom has changed and deepened over time.