Nadezhda Andreyevna Durova (Russian: Наде́жда Андре́евна Ду́рова) (September 17, 1783 – March 21, 1866), also known as Alexander Durov, Alexander Sokolov and Alexander Andreevich Alexandrov, was a woman who, while disguised as a man, became a decorated soldier in the Russian cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars. She was one of the first known female officer in the Russian military. Her memoir, The Cavalry Maiden, is a significant document of its era because few junior officers of the Napoleonic Wars published their experiences, and because it is one of the earliest autobiographies in the Russian language.
Nadezhda Durova was born in an army camp at Voznesenskoe as the daughter of a Russian major. Her father placed her in the care of his soldiers after an incident that nearly killed her in infancy when her abusive mother threw her out the window of a moving carriage. As a small child, Durova learned all the standard marching commands and her favorite toy was an unloaded gun.[1]
After her father retired from service, she continued playing with broken sabers and frightened her family by secretly taming a stallion that they considered unbreakable.[2] In 1801 she married a Sarapul judge, V. S. Chernov, and gave birth to a son in 1803. Some accounts[which?] claim that she ran away from her home with a Cossack officer in 1805. In 1807, at the age of twenty-four, she disguised herself as a boy, deserted her son and husband, and enlisted in the Polish Horse Regiment (later classified as uhlans) under the alias Alexander Sokolov.[3]
Nadezhda Durova at about age thirteen
Fiercely patriotic, Durova regarded army life as freedom. She enjoyed animals and the outdoors, but felt she had little talent for traditional women's work. In her memoirs she describes an unhappy relationship with her mother, warmth toward her father, and nothing at all about her own married life.
Military service and later life
She fought in the major Russian engagements of the 1806-1807 Prussian campaign. During two of those battles, she saved the lives of two fellow Russian soldiers. The first was an enlisted man who fell off his horse on the battlefield and suffered a concussion. She gave him first aid under heavy fire and brought him to safety as the army retreated around them. The second was an officer, unhorsed but uninjured. Three French dragoons were closing on him. She couched her lance and scattered the enemy. Then, against regulations, she let the officer borrow her own horse to hasten his retreat, which left her more vulnerable to attack.
During the campaign, she wrote a letter to her family explaining her disappearance. They used their connections in a desperate attempt to locate her. The rumor of an amazon in the army reached Tsar Alexander I, who took a personal interest. Durova's chain of command reported that her courage was peerless. Summoned to the palace at St. Petersburg, she impressed the Tsar so much that he awarded Durova the Cross of St. George and promoted her to lieutenant in a hussar unit (Mariupol Hussar Regiment). The story that there was the heroine in the army with the name Alexander Sokolov had become well-known by that time. So the Tsar awarded her a new pseudonym, Alexandrov, based on his own name.[4]
Durova's youthful appearance hurt her chances for promotion. In an era when Russian officers were expected to grow a mustache she looked like a boy of sixteen. She transferred away from the hussars to the Lithuanian Uhlan Regiment in order to avoid the colonel's daughter who had fallen in love with her. Durova saw action again during Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812. She fought in the Battle of Smolensk. During the Battle of Borodino a cannonball wounded her in the leg, yet she continued serving full duty for several days afterward until her command ordered her away to recuperate. She retired from the army in 1816 with the rank of stabs-rotmistr, the equivalent of captain-lieutenant.[4]
A chance meeting introduced her to Aleksandr Pushkin some twenty years later. When he learned that she had kept a journal during her army service he encouraged her to publish it as a memoir. She added background about her early childhood but changed her age by seven years and eliminated all reference to her marriage. Durova published this as The Cavalry Maiden in 1836. Durova also wrote five other novels.[5] Durova continued to wear male clothing for the rest of her life, continued to use her male alias, and spoke using masculine grammar.[6] She died in Yelabuga and was buried with full military honors.[4] Her son, Ivan Durov, had died 10 years prior.[7]
Durova's gender identity
There has been a debate over whether Durova could be labelled as a transgender man. Much of the scholarship concerning Durova treats her as a cross-dressing woman,[8] however, Durova in her personal life rejected femininity(even expressing an aversion to the female sex)[9] and behaved as a man. In The Cavalry Maiden, Durova describes herself with terms of androgyny, describing herself both as a bogatyr[10] and as an Amazon warrior. Durova was also a writer of prose, and one of her stories, Nurmeka, revolves around a male who cross-dresses as a female, leading to speculation that this was an expression of Durova's transgender identity.[9] Terms relating to non-standard gender identity such as transvestite (1910), transsexual (1949), and transgender (1971) were coined long after Durova's death,[11] so she could not have used the modern label of transgender; despite this, modern scholarship has increasingly adopted the view that Durova was an example of a transgender individual.[12][13]
Besides being a rare example of a female soldier's military memoir, The Cavalry Maiden is one of the few sustained accounts of the Napoleonic wars to describe events from the perspective of a junior officer[citation needed] and one of the earliest autobiographical works in Russian literature.
Durova became a figure of some cultural interest in Eastern Europe but remained largely unknown to the English-speaking world until Mary Fleming Zirin's translation of The Cavalry Maiden in 1988. Durova is now a subject of university syllabi and scholarly publications in comparative literature and Russian history.
The Girl Who Fought Napoleon: A Novel of the Russian Empire, a novel by Linda Lafferty
Bibliography
Durova, Nadezhda, The Cavalry Maiden: Journals of a Russian Officer in the Napoleonic Wars. Mary Fleming Zirin. Indiana University Press, 1989. ISBN0-253-20549-2 (see book reviews on Amazon.com).
^Aikasheva, Olga (2014). "Судьба Ивана Чернова сына Н. А. Дуровой". Вестник Московского государственного гуманитарного университета им. М.А. Шолохова. Филологические науки. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
^Renner-Fahey, Ona (2009). "DIARY OF a DEVOTED CHILD: NADEZHDA DUROva's SELF-PRESENTATION IN THE CAVALRY MAIDEN". The Slavic and East European Journal. 53 (2): 189–202. ISSN 0037-6752. JSTOR 40651112. Retrieved 7 October 2022.
^Aykasheva, Olga (2014). "Судьба Ивана Чернова сына Н. А. Дуровой" ["Fate of Ivan Chernov, son of N.A. Durova"]. Locus: People, Society, Cultures, Meaning (in Russian) (3). ISSN 2500-2988. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
^Vaysman, Margarita. "Nadezhda Durova: Nineteenth-Century Russian Queer Celebrity and Patriotic Icon". Torch: Oxford Center for the Humanities. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
^ abMarsh-Flores, Ann (2003). "Coming out of His Closet: Female Friendships, Amazonki and the Masquerade in the Prose of Nadezhda Durova". The Slavic and East European Journal. 47 (4): 609–630. doi:10.2307/3220248. ISSN 0037-6752. JSTOR 3220248. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
^"Queerness from Prussia in 1812 to Kyrgyzstan in 2019 Meduza summarizes the latest features on LGBTQ issues in and near Russia". Meduza. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
^Whittle, Stephen (2 June 2010). "A brief history of transgender issues". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 October 2022.
^Karwowska, Bożena (2014). "Nadieżda Durowa i początki rosyjskiej autobiografii". Autobiografia Literatura Kultura Media (in Polish). 2: 153–162. doi:10.18276/au.2014.1.2-09 (inactive 31 December 2022). ISSN 2353-8694. Retrieved 10 October 2022.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of December 2022 (link)
^Boyarinova, Polina (25 June 2016). "Nadezhda Durova: phenomenon of gender trouble in Russia in the first half of the XIX c." Woman in Russian Society (in Russian): 57–68. doi:10.21064/WinRS.2016.2.6. Retrieved 9 October 2022.
References
Mersereau, John Jr. & Lapeza, David (1988). Nadezhda Durova: The Cavalry Maid. Ardis.
Barta, Peter I., "Gender Trial and Gothic Trill: Nadezhda Durova's Subversive Self-Exploration" by Amdreas Schonle in Gender and Sexuality in Russian Civilization, 2001. ISBN0-415-27130-4
External links
Wikiquote has quotations related to Nadezhda Durova.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nadezhda Durova.
A History Net summary of Durova's life.
A account of Durova.
A brief excerpt from Durova's experiences during the retreat to Moscow in 1812.
The Durov Animal Theater in Moscow, a surviving legacy of the Durov clan.
nadezhda, durova, nadezhda, andreyevna, durova, russian, Наде, жда, Андре, евна, Ду, рова, september, 1783, march, 1866, also, known, alexander, durov, alexander, sokolov, alexander, andreevich, alexandrov, woman, while, disguised, became, decorated, soldier, . Nadezhda Andreyevna Durova Russian Nade zhda Andre evna Du rova September 17 1783 March 21 1866 also known as Alexander Durov Alexander Sokolov and Alexander Andreevich Alexandrov was a woman who while disguised as a man became a decorated soldier in the Russian cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars She was one of the first known female officer in the Russian military Her memoir The Cavalry Maiden is a significant document of its era because few junior officers of the Napoleonic Wars published their experiences and because it is one of the earliest autobiographies in the Russian language Nadezhda Durova in officer s uniform Contents 1 Early biography 2 Military service and later life 2 1 Durova s gender identity 3 Legacy 4 Artistic works about Nadezhda Durova 5 Bibliography 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 9 External linksEarly biography EditNadezhda Durova was born in an army camp at Voznesenskoe as the daughter of a Russian major Her father placed her in the care of his soldiers after an incident that nearly killed her in infancy when her abusive mother threw her out the window of a moving carriage As a small child Durova learned all the standard marching commands and her favorite toy was an unloaded gun 1 After her father retired from service she continued playing with broken sabers and frightened her family by secretly taming a stallion that they considered unbreakable 2 In 1801 she married a Sarapul judge V S Chernov and gave birth to a son in 1803 Some accounts which claim that she ran away from her home with a Cossack officer in 1805 In 1807 at the age of twenty four she disguised herself as a boy deserted her son and husband and enlisted in the Polish Horse Regiment later classified as uhlans under the alias Alexander Sokolov 3 Nadezhda Durova at about age thirteen Fiercely patriotic Durova regarded army life as freedom She enjoyed animals and the outdoors but felt she had little talent for traditional women s work In her memoirs she describes an unhappy relationship with her mother warmth toward her father and nothing at all about her own married life Military service and later life EditShe fought in the major Russian engagements of the 1806 1807 Prussian campaign During two of those battles she saved the lives of two fellow Russian soldiers The first was an enlisted man who fell off his horse on the battlefield and suffered a concussion She gave him first aid under heavy fire and brought him to safety as the army retreated around them The second was an officer unhorsed but uninjured Three French dragoons were closing on him She couched her lance and scattered the enemy Then against regulations she let the officer borrow her own horse to hasten his retreat which left her more vulnerable to attack During the campaign she wrote a letter to her family explaining her disappearance They used their connections in a desperate attempt to locate her The rumor of an amazon in the army reached Tsar Alexander I who took a personal interest Durova s chain of command reported that her courage was peerless Summoned to the palace at St Petersburg she impressed the Tsar so much that he awarded Durova the Cross of St George and promoted her to lieutenant in a hussar unit Mariupol Hussar Regiment The story that there was the heroine in the army with the name Alexander Sokolov had become well known by that time So the Tsar awarded her a new pseudonym Alexandrov based on his own name 4 Durova s youthful appearance hurt her chances for promotion In an era when Russian officers were expected to grow a mustache she looked like a boy of sixteen She transferred away from the hussars to the Lithuanian Uhlan Regiment in order to avoid the colonel s daughter who had fallen in love with her Durova saw action again during Napoleon s invasion of Russia in 1812 She fought in the Battle of Smolensk During the Battle of Borodino a cannonball wounded her in the leg yet she continued serving full duty for several days afterward until her command ordered her away to recuperate She retired from the army in 1816 with the rank of stabs rotmistr the equivalent of captain lieutenant 4 A chance meeting introduced her to Aleksandr Pushkin some twenty years later When he learned that she had kept a journal during her army service he encouraged her to publish it as a memoir She added background about her early childhood but changed her age by seven years and eliminated all reference to her marriage Durova published this as The Cavalry Maiden in 1836 Durova also wrote five other novels 5 Durova continued to wear male clothing for the rest of her life continued to use her male alias and spoke using masculine grammar 6 She died in Yelabuga and was buried with full military honors 4 Her son Ivan Durov had died 10 years prior 7 Durova s gender identity Edit There has been a debate over whether Durova could be labelled as a transgender man Much of the scholarship concerning Durova treats her as a cross dressing woman 8 however Durova in her personal life rejected femininity even expressing an aversion to the female sex 9 and behaved as a man In The Cavalry Maiden Durova describes herself with terms of androgyny describing herself both as a bogatyr 10 and as an Amazon warrior Durova was also a writer of prose and one of her stories Nurmeka revolves around a male who cross dresses as a female leading to speculation that this was an expression of Durova s transgender identity 9 Terms relating to non standard gender identity such as transvestite 1910 transsexual 1949 and transgender 1971 were coined long after Durova s death 11 so she could not have used the modern label of transgender despite this modern scholarship has increasingly adopted the view that Durova was an example of a transgender individual 12 13 Legacy EditThis section possibly contains original research Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations Statements consisting only of original research should be removed April 2014 Learn how and when to remove this template message Eldar Ryazanov s musical comedy Hussar Ballad romanticized Durova s adventures in the army Besides being a rare example of a female soldier s military memoir The Cavalry Maiden is one of the few sustained accounts of the Napoleonic wars to describe events from the perspective of a junior officer citation needed and one of the earliest autobiographical works in Russian literature Durova became a figure of some cultural interest in Eastern Europe but remained largely unknown to the English speaking world until Mary Fleming Zirin s translation of The Cavalry Maiden in 1988 Durova is now a subject of university syllabi and scholarly publications in comparative literature and Russian history Artistic works about Nadezhda Durova EditNadezhda Durova an opera by Anatoly Bogatyrev A Long Time Ago a play by Alexander Gladkov Hussar Ballad an operetta by Tikhon Khrennikov Hussar Ballad a film directed by Eldar Ryazanov The Girl Who Fought Napoleon A Novel of the Russian Empire a novel by Linda LaffertyBibliography EditDurova Nadezhda The Cavalry Maiden Journals of a Russian Officer in the Napoleonic Wars Mary Fleming Zirin Indiana University Press 1989 ISBN 0 253 20549 2 see book reviews on Amazon com See also EditBattle of Eylau Battle of Friedland Battle of Jena Auerstedt History of Russia 1796 1855 List of wartime cross dressers Women in the militaryNotes Edit Mersereau John Jr Lapeza David 1988 Nadezhda Durova The Cavalry Maid Ardis ISBN 0 87501 032 6 Mersereau amp Lapeza p 21 Aikasheva Olga 2014 Sudba Ivana Chernova syna N A Durovoj Vestnik Moskovskogo gosudarstvennogo gumanitarnogo universiteta im M A Sholohova Filologicheskie nauki Retrieved 7 October 2022 a b c Durova Nadezhda Andreevna www rulex ru Nadezhda Durova article in Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary Renner Fahey Ona 2009 DIARY OF a DEVOTED CHILD NADEZHDA DUROva s SELF PRESENTATION IN THE CAVALRY MAIDEN The Slavic and East European Journal 53 2 189 202 ISSN 0037 6752 JSTOR 40651112 Retrieved 7 October 2022 Aykasheva Olga 2014 Sudba Ivana Chernova syna N A Durovoj Fate of Ivan Chernov son of N A Durova Locus People Society Cultures Meaning in Russian 3 ISSN 2500 2988 Retrieved 10 October 2022 Vaysman Margarita Nadezhda Durova Nineteenth Century Russian Queer Celebrity and Patriotic Icon Torch Oxford Center for the Humanities Retrieved 10 October 2022 a b Marsh Flores Ann 2003 Coming out of His Closet Female Friendships Amazonki and the Masquerade in the Prose of Nadezhda Durova The Slavic and East European Journal 47 4 609 630 doi 10 2307 3220248 ISSN 0037 6752 JSTOR 3220248 Retrieved 8 October 2022 Queerness from Prussia in 1812 to Kyrgyzstan in 2019 Meduza summarizes the latest features on LGBTQ issues in and near Russia Meduza Retrieved 8 October 2022 Whittle Stephen 2 June 2010 A brief history of transgender issues The Guardian Retrieved 10 October 2022 Karwowska Bozena 2014 Nadiezda Durowa i poczatki rosyjskiej autobiografii Autobiografia Literatura Kultura Media in Polish 2 153 162 doi 10 18276 au 2014 1 2 09 inactive 31 December 2022 ISSN 2353 8694 Retrieved 10 October 2022 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a CS1 maint DOI inactive as of December 2022 link Boyarinova Polina 25 June 2016 Nadezhda Durova phenomenon of gender trouble in Russia in the first half of the XIX c Woman in Russian Society in Russian 57 68 doi 10 21064 WinRS 2016 2 6 Retrieved 9 October 2022 References EditMersereau John Jr amp Lapeza David 1988 Nadezhda Durova The Cavalry Maid Ardis Barta Peter I Gender Trial and Gothic Trill Nadezhda Durova s Subversive Self Exploration by Amdreas Schonle in Gender and Sexuality in Russian Civilization 2001 ISBN 0 415 27130 4External links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to Nadezhda Durova Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nadezhda Durova A History Net summary of Durova s life A Russian culture navigator account of Durova A brief excerpt from Durova s experiences during the retreat to Moscow in 1812 The Durov Animal Theater in Moscow a surviving legacy of the Durov clan Durova s memoir in Russian Nadezhda Durova permanent dead link in the Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary in Russian in Russian Biography of Durova Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Nadezhda Durova amp oldid 1130911869, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
