| dc.description.abstract | This thesis traces the influence of ‘the woman question’ on the life and writings of
Aleksei Sergeevich Suvorin (1834–1912), an eminent journalist, publisher and editor of the
newspaper Novoe vremia. My research is based on Suvorin’s previously unexamined contribution
to public debate on this question and also includes an overview of his fictional work. The thesis
represents a case study and brings to light material critical to Suvorin’s biography. This is
important because Suvorin’s personal case exemplifies the difficulties which up-and-coming men
of the intelligentsia encountered in responding to the rapid and drastic social changes to which
they were exposed, and in particular to the redistribution of influence and authority between men
and women. Based on documentary sources and in particular on new archival material the thesis
analyses the extent to which Suvorin’s life was affected by his relationship with strong and
domineering women and examines the impact of these biographical factors on his writings. This
case study provides an important insight into the development of the Russian liberal idea
commonly referred to as the ‘emancipation of women’.
The thesis is organized into an Introduction followed by three chapters, a Conclusion, a
Bibliography, and an Appendix. Developing my argument, I apply a chronological principle,
dividing Suvorin’s life and works into three periods presented in chapters 1–3; these periods can
be matched up in approximate terms with the three stages of the women’s movement in Russia.
The first period starts in 1858 and ends in 1873, the turning point in Suvorin’s life and career;
within this period the women’s movement in Russia had worked out its ideology and some
tactical moves. The second period (1874–1890) covers Suvorin’s career successes and his
concomitant midlife crisis; during this time, the women’s movement was also experiencing a
crisis of its own. The third period (1891–1912) marks Suvorin’s personal decline against the rapid
politicization of the Russian women’s movement. In the Conclusion section I develop an
overview of the contribution which Suvorin made to the emergence of ‘public opinion’ in late
Imperial Russia and I end by attempting a definition of his ideological position within the context
of Russian liberal thought. The material analysed in the thesis makes it possible to place Suvorin
amongst the so-called conservative liberals, at least as regards his views on the emancipation of
women. The Appendix includes translations of the Russian quotes used in the main text of the
thesis. | en_US |
