The Russki Files: Awesome Women

Russian literature is not exactly known for its heroines. The vast majority of its protagonists are men—brooding, unstable, superfluous men who are too intelligent (or think they are) for the vapid society into which they were born. Behind the heroes, however, there are often women slinking about, pulling strings and being generally awesome. (Spoiler warning below.)

Tatyana Larina (Eugene Onegin, by Aleksandr Pushkin) – Some readers will surely identify with Tanya, a shy and bookish girl who rejects the superficiality of society. When the charming dandy Eugene Onegin comes to dine at her family’s manor, however, she falls head-over-heels in love with him and writes him a letter expressing her adoration. He coolly rejects her. But years later, when she is a mature, married Moscow woman, he realizes his mistake and tries to win her over. Remembering her past and how she has been hurt, she rebuffs his advances. Essentially, Tatyana Larina embodies my long-standing fantasy of being able to tell my high school crushes who paid no attention to me, “Sorry, I’m not interested.”

Sofya Semyonovna Marmeladova (Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky) – Sonya’s life is miserable—an alcoholic father who forced her into prostitution, few friends, no respect—but through her quiet, somewhat fanatical spirituality, she finds strength. This strength converts into a magnificent command over others, and without the influence of her gentle, serene, righteous force, Raskolnikov would never have found the power to confess to his eponymous crime.

Natalya Ilyinichna Rostova (War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy) – Natasha Rostova is, in the context of War and Peace, the ideal Russian woman—and she is not a submissive, reticent, wifely type either. She is impulsive, spontaneous, full of life and light, always game to sing and laugh and make friends. As a young woman she is very beautiful, but once she becomes a mother, she cheerfully lets herself go and becomes dowdy and plump. This does not stop her husband Pierre from being madly in love with her. In fact, it is nigh impossible for anyone to read War and Peace without falling a little bit in love with Natasha.

Agrafena Aleksandrovna Svetlova (The Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoevsky) – Agrafena is more commonly known as “Grushenka,” which translates to “little pear.” The nickname is appropriate, for Grushenka is a pear-shaped Russian beauty who holds an astounding power over the men in the community, even sparking a paramount rivalry between Dmitri Karamazov and his father Fyodor. She has amassed a small fortune through lending money and charging exorbitant rates of interest, and has pared down to an art form the manipulation of men using her feminine wiles. Though by today’s standards this may not be considered an admirable thing, during Dostoevsky’s life, feminine wiles were really all women had going for them. I say, more power to her.

–Emmaline Silverman

Photo: Audrey Hepburn as Natasha Rostova in the 1956 film adaptation of War and Peace.