Karolina Pavlova: From the 19th Century Literary Salon to the Literary Canon
Submission Type
Event
Faculty Advisor
Marina Balina
Expected Graduation Date
2021
Location
Room E103, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University
Start Date
4-13-2019 11:00 AM
End Date
4-13-2019 12:00 PM
Disciplines
Education
Abstract
Unrecognized during her time, Karolina Pavlova is known today as a fundamental predecessor to contemporary women’s poetry. In the nineteenth century Russia, female poets were widely excluded from the male-dominated literary field, exclusively limited to participation in literary salons and the writing of private literary albums. Pavlova, however, broke free of this gendered framework and developed her own literary voice first by translating influential texts of German Romantic poetry. Her work in translation served as a bridge into her own creative ability, which later combined male-dominated prosaic genres, with poetry, a “permitted” female form of literary expression. Unifying these two forms of creative writing in her autofiction, A Double Life, Pavlova used prose as a foundation for the narrative’s plot, and poetry as a means of conveying intimate emotion. Thus, Pavlova not only redefined gender restrictions for female creativity, but she also became an innovator in introducing Russian literature to new genre forms.
Karolina Pavlova: From the 19th Century Literary Salon to the Literary Canon
Room E103, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University
Unrecognized during her time, Karolina Pavlova is known today as a fundamental predecessor to contemporary women’s poetry. In the nineteenth century Russia, female poets were widely excluded from the male-dominated literary field, exclusively limited to participation in literary salons and the writing of private literary albums. Pavlova, however, broke free of this gendered framework and developed her own literary voice first by translating influential texts of German Romantic poetry. Her work in translation served as a bridge into her own creative ability, which later combined male-dominated prosaic genres, with poetry, a “permitted” female form of literary expression. Unifying these two forms of creative writing in her autofiction, A Double Life, Pavlova used prose as a foundation for the narrative’s plot, and poetry as a means of conveying intimate emotion. Thus, Pavlova not only redefined gender restrictions for female creativity, but she also became an innovator in introducing Russian literature to new genre forms.