that Zotov did publish (fewer than half the poems she sent him) he re-
wrote without her permission, continuing to do so over her protests. He
never honored her wish that he help her publish a book of her poetry.^35
However, he did publish biographical articles about Khvoshchinskaia
and her sister against Khvoshchinskaia’s express request and at the
end of his life published self-glorifying memoirs about having discov-
ered her. He was not her mentor as Zhukovsky was Pushkin’s mentor,
and Pushkin, Del’vig’s. While the latter helped their “mentees” ad-
vance to aposition of professional independence, Zotov could more ac-
curately be described as Khvoshchinskaia’s literary guardian, and she
as his permanent ward until she turned to prose.
Zotov somewhat condescendingly described his first impressions of
Khvoshchinskaia’s poetry, which he deemed “far from irreproachable”
in form, “not entirely finished,” but the work of a “naturally gifted”
writer (samorodok) “that only required smoothing the rough edges”
(“Nadezhda Dmitrievna Khvoshchinskaia,” 94 ).This he proceeded to
do, dismissing with amusement Khvoshchinskaia’s requests, which he
considered ungrateful and disrespectful, that her poetry be published
as written. In one memoir he wrote:
I received a letter without any respectful salutation and without
closing assurances of “complete respect and devotion” and with
the simple signature “N. Khvoshchinskaia.” In the letter, thank-
ing me for printing the poetry, she said “I am sending you a few
other poems, but I ask only one thing: that you print them with-
out changes.... Thank you for your condescension and attention
[in changing my poems], but again I earnestly ask you not to do
this.... If you find that something in my poetry is weak and re-
quires reworking, don’t print it at all.” ( 94 )Zotov writes that Khvoshchinskaia continued to object to his editing
even when he pointed out to her that he was “more experienced in lit-
erature” and had a “more mature point of view” ( 95 ).^36
Khvoshchinskaia’s irritation is easily understood when we compareher original poems to Zotov’s “edited” versions. Zotov may have hon-
estly thought he was improving the poems, but, as we shall see, his ed-
iting, especially of those poems protesting women’s treatment in soci-
ety, more accurately could be described as censorship—or mutilation.
Certainly, he was unqualified to deal with Khvoshchinskaia’s intellec-
tual power and unconventional poetic genius.
At least two autograph notebooks (notebooks in Khvoshchinskaia’s122 Nadezhda Khvoshchinskaia