Evdokii Rostopchinoi”] to Stikhotvoreniia, proza, pis’ma,5–27; V. V. Uchenova,
“Vy vspomnite menia!” in Tsaritsy muz,ed. V.V. Uchenova, 3–14, 418–19; and
“Zvuki chistoi dushi,” Molodaia gvardiia 3 ( 1989 ): 185–87.
2 .We find the story of Rostopchina’s first publication in Afanas’ev, “‘Da,
zhenskaia dusha,’” 5–6; Bannikov, “Ot sostavitelia,” 43 ; Khodasevich, “Grafinia
E. P. Rostopchina,” 42–43; D. Sushkov, “K biografii grafini E. P. Rostopchinoi,”
303 ; S. Sushkov, “Biograficheskii ocherk,” 1 : vi–vii; L. Rostopchina, “Pravda o
moei babushke,” Istoricheskii vestnik,no. 95 (January–March, 1904 ): 874 ; Uchen-
ova, “Vy vspomnite menia!” 418 ; and “Zvuki chistoi dushi,” 185.
3. Compare, for example, with Pushkin, who, after finishing his first ex-
tended work, Ruslan i Liudmila,received a portrait from Zhukovskii with the
inscription, “To a victorious pupil from a defeated master” (Dmitry Mirsky,
Pushkin[New York: E. P. Dutton, 1963 ], 37 ).
4. By several accounts it took some time to identify Avdotiia Sushkova (as
she was called then) as the poem’s author because Viazemskii had “Talisman”
printed over the signature “D... a”—perhaps for her nickname, Dodo, or be-
cause he thought her full name was Dar’ia.
5 .Rostopchina subtitled the poem “Ballada i allegoriia” on the manuscript
version (Kiselev, “Poetessa i tsar’,” 154 ). On “Nasil’nyi brak,” see Kiselev, “Po-
etessa i tsar’” and “Po staromu sledu”; Pedrotti, “Scandal of Countess Ros-
topcˇina’s Polish-Russian Allegory,” and L. Rostopchina, “Semeinaia khronika
(fragmenty),” 407–8.
6. The Gogol story first appeared in Berg, “Grafinia Rostopchina v Moskve,”
693–94(and was reprinted in 1991 in Schastlivaia zhenshchina;see note 1 ). It was
repeated in Bykov, “Russkie zhenshchiny-pisatel’nitsy,” 239–40; Fainshtein,
Pisatel’nitsy pushkinskoi pory, 95 ; Romanov, editor’s introduction, 21 ; and Kise-
lev, “Poetessa i tsar’” (but not in his “Po staromu sledu”). Nekrasova repeats the
story while questioning it (“Grafinia E. P. Rostopchina,” 55 ). Pedrotti argues for
it at length in “Scandal of Countess Rostopcˇina’s Polish-Russian Allegory,” 208–
10. I have not found any reference to “Nasil’nyi brak” in anything written by or
about Gogol.
“Nasil’nyi brak” was later published in Herzen’s émigré journal Poliarnaia
zvezda 2 ( 1856 ).
7. Similarly, A. Ia. Bulgakov, the Moscow postmaster general at the time, hy-
pothesized in a letter to his son that Rostopchina must have a “Polonophile”
lover, presumably because he did not consider it possible for Rostopchina to
have any political views of her own (Kiselev, “Po staromu sledu,” 137 ). On Vy -
branye mestaand Gogol’s political views, see Henri Troyat, Gogol (Paris: Flam-
marion, 1971 ), 558 , 231.
8. For Rostopchina’s cover letter to Bulgarin, see Kiselev, “Poetessa i tsar’,”
145.
9. Rostopchina and Pushkin: Romanov, editor’s introduction, 10–11; Ban-
nikov, “Ot sostavitelia,” 43 , 237–38; Afanas’ev, “‘Da, zhenskaia dusha,’” 5 ;
Fainshtein, Pisatel’nitsy pushkinskoi pory, 87.
Rostopchina and Lermontov: S. Sushkov, “Biograficheskii ocherk,” 1 : xiv;
Berg, “Grafinia Rostopchina v Moskve,” 696 ; Poety 1840–1850-kh godov,ed. B. Ia.
254 Notes to Pages 88–90