Ekaterina Aleksandrovna Kniazhnina (Russian: Екатерина Александровна Княжнина, 1746–6 June 1797)[1] was an 18th-century Russian poet.[2] Her surname also appears as Knyazhnina.

The daughter of Alexander Sumarokov, she was born and lived in St. Petersburg. She married Yakov Knyazhnin in 1770. She was one of the first Russian women to have poetry published in Russian journals.[2] Kniazhnina was the hostess of an important literary salon.[3]

She was the first Russian woman to write an elegy and is considered by Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary to be "the first Russian woman writer".[4] as she, together with Elizaveta Kheraskova [ru] and Alexandra Rzhevskaia [ru] were the first women to see their works printed in Russian journals.[3][5]

Ivan Krylov wrote a parody about Kniazhnina and her husband in 1787, Prokazniki (The trouble-makers).[2]

References edit

  1. ^ Княжнина Екатерина Александровна, biography at the 18th Century Russian Language dictionary // Словарь русского языка XVIII века. — М:. Институт русской литературы и языка, 1988—1999.
  2. ^ a b c Ledkovskai︠a︡-Astman, Marina; Rosenthal, Charlotte; Zirin, Mary Fleming (1994). Dictionary of Russian Women Writers. Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 298–99. ISBN 0313262659.
  3. ^ a b Barker, Adele Marie; Gheith, Jehanne M (2002). A History of Women's Writing in Russia. Cambridge University Press. p. 330. ISBN 1139433156.
  4. ^ Vincent, Patrick H (2004). The Romantic Poetess: European Culture, Politics, and Gender, 1820-1840. p. 47. ISBN 1584654317.
  5. ^ "Княжнина, Екатерина Александровна". Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary: In 86 Volumes (82 Volumes and 4 Additional Volumes). St. Petersburg. 1890–1907.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)