The Boarding-School Girl

by Nadezhda Khvoshchinskaya, Karen Rosneck

This tale of a young woman's not-so-sentimental education is the story of fifteen-year-old Lolenka, who encounters an exiled radical named Veretitsyn and begins to question her education and life. Under his influence, Lolenka breaks with tradition and embarks upon a new life as a translator and an artist, but a chance meeting with Veretitsyn years later leads to a sobering reappraisal of her mentor's convictions.

Genres: Classics, Russian Literature, Russia, School, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction

154 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1861

About the author

Nadezhda Dmitryevna Khvoshchinskaya, pseudonym: V. Krestovsky, Russian writer, poet and translator.

Reviews

[Pascale · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you Northwestern UP for making this available to me! Before finding this by chance at a book sale, I would have been unable to name a single FEMALE Russian writer working before the twentieth century. This sharp novella, which came out the same year as "Silas Marner" (1861), ought to be just as well-known. Most of it takes place near a fence separating 2 properties: on one side is Lolenka, the eldest child of the large family of an irascible petty clerk, and on the other is Veretitsyn, who has been exiled to this provincial town for having the wrong political opinions. Lolenka, who is 16, is about to take some all-important exams. Should she fail, her parents will withdraw her from school. In a frenzy of bitterness, Veretitsyn addresses the girl whose composure and dedication to her studies irritate him. While all he wants is to spoil her apparent happiness, what he actually achieves is to sow the seeds of revolt in her serious soul. Unwittingly, he makes her see her parents for the boorish tyrants they are, and the education she is receiving as second-rate. In the throes of puberty, Lolenka makes Veretitsyn her god,and fancies herself in love with him. Short-term, the results of his preaching are disastrous for her: she fails her exams, and her mother can't wait to marry her off to get rid of one mouth to feed. When he realizes that Lolenka took everything he said at face-value, Veretitsyn is appalled and takes it all back. Never a serious rebel himself, he can't understand that anyone would take real risks. But although Veretitsyn never meant to do anything more than vent his spleen, he has succeeded in awakening Lolenka's intellect and conscience, to the extent that she refuses point-blank to marry the buffoon her parents have picked for her. We meet the characters 8 years later at the Hermitage. Lolenka now lives with a sympathetic aunt, and supports herself by selling copies of the masterpieces in the museum. Independent and accomplished, she is sorry to discover that Veretitsyn has remained the self-pitying time-waster he was all along. In a replay of their first conversation he tries to make her feel bad about herself by extolling the virtues of married women who sacrifice everything to their family. But Lolenka wisely refuses to take the bait. She thoroughly enjoys her freedom and is unconcerned about the disapproval of her parents. Lolenka is the kind of empowering role-model Charlotte Perkins Gilman created in her fiction some decades later. The description of her adolescent angst gradually giving way to steely determination is life-affirming. The irony of her being enlightened not by a proper mentor, but by a timid guy who is forever making excuses for himself, gives added piquancy to the tale. Lolenka is no convert: she has to construct her own truth out of the facile paradoxes Veretitsyn flippantly tosses at her. A true little gem.

[Raquel Toledo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Não é sem motivo que este livro é prova da nova mulher, não ainda a soviética, mas a emancipada que começa a surgir nos anos 1860 na Rússia do Niilismo. Chama a atenção a especial atenção que a autora dá à educação das jovens.
Vale demais a leitura!

[c e c e l i a · Rating 5 out of 5]

nrs just thinking about how

'Nadezhda was the third highest paid author in Russia by the 1870s, yet she disappeared from literary history in the twentieth century as the Bolsheviks nationalised the works of fifty-seven writers – all men – for publication in greater quantities.' (dr anna berman)

[Erandy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who among us hasn’t been charmed by an older man only to later realize he’s a total loser?

[Ava Picquart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a nice surprise! A refreshing read, with a (for once) believable depiction of the inner-turmoils of teenage girlhood. A simple storyline depicting the complexities of the question of women’s education in 19th century Russia.
It was satisfying that the adult male figure in the story didn’t have a weird love story with the young girl, which seems to happen way to often in fiction.
Khvoshchinskaya is definetly a skilled author worth discovering!

[Sophia Luduvice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Um livro que mostra a evolução positiva de uma personagem feminina e a decandência de uma personagem masculina. Algo raro na literatura clássica. É bonito de ser ver a emancipação da mulher em uma obra de uma escritora russa do século XIX.

[Emanuela Siqueira · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uma das melhores personagens do século XIX!

[Darcy Blaik · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started by starting it, and now I’ve finished it. Where do I find myself? At the end.

[milla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very ahead of its time!

[Ava Jast · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 - Lolenka is cunt

[Pedro Pacifico Book.ster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Primeira obra escrita por uma escritora russa que leio! É um livro curto, com uma narrativa fluida e que consegue envolver o leitor. Escrito em 1861, “A moça do Internato” conta a história de Liôlienka, uma garota jovem, boa aluna e nascida em uma pequena cidade do interior da Rússia. Sua juventude é contada a partir do contexto da época em que vive, em que as mulheres têm um papel pré-definido na sociedade patriarcal: casar, cuidar da casa e dos filhos e respeitar as ordens do marido.

Apesar de ser uma filha obediente, seus comportamentos começam a mudar após conhecer seu vizinho, Veretítsin, um homem solitário e que foi mandado para essa pequena cidade do interior por seu comportamento de “rebeldia” aos valores tradicionais. Em suas conversas, o vizinho passa a brincar com a ingenuidade de Liôlienka, assumindo quase um papel de mentor. Veretítsin questiona as regras tão rígidas que a garota estava acostumada a seguir: estudar, cuidar da casa e dos irmãos, e aprender tarefas dignas de “boa esposa”. E esses diálogos, extremamente interessantes, despertam na protagonista conflitos internos e perturbadores, principalmente para uma jovem que mal sabe lidar com seus sentimentos.

Esse seu amadurecimento tormentoso me lembrou bastante a trajetória de Virgínia, personagem marcante construída por Lygia Fagundes Telles em “Ciranda de pedra”. A leitura fica ainda mais rica quando se percebe a coragem que Nadiêjda teve ao escrever uma obra com um discurso de emancipação da mulher em plena Rússia conservadora do século XIX. Apesar de um final não tão surpreendente, a autora conseguiu deixar clara a sua intenção de usar a literatura não apenas como entretenimento, mas também como um veículo de disseminação de crítica e insatisfação social.

A edição da @editorazouk , com tradução direto do russo, conta com um excelente prefácio do tradutor Odomiro Fonseca sobre o contexto histórico em que a obra foi publicada.

Ou seja, uma incrível obra sobre o papel da mulher em plena Rússia do século XIX e, o mais interessante, sob a perspectiva de uma poderosa e jovem estudante de uma cidade do interior.

Nota: 9/10

Mais resenhas em: https://www.instagram.com/book.ster/

[Juliana · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review: https://theblankgarden.com/2018/09/14...

[Ostap Bender · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nadezhda Khvoshchinskaya, like her sister Sofya and so many other women authors, seems to have been largely forgotten, despite having enjoyed considerable popularity over her four decade career, and that’s a real injustice. This is a quiet book but it has elements of feminism, a critique of the education system in Russia at the time, and existential themes that were ahead of their time.

I really felt the claustrophobia in the daily life of this 15 year old girl, which was limited to embroidery, garden walks, and a superficial secondary education that was geared mostly to producing “good young women.” She may be married off by her parents without her knowing her suitor, and is expected to simply submit to both them and to her future husband. Without spoiling it, what an absolute triumph its final chapter is.

At school we find rote education and memorization of factoids provided by teachers who aren’t truly looking out for the welfare of their students. Through her characters Khvoshchinskaya also questions some of the things we hold as pillars, such as the images of various “great men” in history. The subjectivity of truth plays in to the novel’s existential themes, which also include the pointlessness of daily tasks and the absurdity of believing in the purity of concepts like courage or empathy for others.

This edition has a fantastic introduction and annotation by Karen Rosneck, who clearly did a lot of research in addition to translating this book. She informs the reader of the larger context of Russian history, as well as the behavior of those in power. Check out this quote in the intro:

“For Verititsyn, Lolenka’s textbooks claim an objective representation of reality that masks their function as instruments of indoctrination. The powerful enjoy the privilege of authorship as a means to control public opinion, obscure wrongdoing, mask personal failings, and depict social inequities as immutable truths in order to justify their own positions of power.”

A couple of quotes from the text:
On exams:
“I don’t care how I answered, good or bad: what’s mine will always be mine. I’m studying for myself, not for the teacher, not for the headmistress, not for any certification of achievement, any book, but for myself, to know.”

On marriage:
“But looking at it from a present-day point of view, what is it? Slavery, the family! …A more elevated woman is subjugated to some nice fellow; she sacrificed herself at the whim of her egotistical mother; she reconciled – that is, reunited again – two bad people so they could cause even more harm together! Somehow, amid the constraints, despite the derision, she passes something mundane on to the children…But is it really humane, is it healthy? She passes on to them the same unfortunate precepts of selflessness that are destroying her! Precepts of submission to tyranny!”

[Yan Loureiro Chaves · Rating 2 out of 5]

"O QUE VOCÊ CHAMA DE PERFEIÇÃO É UMA MULHER QUE VENDEU A PRÓPRIA VONTADE, QUE SE ARREMESSOU NUM ABISMO"

não é que A MOÇA DO INTERNATO seja um livro ruim, a temática da menina que é forçada num molde de mulher que a sociedade impõe é super interessante, porém a escrita parece querer ser mais do que realmente é, e acabou que eu tinha zero vontade de continuar lendo essa história

eu me senti super adulto quando eu comprei um romance russo no @festipoaliteraria , uma pena que essa leitura não me cativou em nada :(

[Ben Millerman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second book from my Russian literature class. This was a great novella from Nadezhda Khvoschinskaya. The main character, Lolenka, is impacted by the exiled neighbor, Veretitsyn. The novella focuses on the concept of education and its importance and impact on life. This book focuses on the lives of Russian women at the time and is an interesting and fascinating take on the state of Russia at the time. Definitely a good quick read although the motives of some characters seem flimsy (perhaps intentionally) and some characters I struggle to find the importance of.

[Alexia]

I'm actually a little bit confused about this one! But I'm glad I read it, it's very short. Hopefully discussing it in class will help me get more from it. Either way, that was a quick and nice read!

[Nicholas Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first glance, Khvoshchinsaya leaves her leads’ respective views unresolved, but I think she has rather held space for each. There is value to the “way martyrs have gone,” yet “work and knowledge” are indeed “eternal.”

[Lilian Manning · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed seeing some of my own thoughts expressed in the first portion from this outside pov, then um there wasn’t much reevaluation of them I think because of the time jump, but I enjoyed the different life paths based on similar foundational beliefs. A fun little read, would recommend.

[Daphiny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Olha...
Eu esperava mais. Mas eu não sei nada sobre literatura russa, então talvez minhas expectativas eram muito grandes.

[Estee Seidler · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent. read again

[Lilyah · Rating 5 out of 5]

the ending had me sobbing and contemplating my life

[Kalea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Had to read this for a Russian literature class and really enjoyed it! It's one of the books that kind of stuck with me, and gave me some interesting insight into 19th century Russian culture.

[Breezy Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written, romantic novel that made me reflect on girlhood. A great piece from a female Russian author.

[kaya :) · Rating 3 out of 5]

the last chapter rlly saved the book tbh

[Noor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book

[stardust · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ☆

[Klissia]

Lolenka deu a última gargalhada...

[Hana Hardenbrook]

Unfulfilled man tries to fuck around in girls life, girl reaches Enlightenment, man remains unhappy. So female author🙌

[Jo K Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is translated from Russian and therefore U felt the concept got a little lost.

[Issy · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Courage doesn't exist. It's just hardheartedness or unconcern, noble and lofty unconcern, a virtue, but one consisting of childish forgetfulness and youthful impetuosity... But for someone whose childhood has long ago been driven away by his knowledge of harsh reality and reflection, who constantly recalls that his youth is being wasted and destroyed for nothing, it is difficult to listen without malice and bitterness to preaching about courage from people who never needed this virtue..."

I was really pleasantly surprised by this novella. Although I tend to struggle to connect with characters in shorter works, I was able to see myself in both Lolenka and Veretitsyn. I felt a lot of the academic pressures and anxieties that Lolenka was going through and found her ending to be particularly gratifying (made me feel more hopeful about my own future :') ).

Also super glad this novel was on my syllabus and am super appreciative of my professor's continued interest in teaching female Russian authors.

Overall a 4.5!