A presentation by Z.M. Kobozeva (SGAU)

March 30, 2016 Z.M. Kobozeva (SGAU) made a presentation at joint seminar in Russian State University for Humanities

Z.M. Kobozeva provided an overview of the autobiographical texts of Egor Nikitich Annaev (1826-1903) that are kept in the state archive of Samara province. Local historians have studied the documents of this collection in connection the main facts of a merchant biography and a description of important events in the life of Samara gubernia (fires, the construction of cathedrals, the establishment of a new administration). However, in the autobiography of the merchant it is possible to find interesting material that characterizes his personality. The memoirs that Annaev wrote at the end of his life were devoted to the times of his childhood and youth. Their central episode was his meeting with his fiancée and then wife, an eccentric Moscow lady from a burgher family. In the memory of the merchant the brief period of their marriage remained connected with his emotional trials, with his initial sharp reaction to the behavior of his young wife that was to him inexplicable, which was occasioned both by her highly-strung emotional nature and the models of behavior that she absorbed in the literature of “love romances.” The text of the memoirs displays a complex construction with the inclusion of fragments of romances and re-written letters of his wife (quarrelsome messages with a large number of exclamation marks addressed to “my dear little dove Georgy”).

According to Z.M. Kobozeva, Annaev’s deep reflection about the events of his life warrant special attention because it serves as testimony of a significant gap in historiography of the life of Russian merchants and burghers, which has practically passed by their “world of feelings.” His text is an example of how precisely the “romantic tradition” formed in the burgher environment specific models of behavior and gave rise to corresponding texts.

At the session teachers, academic researchers, students and PhD candidates from NRU HSE, RSHU and MSU attended. The account of this interesting source stimulated a lively response on the part of those attending, many questions about the memoirs and other documents in the Annaev collection (records of travels abroad, fine art materials, a postcard collection) and enthusiastic debate in the course of which various suggestions for further work on this topic were stated by the presenter. It was also mentioned that there is a desire to publish the valuable autobiographical material contained in the merchant’s collection.