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Indiana University Press, Published 1989. Hardcover, xxxvii, 242 pp.; 24 cm; second printing (copyright 1988; "First Midland Book edition 1989"); Indiana-Michigan Series in Russian and East European Studies; portrait frontispiece, portraits and map. Translation, introduction and notes by Mary Fleming Zirin.
In Very Good condition, no dust jacket. Red cloth-covered boards, gilt lettering on front cover and spine; mild shelf and edge wear. Binding tight. Endpapers and pastedowns toned; small red dot in outer margin of pp. viii and ix; pages otherwise unmarked. Journals of Nadezhda Durova (1783-1866), who ran away from home in 1806 disguised as a boy, joined the Russian cavalry, and served nearly ten years as an officer in the Napoleonic wars, including the 1807 campaign and the 1812-1814 wars against Napoleon. Alexander I granted her a commission in the Mariupol' Hussars under the name Aleksandr Aleksandrov. Pushkin published the first excerpt in his magazine The Contemporary in 1836, and the full journals followed that year. Includes her memoir "My Childhood Years," the thirteen chapters of the journals, Zirin's introduction on Durova's life and posthumous reputation, documents relating to her commission, and the hussar poet Denis Davydov's recorded comments on her. Zirin (1932-2019) later compiled the Dictionary of Russian Women Writers. Contents: Translator's Introduction, Nadezhda Durova, Russia's "Cavalry Maiden"; My Childhood Years; Notes of the Cavalry Maiden, Chapters One-Thirteen; Appendix A, Documents Relating to Durova's Commission in the Mariupol' Hussars; Appendix B, Hussar Poet Denis Davydov's Recorded Comments on Durova; Selective Bibliography of Works by and about Durova; Index.