{{Short description|Russian writer and feminist (1850–1916)}} {{Infobox writer <!-- for more information see :Template:Infobox writer/doc --> | image = Olga Shapir.jpg | imagesize = 220px | birth_date = {{birth date|1850|9|10}} | birth_place = Oranienbaum, Russia | death_date = {{death date and age|1916|7|13|1850|10|9}} | death_place = Saratov Governorate, Russia }} '''Olga Andreyevna Shapir''' ({{langx|ru|Ольга Андреевна Шапир}}; born '''Kisliakova'''; September 10, 1850 – July 13, 1916) was a Russian writer, activist, and outspoken feminist.
==Early life and family== Olga Shapir was born on September 10, 1850, in Oranienbaum, Russia (now Lomonosov), a town on the Gulf of Finland. She was one of nine children born to a peasant family.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Goldberg |first=Rochelle Ruthchild |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/468973471 |title=Equality & revolution : women's rights in the Russian Empire, 1905-1917 |date=2010 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press |isbn=978-0-8229-6066-9 |oclc=468973471}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |title=War, Revolution, Victory? |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt5hjp1d.14 |work=Equality and Revolution |pages=211–238 |access-date=2023-03-05 |publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctt5hjp1d.14 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> Her father, Andrei Petrovich Kisliakov, was a former serf and employed as a military official in the commandant's headquarters in Oranienbaum under the Decembrist leader Pavel Pestel.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |first=Catriona |last=Kelly |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/624436066 |title=An Anthology of Russian women's writing, 1777-1992 |date=1994 |publisher=Oxford University Press |oclc=624436066}}</ref> Her mother, Lizaveta (Abramovich) Kisliakova, had aristocratic roots and was of German<ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Loutfi |first=Anna |last2=Daskalova |first2=Karassimira |last3=Haan |first3=Francisca de |date=2006 |title=A Biographical Dictionary of Women's Movements and Feminisms: Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe, 19th and 20th Centuries |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7829/j.ctt2jbmjm |url-status= |archive-date= |website=Central European University Press}}</ref> and Swedish descent.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |title=Russian writers of the Silver Age, 1890-1925. |publisher=Thomson/Gale |year=2004 |isbn=9780787668327 |editor-last=Vishnevetsky |editor-first=I. G. |location=Farmington Mills, MI |oclc=54407824 |editor-last2=Kalb |editor-first2=Judith E. |editor-last3=Ogden |editor-first3=J. Alexander}}</ref>
Shapir notably attended Alexandrovskaia gymnasium from 1863 to 1865, one of the first public secondary schools for Russian girls,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages, Shapir, Olga (1850–1916) |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/shapir-olga-1850-1916?utm_source=chatgpt.com}}</ref> founded by Emperor Alexander I, where she earned a gold metal as a top student in the class. Shapir's intellectual curiosity led her to attend public lectures in 1870, including the “Vladminirskie Courses” which were created as a limited opportunity for Russian women to continue their education and participate in academic circles.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Noonan |first1=Norma C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qk-ICsx5L90C&dq=Irina+Kazakova%2C+%E2%80%99Shapir%2C+Ol%E2%80%99ga+Andreevna%E2%80%99%2C+in+Dictionary+of+Russian+Women+Writers%2C+ed.+By+Marina+Ledkovsky%2C+Charlotte+Rosenthal%2C+Mary+Zirin&pg=PA72 |title=Encyclopedia of Russian Women's Movements |last2=Nechemias |first2=Carol |date=2001 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-30438-5 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2" /> Fluent in German and French, she translated articles from these languages into Russian to earn an income.<ref name=":8" />
At the age of twenty-one in 1871, Shapir declared independence from her family.<ref name=":7">{{Cite book |title=Biographical Dictionary of Women’s Movements and Feminisms: Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe, 19th and 20th Centuries |publisher=Central European University Press |last1=de Haan |first1=Francisca |last2=Daskalova |first2=Krasimira |last3=Loutfi |first3=Anna |year=2006 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7829/j.ctt2jbmjm |isbn=1-4237-4938-3 |edition=1st |location=New York |oclc=63197522}}</ref> One year later in 1872, Shapir married Lazar Shapir, who was expelled from the Medical-Surgical Academy in St. Petersburg for his active membership in the ''Nardonaia rasprava'' ("Popular Punishment") led by Sergei Nechaev. She was able to get her husband reinstated, and he graduated in 1874.<ref name=":8" /> The couple moved to the Tsaritsynsky District of the Saratov Governorate where he practiced medicine as a zemstvo doctor.<ref name=":8" /> They lived for a time communally in St. Petersburg and established connections with the Kornilova sisters' circle, which plotted against Tsar Alexander II.<ref name=":0" /> The couple had two children together, Liudmila and Nikolai.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":9">{{Cite book |title=Russian writers of the Silver Age, 1890-1925. |date=2004 |publisher=Farmington Hills, MI : Thomson/Gale}}</ref> Lazar granted Shapir permission to complete a formal education, which was atypical for women of the time.<ref name=":3" /> Shapir went on to challenge gender norms through her writing and by financially supporting her family.<ref name=":8" />
== Career and writing genre == As a young adult, Shapir aspired to earn her own income and wrote short articles and translations for Russian newspapers ''Bizhevye vedomosti'' ("Stock Exchange News") and ''Novoe vremia'' ("New Times"). Once she separated from her family, she also managed Aleksandr Cheresov's Vasileostrovsky Library.<ref name=":3" />
While living in the Saratov Governorate with Lazar, Shapir began writing her first unpublished story Sgoriacha(In the Heart of Passion). The work was denied by publishers due to its subject matter and Shapir burned the draft in frustration.<ref name=":9" /> Shapir's writing can be thematically evaluated through distinct periods of time.<ref name=":4">{{Citation |last1=Rosenholm |first1=Arja |title="How Women Should Write": Russian Women's Writing in the Nineteenth Century |date=2012 |work=Women in Nineteenth-Century Russia: Lives and Culture |publisher=Open Book Publishers |last2=Savkina |first2=Irina|doi=10.11647/obp.0018.08 |isbn=9781906924652 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Her first novel, entitled ''Na poroge zhizne'' (On the Threshold of Life) was published in 1879. Between 1879 and 1887, her novels, including ''A High Price to Pay: A Family Story'' (Dorogoi tsenoi: iz semeinoi prozy, 1882) and ''Funeral Feast'' (Pominki, 1886) critiqued female oppression depicting protagonists who sacrificed personal or professional ambitions for family obligation.<ref name=":9" /> The protagonists abandon their own personal or professional ambitions to take care of her family. Then between 1879 and 1904, Shapir featured "the new woman" in her books, a concept developed by Aleksandra Kollontai, giving female heroines autonomy and control over the story's plot. Integral novels displaying this character include ''Mirages'' (Mirazhi, 1889), ''She Returned'' (Vernulas’, 1892), ''The Settlement'', ''Avdot’ia’s Daughters,'' the story ‘''Dunechka''’ (‘Dunechka’, 1904) and ''In the Stormy Years'', which is perhaps her best-known work.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5">{{Citation |last=Kelly |first=Catriona |title=The 'Feminine Pen' and the Imagination of National Tradition: Russian Women's Writing, 1820–1880 |date=1998-04-02 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159643.003.0002 |work=A History of Russian Women's Writing 1820–1992 |pages=19–78 |access-date=2023-03-05 |publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198159643.003.0002 |isbn=978-0-19-815964-3 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> ''In the Stormy Years'' pulls on Shapir's own experiences as a member of Nechaev's radical group and spoke out to protect Dostoevsky and his novel, ''The Devils''.<ref name=":0" />
Her writing focused on the working and struggling class as well as women's rights. Despite her social and political activism, she was primarily regarded as a pulp romantic fiction writer, and her political and theoretical writings did not receive the same recognition.<ref name=":9" /> Many works were published in popular journals of the time, including ''Otechestvennye Zapiski'', ''Severny Vestnik'', and ''Vestnik Evropy''.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="Borders">{{cite book |title=Crossing Borders: Re-Mapping Women's Movements at the Turn of the 21st Century |publisher=University Press of Southern Denmark |year=2004 |isbn=8778388597 |editor-last=Christensen |editor-first=Hilda |pages=146–147}}</ref>
Shapir also published an autobiography in 1907 that is available in Russian. In addition to speaking about the development of her prose and the influence of her upbringing, she documents how feminism shaped her focus as a writer. She says, "I recognized that the only way in which I could make a contribution of any value was to write from a woman's perspective and to reveal what only women can see in the eternal problem of love, in family relations, and in women's lack of rights in society" (p. 54).<ref name=":5" />
== Politics == A member of ''Komitet po organizatsii zhenskoi manifestatsii mira'' ("Committee for the Organization of Women's Peace Manifest").<ref name=":9" /> Shapir was politically aligned with the left like many other women prose writers known as a liberal feminist.<ref name=":5" /> Shapir referred to her feminist ideology as "Ravenstvo pri razlichii"(feminist of distinction).<ref name=":8" /> As a respected public speaker and writer to equal rights feminists (ravnopravki) in Russia. She argued that while men and women deserved equal rights, their core differences should be acknowledged in social change. She believed that maternal instincts and motherhood gave women unique perspectives and values essential to society.<ref name=":8" /> Although she did not identify as a socialist, Shapir sympathized with many socialist ideologies and often found common ground with their broader calls for social reform. Believing many larger social conflicts stemmed from gender inequality and that addressing these differences was key to broader societal reform.<ref>{{Cite web |date=July 2022 |title=Women and Revolution: Women's Political Activism in Russia from 1905-1917 |url=https://daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/files/2022-07/women_and_rev_final_2022 |website=The Davis Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies}}</ref> Advocating that women should not aspire to the same set of standards as men. Shapir believed many larger conflicts could be traced back to inequity between sexes.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />
== Activism and philanthropy == In 1895, Shapir joined the Russian Women's Mutual Philanthropic Society and held a number of leadership positions including manager of the Commission on Fundraising, manager of the Society's Department of Abstracts and member of the governing Council that decided on the organization's policies. Shapir considered the Society to be a place for females to convene and discuss their shared experiences and hardships. They focused on ways to empower the ongoing Russian women's movement. Members largely consisted of educated, upper-class individuals who sought to improve their own status while providing aid to those who were less fortunate. Shapir's disagreement with the Society's administrative leader, Anna N. Shabanova, on charitable projects led her to resign from the Council but continue working in the Suffrage Department to plan the First All-Russian Women's Congress in 1908.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":7" />
Shapir also joined the Women's Equal Rights Union in 1905, born out of the first Russian Revolution, which focused on securing women's suffrage. The group aligned with left-wing Russian political organizations and parties and played an active role in civil disobedience.<ref name=":3" />
Shapir played a monumental role in the First All-Russian Women's Congress held in 1908. The congress was a significant moment in Russian history, as it gathered thousands of female delegates of varying backgrounds to chart a path forward toward a more equitable future. It was composed of majority middle-class citizens with many well-established organizers. The congress drew inspiration from both the International Women's Movement conference in Chicago in 1903 and the Russian liberation movement. While it was originally planned for 1905, it was postponed three years because governor-general, Trepov, required the speeches be censored amidst ongoing tension between Russian society and the government. By 1908, the congress was granted permission to widen the conversation to include the economic and social position of women and their involvement in civil rights movements.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite journal |last=EDMONDSON |first=LINDA |date=1976 |title=Russian Feminists and the First All-Russian Congress of Women |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24649709 |journal=Russian History |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=123–149 |doi=10.1163/187633176X00080 |jstor=24649709 |issn=0094-288X|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Nikolaevna |first=Nina Selivanova |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/613139854 |title=Russia's women |date=1923 |publisher=Hyperion Press, 1976 |oclc=613139854}}</ref>
Shapir compiled a report entitled "Ideals of the Future," where she argued to the cohort that women's worldviews are of equal importance to men's. Other topics discussed during the congress included the woman's role in the family, access to education, and employment. With so many opinions present, the congress was unable to reach unanimity about an intervention and so no direct action resulted at a grand scale. Still, Shapir's large involvement in its production spurred provocative discourse and encouraged women to come together and share their experiences during the old régime.<ref name=":6" /> She continued to advocate for women's rights until resigning from the Congress in 1912 due to illness.<ref name=":8" />
== Legacy == Together with Ekaterina Letkova, Valentina Dmitryeva, and Anastasiya Vervitskaya, Shapir was at the forefront of feminist thought.<ref name=":5" /> Shapir's literary and theoretical works reached a diverse audience of citizens and Russian feminists alike. During her long career, she was published in renowned journals and magazines, and used her platform to speak about the female experience. She differentiated herself from other Russian writers by challenging stereotypes and displaying high-achieving women in her work. Shapir's contribution to the Suffrage Department of the Russian Women's Philanthropic Society played an essential role in crafting legislature adopted by the State Duma that directly awarded females their inheritance separate from their husband.<ref name=":3" /> thumb|227x227px|Shapir's Gravestone Shapir died on July 13, 1916, of illness in Saint Petersburg and is buried in the Literatorskie Mostki of Volkovskiy Orthodox Cemetery.<ref name=":3" />
Her work remains relevant today. In 2020, artist Pipilotti Rist dedicated an installation, Peeping Freedom, to Shapir, showcasing red window shutters behind which a video is projected.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Shay |first=Brittanie |date=1 March 2023 |title=Houston Gets a Second Chance to See the Astonishing Work of Pipilotti Rist |url=https://www.chron.com/culture/arts/article/pipilotti-rist-mfah-17813374.php |url-status= |website=Chron}}</ref>
== Published books == Source:<ref name=":2" /> * ''Antipody'', 1882 * ''Na raznykha iazykakh'', 1884 * ''Povesti i rasskazy'', 1889 * ''Bez livbui'', 1890 * ''Ee siatel'stuvo'', 1891 * ''Mirazhi,'' 1892 * ''Vernulas'!, V slobodke. Deti otkazali,'' 1894 * ''Liubou','' 1896 * ''Starye pesni,'' 1990 * ''Avdot'iny dochki,'' 1901 * ''Zakonnye zheny,'' 1902 * ''Drug destuvo,'' 1903 * ''Invalidy i novobrantsy,'' 1905 * ''Ne proverili,'' 1905 * ''V burnye gody,'' 1907 * ''Sonina khatva,'' 1908 * ''Chuzhoi,'' 1908 * ''Roza Sarona,'' 1910 * ''V temnote,'' 1910 * ''Sobranie sochineniia,'' 1910-1912
===English translations=== *''The Settlement'', from ''An Anthology of Russian Women's Writing, 1777-1992'', Oxford University Press, 1994.
==See also== * Anna Filosofova
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite Efron|Шапир, Ольга Андреевна}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shapir, Olga}} Category:1850 births Category:1916 deaths Category:19th-century dramatists and playwrights from the Russian Empire Category:19th-century novelists from the Russian Empire Category:19th-century short story writers from the Russian Empire Category:19th-century women writers from the Russian Empire Category:20th-century Russian novelists Category:20th-century Russian short story writers Category:20th-century Russian women writers Category:Feminists from the Russian Empire Category:People from Lomonosov Category:People from Petergofsky Uyezd Category:People from the Russian Empire of Swedish descent