Margaret Fuller’s Reception in Russia in the 1850s

Abstract

The article offers a close look at the publications that introduced Margaret Fuller to the Russian public. The analysis is based on the Russian press of the 1850s, particularly the reviews of one book: R.W. Emerson, W.H. Channing, and J.F. Clarke, eds., Memoirs of Margaret Fuller Ossoli (1852). These reviews appeared in three leading Russian magazines of the time and were the first publications on Margaret Fuller in Russia. The analysis proves that the culture of the young American republic aroused great interest, and Fuller was seen as a representative figure. Fuller’s Russian contemporaries made a serious attempt to understand her; their effort is not always successful, as they are limited by the cultural differences between the two countries and their own prejudice and censorship. Nevertheless, some of their observations show a keen insight into Fuller’s work and her contribution to American culture.