Diaries. A Nihilist Woman

Sofia Vasilyevna Kovalevskaya (1850–1891) was Russia’s first female mathematician and the world’s first female professor, as well as a physicist, astronomer, writer, and literary critic. Her autobiographical “Memories of Childhood” offers a fascinating family chronicle and an insight into the child-rearing practices of the mid-nineteenth century, which did not always take into account the interests of Kovalevskaya’s gifted and vibrant personality. Her novella “The Nihilist” tells of the tragic fates of Narodnik revolutionaries, self-sacrifice, and the pursuit of moral heroism.