Lydia Dmitrievna Zinovieva-Annibal (russian: Ли́дия Дми́триевна Зино́вьева-Анниба́л) (1866–1907) was a Russian prose writer and dramatist.Chris Tomei, 'Lidia Dmitrievna Zinov`eva-Annibal', in Katherine Wilson, ed., ''An Encyclopedia of Continental Women Writers'', Vol. 2, 1991, pp.1382-3 Annibal was her mother's maiden name.

Biography

She was born to a noble family. Her grandfather was Senator , her uncle was General and her brother, A.D. Zinoviev became the Governor of Saint Petersburg. Her mother was the Baroness

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

and a descendant of

Abram Petrovich Gannibal Abram Petrovich Gannibal, also Hannibal or Ganibal, or Abram Hannibal or Abram Petrov ( ru , Абра́м Петро́вич Ганниба́л; c. 1696 – 14 May 1781), was a Russian military engineer, general-in-chief, and nobleman of Africa ...

. Most of her education was from private tutors. She did attend the Saint Petersburg women's gymnasium for a short time, but was expelled for being "obstinate". In 1884, she married one of her tutors, Konstantin Shvarsalon. Under his influence, she developed an interest in socialism and became associated with the

Narodniks The Narodniks (russian: народники, ) were a politically conscious movement of the Russian intelligentsia in the 1860s and 1870s, some of whom became involved in revolutionary agitation against tsarism. Their ideology, known as Narodism, ...

. Clandestine meetings were often held at their home. In 1893, she fled to Rome, where she met the poet Vyacheslav Ivanov. Two years later, Ivanov divorced his wife, but her husband refused to consent and their divorce proceedings dragged on for three years. During the 1900s, after returning to Saint Petersburg, she and Ivanov hosted the literary salon "" (Ivanov Wednesdays, better known as "On the Tower", from its location). She died of

scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as Scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by ''Streptococcus pyogenes'' a Group A streptococcus (GAS). The infection is a type of Group A streptococcal infection (Group A strep). It most commonly affects childr ...

. Her grave at

Nikolskoe Cemetery Nikolskoe Cemetery (russian: Никольское кладбище) is a historic cemetery in the centre of Saint Petersburg. It is part of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, and is one of four cemeteries in the complex. The third cemetery to be estab ...

has been lost. In 1913, Ivanov married Lydia's daughter, Vera, from her marriage with Shvarsalon. Zinovieva-Annibal was associated with the

Silver Age of Russian Poetry Silver Age (Сере́бряный век) is a term traditionally applied by Russian philologists to the last decade of the 19th century and first two or three decades of the 20th century. It was an exceptionally creative period in the history of ...

. Her short novel ''Tridsat'-tri uroda'' (Thirty-Three Abominations) was one of the few works of its day to openly discuss lesbianism.Adele Marie Barker and Jehanne M. Gheith, ''A History of Women's Writing in Russia'' (Cambridge University Press, 2002: ), p. 195.

Works

* ''Torches'' (1903) * ''Rings'' (1904) * ''Thirty-Three Abominations'' (1907) short novel. Transl. by S. D. Cioran in ''The Silver Age of Russian Culture''. * ''The Tragic Menagerie'' (1907) stories. Transl. by Jane T. Costlow, 1999, Northwestern University Press, * ''No!' (1918)

Biography

Works

References

Further reading