A Russian Childhood
by S. Kovalevskaya
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Description
In the year 1889 Sofya Vasilievna Kovalevskaya, Profes sor of Mathematics at the University of Stockholm, pub lished her recollections of growing up in mid-nineteenth century Russia. Professor Kovalevskaya was already an international celebrity, and partly for the wrong reasons: less as the distinguished mathematician she actually was than as a "mathematical lady"-a bizarre but fascinating phenomenon.* Her book was an immediate success. She had written it in Russian, but its first show more publication was a translation into Swedish, the language of her adopted homeland, where it appeared thinly disguised as a novel under the title From Russian Ltfe: the Rajevski Sisters (Sonja Kovalevsky. Ur ryska lifvet. Systrarna Rajevski. Heggstrom, 1889). In the following year the book came out in Russia in two *"My gifted Mathematical Assistant Mr. Hammond exclaimed ... 'Why, this is the first handsome mathematical lady I have ever seen!'" Letter to S. V. Kovalevskaya from].]. Sylvester, Professor of Mathe matics, New College, Oxford, Dec. 25, 1886. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Een terugblik op de kindertijd van een jong meisje van wie de oudere zus even het hof gemaakt werd door Dostojevski. De terugblik is nuchter, maar niet al te gedetailleerd - slechts enkele gebeurtenissen worden uitgewerkt. De herinneringen houden min of meer op waar de novelle 'De nihiliste' begint - een nogal onevenwichtige novelle die vooral als tijdsdocument (het einde van de lijfeigenschap) weet te boeien.
Nov 29, 2017Dutch
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Author Information
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- A Russian Childhood
- Alternate titles
- Recollections of Childhood
- People/Characters
- Sofya Kovalevskaya
- First words
- I should like to know whether any one can definitely fix that moment of his existence when, for the first time, a distinct conception of his own personality, his own ego, the first glimmer of conscious life, arose within him.... (show all) I cannot, in the least.
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)A feeling of reckless, unbounded joy in life overpowered us both. Heavens! how that life which lay before us attracted us, and beckoned us on; and how illimitable, how mysterious, and how beautiful, it seemed to us that night!
- Original language
- Russian
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 47
- Popularity
- 635,007
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.94)
- Languages
- 5 — Dutch, English, German, Italian, Russian
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 8
- ASINs
- 1
