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A Life Across Empires: A Scholar’s Quest from Tsarist Russia to the Bosphorus and Beyond
The sweeping, epic story of Olga de Lebedeff immerses the reader in a rarely seen multicultural world in the late Imperial period, when many Russian intellectuals were more integrated into European society. Olga’s activities as scholar and activist shed light on the intersection between the Russian sphere of influence rooted in Orthodoxy and the Islamic world.
Goddaughter to Tsar Alexander II, Olga was born in St Petersburg in 1852. She married the Mayor of Kazan, a Chamberlain of the Tsar, and for many years studied languages in Kazan with Jadid scholars, in Constantinople with high-ranking Ottomans and in Cairo with a sheikh at the al Azhar university.
With access to both men and women intellectuals in Europe as well as in those cities, she reflected on cultural differences and commonality, promoting cultural exchange and progressive education. As well as being a scholar of Turkic and Arabic languages, Olga was an advocate for women. Her inspiration led her to found the Society of Oriental Studies in St Petersburg in 1900.
Divided into two main sections, Book One describes Olga’s family background in St Petersburg, her early marriage and family life followed by her life’s work. Book Two contains first-time translations into English of several of her works including The Emancipation of Muslim Women from the French, and her account of the life and works of the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, entitled The Poet Pushkin originally written in Ottoman Turkish.
This account preserves the memory and legacy of a tenacious and engaging personality, whose curiosity and interest in other cultures opened many previously closed doors.
A biography by first-time author Carina Hamilton of her great-great-grandmother, Olga de Lebedeff.
Marilyn Booth is a renowned translator, author and university lecturer: Professor Emerita, Khalid bin Abdullah Al Saud Chair for the Study of the Contemporary Arab World, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies; Professorial Fellow, Magdalen College, Oxford 2014-23. This volume includes Professor Booth’s translation of an Arabic biography of Olga de Lebedeff dated 1907, and an Appreciation of Olga’s translation work from Arabic into French.
‘Carina Hamilton has dug deep into family archives to discover the inspirational story of her great-great grandmother, Olga de Lebedeff (1852-1933). A remarkable woman and goddaughter to Tsar Alexander II, Olga was fluent in Russian, Ottoman Turkish and Tartar and travelled widely. As well as engaging family photographs, letters and anecdotes, this unique book contains more scholarly sections alongside first-ever translations of works by Olga, such as a short appreciation of the life of famous Russian author Alexander Pushkin with synopses of his major works, first published in 1891 in Istanbul with a foreword by the remarkable Ottoman publisher Ahmed Midhat translated by Şehnaz & Aykut Gürçağlar.
Like her intrepid relative, Carina Hamilton has spread her wings here, translating passages from Russian, French, Italian, German, and even Tartar, to embark on her own adventure across empires, through time and space. Olga de Lebedeff - A Life Across Empire is an enthralling story, so relevant to the world we find ourselves in now, and Carina has struck a perfect balance between the academic and the anecdotal.’ Carol Ermakova
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