For the Literary Biography of Olga Chyumina

The article presents little-known documents and evidences, concerning the early biography of Olga Nikolaevna Chyumina (1858 –1909) — a poet, a writer, a translator — including ego-documents. The author of the article observes the peculiarities of her relations with modernist writers and her literary position, expressed largely in opposition to modernists. Despite the fact that nowadays Chyumina is almost forgotten, at the turn of the 20th century she was a famous writer who achieved both the attention of critics and high fees. The article examines the beginning of her creative career, the relationship with the critic V.P. Burenin, the first publications dedicated to the memory of General M.D. Skobelev. The author quotes from letters stored in archives, in which Chyumina writes about herself and subjects the role and place of women in literature to reflection. Chyumina wrote from a male person before women writers of the modern era began to resort to this technique. Critics have noted this feature, at the same time in the reviews she was advised not to raise serious topics, which corresponds to the traditional attitude towards women writers. In the second book of poems, Chyumina seems to have found exactly her voice, but the rapid development of new trends pushed this figure into the background.