The Making of a Man
Aleksandr Aleksandrov, Transsexuality, and Imperial Russia
Seiten
2026
University of Wisconsin Press (Verlag)
9780299357603 (ISBN)
University of Wisconsin Press (Verlag)
9780299357603 (ISBN)
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Aleksandr Aleksandrov was an author and soldier in service of the Russian tsar, active in the Prussian theater of the War of the Fourth Coalition (1806–7) and in the Napoleonic wars. In scholarship, he is better known by his birth name, Nadezhda Andreevna Durova, and often referred to with the female pronouns bestowed upon him at birth. In this first book-length study of Aleksandrov, Ruth Averbach argues that we should understand this celebrated figure of Imperial Russia, whose sex was legally changed by Tsar Aleksandr I, simply as a man, one whose masculinity was intimately connected to the imperialist cause and Russian nationalism.
For the majority of his life, Aleksandrov lived, wrote, and fought as a man, and was recognized as such by most of his contemporaries. This contradicts the dominant position in especially Western feminist scholarship, which understands “Durova” either as a woman so patriotic that she dressed as a man to fight Russia’s wars or as a woman so frustrated by gender restrictions that she dramatically sought to cast them aside. Averbach makes the contrary case that we should take Aleksandrov at his word and accept his transition as genuine. Doing so allows for fresh interpretations of both his autobiographical writings and his works of fiction, interpretations that Averbach deftly shows have salience not just for a single man’s life but also for how we understand masculinity, imperialism, and nationalism in nineteenth-century Russia more broadly.
For the majority of his life, Aleksandrov lived, wrote, and fought as a man, and was recognized as such by most of his contemporaries. This contradicts the dominant position in especially Western feminist scholarship, which understands “Durova” either as a woman so patriotic that she dressed as a man to fight Russia’s wars or as a woman so frustrated by gender restrictions that she dramatically sought to cast them aside. Averbach makes the contrary case that we should take Aleksandrov at his word and accept his transition as genuine. Doing so allows for fresh interpretations of both his autobiographical writings and his works of fiction, interpretations that Averbach deftly shows have salience not just for a single man’s life but also for how we understand masculinity, imperialism, and nationalism in nineteenth-century Russia more broadly.
Ruth Averbach is associate faculty at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research.
Note on Transliteration
Introduction: The (Un)Making of a Man
1. The Making of a Man: Becoming Aleksandrov
2. The Unmaking of a Man
3. A Man of Letters: Sex and Authorship in Aleksandrov’s Fiction
4. The Transsexual Empire: Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Transsexuality
5. Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell: Transsexual Heterosexuality in the Military
Conclusion: What Is a Man?
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 21.7.2026 |
|---|---|
| Verlagsort | Wisconsin |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 152 x 229 mm |
| Gewicht | 454 g |
| Themenwelt | Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Anglistik / Amerikanistik | |
| Geisteswissenschaften ► Sprach- / Literaturwissenschaft ► Literaturwissenschaft | |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Gender Studies | |
| ISBN-13 | 9780299357603 / 9780299357603 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
| Informationen gemäß Produktsicherheitsverordnung (GPSR) | |
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