The Personal Album of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna: A Poetic Anthology or a Memoir Book?

The article states that the book Duma za Dumoy [Thought After Thought] (Moscow, 1895), presented to Grand Duchess Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the last Russian Emperor, on her eleventh birthday, is not only a poetic anthology, a personal album, but also a memoir book. The aim of the article is to draw attention to the rare factual source that has fallen out of historians’ and philologists’ field of view. It is generally believed that Grand Duchess Anastasia destroyed all her journals in 1917, and the history of how the book appeared in the Lenin Library is not fully clarified. It has been determined that Anastasia filled the journal from 1912 to 1917, the records and dates in it cover four pre-revolutionary years, and the last record was made in Tobolsk. The overlap of dates, names, poetic images, and events allows considering the journal as a megatext, whose polyphony shows topics relevant for today. The content of the album, its 114 records with autographs of all the royal martyrs and persons from the inner circle of the royal family are analysed. The poetic composition of the album and all the intersections of its unique content are examined. The texts reflect the character of the epoch, they also contain prophecies about the fate of the Empire and the dynasty. The analysis of the autographs allowed reconstructing an almost complete list of those who left their names in the “memoir book”. The comparison of these names with known birth dates helped identify the basic principle of filling the journal: autographs are timed to the birthdays of the writers. The overlap of dates and semantic coincidences immerse the reader of the journal into the atmosphere of historical providentialism. The book includes the repertoire of the Golden 19th-century Russian literature, which for seven years influenced the formation of her soul. The article allows looking at the journal of the little duchess as at a source of inspiration and joy: it filled the soul of the child with bright images that formed the taste and ideas about the beautiful. Contrary to the popular opinion about the spiritual hunger of the children of the grand ducal families in palaces, the album that we hold in our hands and that Anastasia was inseparable with for seven years says the opposite. Filled with beautiful Russian poetry, it contributed to the formation of the soul of the young duchess, exalting her light, which she later abundantly shared with others. The history of Anastasia’s album is connected with the solution of its secrets. The calendar principle of the organisation of the text sets the appropriate rhythm to the journal, and its pages, according to the epigraph, are “filled with the memory of the heart”. The poetic component of Anastasia’s journal gives a clear idea of the role assigned to this unusual book in the formation of the personality of the younger grand duchess. Today, the texts in the album can be considered as an anthology: turning its pages, Anastasia both played and studied. The author assumes that, during the difficult years of deprivation, the journal was a commemoration book for Anastasia. It reminded of those with whom the revolution separated her, whom she cherished in her heart and remembered. Today, Anastasia’s journal is also a martyrology of the innocently murdered, tortured, repressed, and expelled from their homeland.

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