„Szlisselburska Odyseja”… Działalność antypaństwowa i twórczość literacka legendarnej rewolucjonistki Wiery Figner
“SZLISSELBURG ODYSSEY”… ANTISTATE ACTIVITY AND LITERARY CREATION OF THE LEGENDARY VERA FIGNER

Summary/Abstract: This article presents the literary work of Vera Figner (1852–1942), Russian activist of Narodniki,sentenced to death for the participation in the preparations for the assassination of Tsar AlexanderII, changed into penal servitude for life. Before her judgment, Figner spent twenty months in thePeter and Paul Fortress in a single cell. For the following twenty years she lived in the Szlisselburgfortress, known as the “Russian Bastille.” Literature and her literary creation constituted the antidoteto the difficult reality of prison. The Russian State Archive of Literature and Art possesses manuscriptcopies written in prison by Vera Figner from memory. A beautiful card of her steadfast attitude andextraordinary courage recorded in her memoirs was edited after her release from prison: Prisonersfrom Szlisselburg, When the clock of life stopped, after Szlisselburg and autobiography Preservedwork. Vera Figner’S memoirs are an irreplaceable source of historical data and fit in with the richtradition of literature, next to the achievements of the whole galaxy of revolutionaries-Populists(M. Noworusskij, M. Frolenko, N. Morozov and others). Figner was very talented and clearlycaptured an important period in the history of the Russian revolutionary struggle. The chaptersdevoted to the National Will provide a rich material for the study of the history of that organization,representing a unique and interesting source of knowledge of the theoretical foundations of people’sviews. Figner beautifully painted the portraits of old companions, but above all discovered thepsychology of the prisoner incarcerated for many years.

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