Dora d'Istria

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Dora d'Istria
Portrait of Dora d'Istria by Petre Mateescu (1876)
Portrait of Dora d'Istria by Petre Mateescu (1876)
Born(1828-01-22)22 January 1828
Bucharest, Wallachia
Died17 November 1888(1888-11-17) (aged 60)
Florence, Kingdom of Italy
OccupationPoet and writer
GenreRomanticism
Literary movementAlbanian National Awakening
Signature

Dora d'Istria,

duchess Helena Koltsova-Massalskaya, born Elena Ghica (Gjika) (22 January 1828, Bucharest – 17 November 1888, Florence), was a Romanian Romantic writer and feminist. She was an advocate for the Albanian national cause
of the 19th century, and promoted the Albanian struggle for independence in Western Europe, despite not knowing the Albanian language herself. Her writings and efforts gained recognition among Albanian nationalist circles, and her name was used to garner support for the cause.

She was an accomplished writer, fluent in multiple languages including Romanian, Italian, German, French, Latin, Ancient and Modern Greek, and Russian. Her writings covered a wide range of topics, including monastic life, descriptions of countries and cultures, women's emancipation, historical narratives, and more. She advocated for the emancipation of women in the Levant and argued for equal treatment of men and women. Her work extended beyond writing – she was also a painter, a mountaineer who once made an ascent of Mont Blanc, and a member of various scholarly societies.

Her book Gli Albanesi in Rumenia and her contributions to the understanding of Albanian history and identity were significant. Her connections with Albanian patriots and her advocacy played a role in fostering a sense of Albanian national identity. Her impact resonated beyond her lifetime, as her family members and others continued to draw on her contributions to support the Albanian cause.

Life

She was born in

Alexander Von Humboldt
.

D'Istria returned to her home country in 1849 and married the Russian

Emperor Nicholas I.[2] As her health decayed in the Russian climate, she took her husband's advice and travelled to Central Europe. She first went to Switzerland for several years and then journeyed through Greece and Anatolia. Finally, she returned to Italy and lived in a villa in Florence
, while occasionally traveling to France, Ireland and the United States.

As a writer, she was first noticed in 1855 while she was writing mostly in French under the name d'Istria. She published a number of works that not only showed her proficiency in

emancipation of her gender.[3]

She died in Florence on 17 November 1888.

In culture

Lithographed portrait of Dora d'Istria.

Her first work was La vie monastique dans l'Église orientale ("Monastical Life in the Eastern Church") (

monastic orders. It was followed by La Suisse allemande ("German Switzerland") (Geneva 1856, 4 vols.; German, 2. ed., Zürich 1860, 3 vols.), a description of Switzerland and its people with a passage describing a climb up the Mönch
.

In the tract Les femmes en Orient ("Women in the Orient") (Zürich 1859, 2 vols.) she spoke out for the emancipation of women in the

Latin Europe with that in Germany and demanded with strong words the equal treatment of men and women. Before this volume, Excursions en Roumélie et en Morée ("Excursions in Rumelia and Morea") (Zürich 1863, 2 vols.) was published, in which she tried to show that 19th-century Germany had the same civilizing task as Ancient Greece
.

She also published the narrative Au bord des lacs helvétiques ("Sailing the Swiss Lakes") (Geneva 1861), the novels Fylétia e Arbenoré prèj Kanekate laoshima (

Revue des Deux Mondes
, the Belgian Libre Recherche, and the Italian Diritto, Antologia nuova, Rivista europea and more, as well as various Swiss, Greek, Romanian, and American journals.

D'Istria was also a painter. She was a member of several scholarly societies, such as the

Italian academy; she was also named honorary citizen by the Greek parliament and many Italian cities.[4]

She was also a

mountaineer, making an early female ascent of Mont Blanc on 1 June 1860. As noted, she wrote a description of her climb of Mönch
in La Suisse allemande.

The Albanian cause

Her family's history and fame, as well as its putative Albanian origins, are mostly known to the Western readers from Princess Elena Ghica's memoirs Gli Albanesi in Rumenia. Storia dei principi Ghika ("The Albanians in Romania. The history of the Ghica Princes").

For Dora d'Istria (Elena Ghica's

Hellenophile attitude courtesy of her Greek maternal ancestry and the influence of her Greek tutor Gregorios Pappadopoulos), as well as in her anti-establishment attitude generated by the entrenching of the Hohenzollern in the Romanian Principality to the detriment of her family who had high hopes for a return on the throne.[5]

She started learning Albanian history and in 1866 she became the main advocate in Western Europe for the Albanian cause, despite the fact that she never learned the Albanian language.[5]

Her book "Gli Albanesi in Rumenia" was preceded by a series of articles on the nationalities from South-Eastern Europe and their struggle for independence. After articles on the Romanian (1859), Greek (1860) and

Dhimitër Kamarda,[7] and was prefaced by a revolutionary poem written by an Albanian author and addressed to his countrymen urging Albanians to rise up against the Ottomans.[8][6]

Henceforth Dora d'Istria became known in Albanians nationalist circles that used her name to gain support for their cause. This situation was mutual and nurtured her writings, and she cultivated relationships with various Albanian patriots, including Kamarda and

Jeronim de Rada.[7] After the publication of Gli Albanesi in Romania... the Albanian nationalists in Italy declared Elena Ghica as the uncrowned queen
of Albania.

These speculations were tacitly entertained by Elena Ghica; soon other members of the family were drawn into this Albanian nationalistic tradition. At the end of the century another member of her family, Romanian writer and socialite Albert Ghica, would likewise encourage vocal demands for the Albanian throne.[5][7] Ghika is an Albanian name, Gjika being the form used today in Albania.

References

  1. ISBN 978-963-7326-39-4
    .
  2. ^ "Dor de Dunăre şi alte nostalgii cosmopolite". Observator Cultural (in Romanian). Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  3. ISBN 9789462981188
    , retrieved 19 October 2022
  4. ^ Bartolomeo Cecchetti, Bibliografia della Principessa Elena Ghika, Dora d'Istria, Venezia, 1868, p. 20
  5. ^ a b c Liviu Bordaș, Dor de Dunăre şi alte nostalgii cosmopolite – Preţul cosmopolitismului, in Observator Cultural, No. 437, August 2008.
  6. ^
    ISBN 9781400847761
    .
  7. ^ a b c Paul Cernovodeanu et al., Elena Ghica – Dora d'Istria. Online at Ghyka.net
  8. ^ Nathalie Clayer, Origins of Albanian nationalism, Karthala, Paris, 2007, p.209, apud Paul Cernovodeanu et al., Elena Ghica – Dora d'Istria. Online at Ghyka.net

Sources

  • Antonio D'Alessandri, Il pensiero e l’opera di Dora d’Istria fra Oriente europeo e Italia (Istituto per la storia del Risorgimento italiano, Biblioteca scientifica, Serie II: Memorie, vol. 54), Roma, Gangemi, 2007
  • Meyers Konversations-Lexikon. In turn, it cites as references:
  • François Buloz, Revue des deux mondes, 1875. Fragment.

External links

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