Maria Zakrevskaya-Benckendorff-Budberg. The history of a double agent and "iron woman"

Baroness Maria Zakrevskaya-Benckendorff-Budberg was a born writer and the cleverest woman of her time. Being a shrewd, clever, daring adventurer, she was exceptionally fearless, she loved men and made no secret of it. Her infatuations were not burdened by moral considerations, nor by pretended chastity, nor by domestic taboos. Men fell in love with her devotedly and passionately. The famous writer of memoirs and literary critic Nina Berberova wrote of the Baroness in her book Iron Woman: ‘She lived with Maxim Gorky for twelve years, but there is no data about her in Soviet literary studies.’ Who is she really, this legendary woman?

Née Zakrevskaya, Benckendorff after her first husband, she worked as a translator and secretary for Maxim Gorky for many years. She became a member of the writer’s inner circle and later became his common-law wife. It was forbidden to mention their relationship in the open press in Soviet times. Her relatives called her Moura and Maxim Gorky also referred to her as the "iron woman". According to Nina Berberova, ‘Only a week after the final move in his house, Moura became absolutely essential. She read the letters that Maxim Gorky received in the morning, arranged his manuscripts in folders, found a place for those that were sent to him to read, and prepared everything for his daily work’. Maxim Gorky dedicated his last unfinished novel The Life of Klim Samgin to her. After the writer’s death, all rights to foreign publications of his works passed to his Iron Lady.

According to some reports, collecting information for Soviet and British intelligence at the same time, Moura was the mistress of British diplomat Bruce Lockhart, who worked at the English consulate in Moscow and was known in connection with the Bruce Lockhart conspiracy, 1918. Neither writer nor poet, neither artist nor dancer, Baroness Maria Zakrevskaya-Benckendorff-Budberg did not left us her memoirs, although her memories could shed light on the secrets of many of the celebrities of the time. The life and fate of this enigmatic woman will be discussed at our next meeting.

Speaker

Nina Shcherbak is Associate Professor in the Department of English Philology and Cultural Linguistics at St Petersburg University, Master of Arts (the United Kingdom), a writer and screenwriter. She is also a scriptwriter for science television shows, author of fifteen monographs, and books on linguistics, literature, language philosophy, and English literature.

The lecture will be held as part of the events to mark the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg University, the oldest university in Russia.

The meeting will be held online in Russian with simultaneous interpreting into Spanish.

Registration