Ekaterina Avdeeva was called the last culinary romantic. The literary heritage of the writer includes books with recipes and advice for housewives, a detailed description of Siberia, and well-known Russian fairy tales.
Biography
Catherine was born in Kursk in August 1788. On her father's side, she bore the surname Polevaya. In addition to her, the family had four more sons - Nikolai, Eusebius, Xenophon and Peter. Nikolai and Xenophon would later become famous Russian writers and journalists.
The Field family belonged to the merchant class. Father Alexey was engaged in trade from early childhood. Mother Natalia Ivanovna Verkhovtseva was an orphan, brought up in the Znamensky nunnery. In her early childhood, Catherine's family moved to Irkutsk.
Ekaterina Alekseevna did not receive a full and systematic education. But this did not prevent her from mastering literacy and writing so much that after the appearance of her younger brothers, she was able to teach them this too.
Among the Irkutsk secular society, the girl quickly gained fame as a well-mannered and educated, but at the same time romantic person. Although Catherine was not afraid to express her opinion about the political situation - at that time, few ladies allowed themselves to reflect on the situation in Europe.
Personal life
Catherine met her future husband at the age of 14. A year later, she became the wife of Peter Petrovich Avdeev. The marriage was happy, albeit short-lived. At first, Ekaterina and her husband lived in the house of her father-in-law, who was a very respected person in Irkutsk. Then we moved into our own house.
Young people traveled a lot in Eastern Siberia, and Catherine never missed an opportunity to learn something new. At every opportunity, she asked, found out the details of the event of interest and made sure to write it down. Subsequently, these notes were very useful to her.
Having lived in harmony with her beloved husband for a little over 10 years, Ekaterina Alekseevna became a widow. At the age of 26, she was left alone with 5 children - Alexander, Andrey, Natalya, Innokenty and Peter were born in marriage. In 1820 the Avdeevs left Irkutsk for Kursk and lived there for 10 years. When the children grew up, settled their personal lives and left for different cities, Ekaterina Alekseevna changed her place of residence several times - she lived in Odessa, Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities.
When the children stopped needing her constant attention, Ekaterina Avdeeva took up writing. In her youth, she did not really believe that she could cope with this task, although her younger brothers and other listeners always noted her magnificent syllable.
The first works of Ekaterina Avdeeva
The first published work was "Notes and Observations on Siberia". The book, published in 1837, amazed readers immediately. It contained a lot of facts and information about the then little-studied Russian territory. Interest in the book arose even in the West; later it was translated into English, German and Czech.
After the publication of the first book, Avdeeva received an offer of cooperation from A. Kraevsky, the publisher of Otechestvennye zapiski. It is interesting that Ekaterina Alekseevna herself began to be called the first Siberian writer.
After such success, Avdeeva believed in her writing talent, and in 1842 a new book was published - Notes on the Old and New Russian Life. A note to it was written by her brother Nikolai. By the way, it was Nikolai who became the most famous of the Field family, although he received education only under the guidance of his sister and mother.
Cookbooks
In the middle of the 19th century, books with an economic and culinary focus began to enjoy immense popularity in Russia. "The handbook of a Russian experienced hostess", written by Avdeeva, has become one of the most fundamental. This was confirmed by the fact that during the life of the author, the book went through 8 reprints. Later, among the works of Avdeeva will be "pocket" versions of recipes, works for owners and housewives, various manuals. Ekaterina Avdeeva herself addressed her works to ordinary compatriots, and not to nobles and rich people.
In one of her works, Ekaterina Alekseevna gives recipes for as many as 366 dinners - for a whole year! Moreover, they all consist of four courses, there are festive and everyday options.
The usual recipes or instructions for home economics, as presented by Ekaterina Avdeeva, turned into a real work of art. Therefore, very often she was called the last romantic of culinary. However, now her works are undeservedly forgotten.
Russian folk tales
Few people now know that Ekaterina Avdeeva became the first Russian writer who processed and recorded folklore. The famous fairy tales "Kolobok", "Wolf and Goat", "Cat, Fox and Rooster" and others were recorded by Avdeeva. For the first time they were published in the collection "Russian fairy tales for children, told by the nanny Avdotya Stepanovna Cherepieva" in 1844. Most of them still make up the golden fund of literature for preschoolers. Later A. Afanasiev will include them in his collection "Russian folk tales".
There are also collections of songs in her bibliography, which contain Russian romances, vaudeville couplets and songs.
Ekaterina Avdeeva spent her last days in Dorpat, where she died at the age of 76 in 1865.
