From the History of Domestic Ethnography: Nina Ivanovna Gagen-Torn (1900–1986)

Abstract

The author shares her reminiscences about Nina Gagen-Torn – an ethnographer, poet, active participant in the cultural life of Petrograd, GULAG prisoner, resilient and free-thinking woman. The article draws on previously published materials supplemented with author’s own impressions of communication with Gagen-Torn. The author delineates an integral image of the talented woman – scholar and poet – against the backdrop of the tragic destiny of Russia and many representatives of its intellectual milieu in the 20 th century.