On Age-Related Changes in Reading Tastes among Female Readers in XIX – Early XX Century Russia Based on Diary Texts

The history of reading in Russia has largely been studied without considering gender aspects, typically within the context of the emergence of the mass reader in the late XIX century. However, the history of female reading remained fixed in texts of personal origin – diaries and memoirs. Dozens of diaries have come down to our time, keeping records of the female reading circle, reading preferences and reading practices in the second half of the XIX – early XX century in Russia. This article is devoted to a particular gender aspect of reading, namely, reader reflection and changes in reader taste during the transition from “childish” reading to adult literature. It is diary entries that help to trace how, as girls grew older, their circle of reading interests also changed.