The Diary of Pani Hanka

14 hrs. 45 min.

Romance & Prose

Language Russian

Author Tadeusz Dołęga-Mostowicz

Narrator Mikhail Roslyakov

Description

Pani Hanka Renovitskaya, the young wife of a diplomat, read a letter addressed to her beloved husband and realized: he is married to someone else and a traitor. His first wife is trying to get back to her husband, Mr. Renovitsky. Pani Hanka sets up her own investigation, uncovers secrets about her husband, and plunges into worries, fantasies, conspiracies… Suspecting him of infidelity, she herself steps away from her promises.

But she still doesn’t know that her own romance will turn into a big surprise for her husband…

I believe that Pani Hanka Renovitskaya’s diary fully deserves to be published. It deserves distribution already as a document reflecting the customs and psychology of a modern cultured woman and her circle.

In times when hundreds of volumes of diverse biographies, autobiographies, and autobiographical novels written by workers, peasants, dancers, former smugglers, politicians, etc. are devoured, in my view there is no reason to deny oneself the chance to get acquainted with the diary of a woman belonging to the upper strata of society—those “ten thousand” who, in our country, set the tone and character of the epoch itself. I also think this document can be interesting, adding credibility to the literary landscape; it will be useful for a future historian of customs of the first half of the 20th century.

Handing it to the reader, I would like to point out that the greatest virtue of the diary lies in its astonishing candor, an honesty even its famous author couldn’t manage to achieve—toutе proportion gardée[1]—Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Madame Renovitskaya is not really acting here under her true surname, but the pseudonym cannot hide her identity from the discerning public. Her persona is well known in certain circles, and this lady can undoubtedly be recognized—especially considering that the events and people about whom it will be spoken are no secret to anyone.

Having performed, in these few sentences, the duties of presenting the author, I now give the floor to Pani Renovitskaya herself.

T. D.-M.