Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff

Diary Marie Bashkirtseff

"I am the most interesting book of all."

Je suis le livre le plus intéressant de tous.

Start reading About the project
Self-Portrait with Palette, 1880
Self-Portrait with Palette, 1880

Marie Bashkirtseff (1858–1884) was a Ukrainian noblewoman from Poltava who kept one of the most remarkable diaries in history from age thirteen until her premature death from tuberculosis.

For a hundred years, her diary was read only in a heavily censored version. The complete edition was published recently in a small print run and is nearly impossible to obtain.

This project makes the full diary accessible with historical research, linguistic annotations, and is building infrastructure for translations into many languages.

Diary volumes

000

Notebook 000

1884

20 entries
001

Notebook 001

1873

99 entries
002

Notebook 002

1873-74

143 entries
015

Notebook 015

1882-83

434 entries
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What you'll find here

Original text

The complete, unabridged diary in French with the original mix of languages Marie wrote in.

Research & annotations

Historical context, glossary of people and places, linguistic notes on the text.

Translations in progress

Building infrastructure for AI-assisted translations into many languages, including Czech.

"I want to live, and live brilliantly."

Je veux vivre, et vivre avec éclat. — Marie Bashkirtseff

Start reading the diary