MARITAL STRATEGIES IN THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN ANTIOKH KANTEMIR AND MARIA KANTEMIR: THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE SYMBOLS OF ANIMALS

👤Author

Name: Manuela Anton
Affiliation: Institute of Literary History and Theory “G. Călinescu” of the Romanian
Academy

📄Article

Citation Recommendation: Anton, Manuela. “Marital strategies in the correspondence between Antiokh Kantemir and Maria Kantemir: the employment of the symbols of animals”.
Synthesis, no. XXXIX, 2012, pp. 19-25.
Title: MARITAL STRATEGIES IN THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN
ANTIOKH KANTEMIR AND MARIA KANTEMIR: THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE
SYMBOLS OF ANIMALS
Pages: 19-25
Language: English
URL: https://synthesis.ro/pdf/2012/XXXIX/3_Anton.pdf

Abstract

This essay pertains to the issue of Antiokh Kantemir’s marriage prospects in regard to the daughter of the cabinet minister of the Russian Empire, Alexei Mikhailovich Cherkasskii. There is made an attempt by the author to show the strategies of the Wallachian prince to strengthen his position in a society, in which the family and clan relationships were still crucial for gaining and preserving a social status. These strategies are viewed in the light of the epistolary exchange between the Kantemir siblings and the use by them of the Aesopic language.

Keywords: clan and family at the Russian court; epistolary inheritance; fables; Antiokh Kantemir; Maria Kantemir.