Maritain, Raïssa ___ 1883-1960 ___ Russian ___ writer

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Raïssa Oumansov was born into a Jewish family in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. When she was two, her family moved to Mariupol, Ukraine, and when she was ten the family emigrated to France, and settled in Paris. She studied science at the Sorbonne, where she met and fell in love with Jacques Maritain. United in their beliefs, they became increasingly disillusioned with the materialism of science teaching, and instead turned to philosophy, in particular that of Henri Bergson. In 1904, Raïssa and Jacques married; two years later they converted to Catholicism. Jacques and Raïssa (having decided to forsake marital intimacy and a family) became Benedictine oblates, establishing a community of prayer and study. After the First World War, they moved to a home in Meudon, a village not far from Paris, the money for which came from a bequest from a soldier killed in the war. There they developed a centre for Catholic thought and culture. While Jacques' reputation as a philosopher grew, so did that of Raïssa as a poet and writer. During the Second World, the couple remained in the US where Jacques held several university teaching posts. Thereafter, Jacques served as French ambassador to the Vatican for a few years, before returning to teach in the US.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1914-1931 ___ religious self

WEB TEXT LINKS
good quotes (but no dates)
 

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Maritain Archives in Kolbsheim - possibly

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Raïssa's Journal
 

May 2006, July 2008
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.