Ségur, Sophie Rostopchine, countess de

(1799-1874)

   writer

   The daughter of Count Rostopchine, Sophie Ros-topchine was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and left Russia with her father, who had fallen into disgrace, to settle in France (1817). There she married Count Eugène de Ségur (1819). Ignored by her husband, she spent a large part of her life on her estate at Nou-ettes (orne), which must have inspired her stories, which were written essentially for her grandchildren but which soon became well known. in them, she created a dualistic world in which morality triumphs, and the characters are set out clearly as good or evil. The most famous of her stories are Les petites Filles modèles (1858), Les Mémoires d'une âne (1860), Les Malheurs de Sophie (1864), Le Général Dourakine (1864), and Un bon petit Diable (1865).