Walking the Tightrope

Louise von Salomé was the striking daughter of the Inspector General of the Russian Army, greatly favored by Tsar Nicholas I . She was given the name Louise after her mother, the daughter of a wealthy sugar manufacturer. Thus the von Salomé’s enjoyed the air of nobility. Lou was the youngest of the couple’s four children, the other three all being brothers. Thus Lou grew up in the best society, battling her childhood with older brothers and a domineering father who nevertheless showered her with affection. Her mother evidently played a role of strict traditionalist with her daughter, desiring for her to marry into nobility and to give the General and herself grandchildren. But, Lou was fiercely independent, an exceptionally bright child with an extraordinary imagination. She soon grew adversarial with her mother. She lost her faith in God in early adolescence when she felt that all prayers went unanswered. When her father suddenly died, she also lost the first man she genuinely loved