The first third of the 19th century was marked by growing debate about the place of women in literature and the limits of their permissible participation. It would be an exaggeration to consider this period the beginning of the development of the history of female writers in Russia, but most of the opinions about the permissibility of women's literary pursuits, which were later adopted by critics of the 1830s–1860s, were first formulated during this period. Maria Nesterenko's goal is to analyze the gradual conventionalization of women's participation in literary life in Russia during the first third of the 19th century and how this evolution of views affected the literary career and reputation of the poet Anna Petrovna Bunina. To this end, the researcher draws on various sources, primarily periodicals, demonstrating that, despite the generally positive attitude of the Karamzinists toward the cultural mission of enlightened noblewomen, there was no unanimity among them on this issue. Maria Nesterenko is a philologist, PhD candidate at the University of Tartu, and a specialist in the work of forgotten female writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries.