Music, Continental Books and Medieval Manuscripts

Music, Continental Books and Medieval Manuscripts

View full screen - View 1 of Lot 68. Ivan Turgenev. Autograph letter signed, to the poet Betty Paoli, explaining why he does not write plays, 1878.

Ivan Turgenev. Autograph letter signed, to the poet Betty Paoli, explaining why he does not write plays, 1878

Lot Closed

July 14, 02:06 PM GMT

Estimate

5,000 - 6,000 GBP

Lot Details

Description

TURGENEV, IVAN


Autograph letter signed (“Iwan Turgenev”), to the Austrian poet Betty Paoli, explaining why he does not write plays, Paris, 2 February 1878


in German, telling her that he only wrote dramatic pieces at the very beginning of his career and quickly concluded that he did not possess anything of a dramatic poet within him, that he was primarily interested in the development of characters and not in their interaction, and that his plays never had any success; Turgenev tells her that he is sending her as examples “Scènes de la Vie Russe”, where she will find two comedies, one in two acts the other in one, never intended for the stage, warning her that she will most probably agree with him about his talents as a dramatist (“...bin aber sehr bald zu der sich erzeugung gekommen dass in mir kein Stoff zum dramatischen Dichter war--da mich die Entwicklung der Charactere interessirte---und nicht ihr Zusammenstoss…”). 


2 pages, 8vo (c.21 x 13cm), printed stationery with Turgenev's monogram, 50 rue de Douai, Paris, 2 February 1878


This is a remarkable self-assessment by one of the great figures of Russian literature; Turgenev is famous for his novel Fathers and Sons (1862). Here he modestly reveals that he is primarily interested in developing characters and not in bringing them into conflict. Turgenev’s Scènes de la Vie Russe” (1858) is a collection of novellas written as dialogues, but not intended to be staged. The book is in six parts: “Les deux amis”, “Jacques Passinkof”, “Moumou”, “Faust”, “Le ferrailleur” and “Les trois portraits--Scènes de moeurs russes--aux XVIIIe siècle”, although Turgenev does not explicitly name any of these pieces. Turgenev's library, now at Vassar College (Poughkeepsie NY), includes a copy of Neueste Gedichte (Vienna 1870) by his correspondent, the Austrian poet Betty Paoli (1814-1894). 


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