Dmitry Sergeyevich Merezhkovsky (1866-1941)
'It is forbidden to speak of Atlantis in Europe'.
Autograph letter signed ('D. Merejkosvky') to Henriette Roggers-Farrère, 11bis avenue Colonel Bonnet, Paris XVI, 26 June 1934.

In French. 1½ pages, 267 x 205mm. Envelope.

Merezhkovsky compares his prophetic work Atlantis-Europe to 'speaking of rope in the house of a hanged man'. Merezhkovsky thanks Henriette (who is in the Basque country, recovering from an accident) and her husband (the writer Claude Farrère) 'for the very touching care which you take over my poor "Atlantis"', and he will pass on a letter of recommendation to Paul Valéry. 'But, alas! I have little hope, for decidedly it appears that it is forbidden to speak of Atlantis in Europe as it is of rope in the house of a hanged man'.

Merezhkovsky's The Secret of the West: Atlantis-Europe was published in Berlin in 1930: in it, the author writes in apocalyptic terms of the destruction of the ancient Atlantis and draws analogies to the decline and imminent collapse of Europe. The recipient of the letter, the actress Henriette Roggers, married the writer Claude Farrère in 1919.

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