拍品 194
拍品 194
Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883)

Recommending a Gogol short story. 1866

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Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883)

Recommending a Gogol short story. 1866

成交价 GBP 3,250
成交价 GBP 3,250
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Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883)
Recommending a Gogol short story. 1866
Autograph letter signed ('I. Tourguéneff') to [Valentine Delessert] ('Chère Madame'), Schillerstrasse 277, Baden-Baden, 19 February 1866.

In French. Four pages, 208 x 133mm, on a bifolium, lined paper. Provenance: previously in the collection of Madame Girard, Paris – Nate Sanders, 10 Dec 2020, lot 269.

Strongly recommending a Gogol short story which he wishes he had written. Turgenev's plans to come to join his daughter Paulinette in Paris have been upset by an unexpected ailment: 'an inflammation of the thumb muscle of the left hand, which suddenly took a nasty turn: for two weeks I have not left home and change cold water compresses every ten minutes'. It has improved, but he still cannot use his hand. All this has put off his Parisian visit until the spring: 'I am very happy to know that you are well; my daughter, who cannot sufficiently praise your kindness, gave me news of you. I hope that not too much time will pass before I have the pleasure of entering that charming little drawing room on rue Basse ... I also recommend – and quite insistently – that you read the short story which Countess Adlerberg mentioned – and I would add that it is a masterpiece of its type. Unfortunately for me, it is not of my own making; it is by Gogol, and can be found in a volume of his stories published by Hachette. The title is "The Old World Landowners". As I said, I cannot help regretting not being the author, I regret it greatly for myself – and a little for the Countess, who is, I think, a little stronger on music than on literature, which does not prevent her from being a charming woman. / As I know that you are kind enough to interest yourself in my literary work, I can say that I had pushed quite far with my novel when this disagreeable accident occurred to cool my ardour ... (Cool – is the mot juste as it required iced water). However, I do not despair of picking up the interrupted thread of my narration'.

Published in the Letters, vol. VI, 49-50. The countess whom Turgenev gently mocks is probably Ekaterina Nikolaevna Adlerberg. The edition of Gogol which he recommends is the translation officially executed by Louis Viardot, the husband of Pauline Viardot whose household Turgenev shared – in practice as Viardot's introduction makes clear, much of the translation was by Turgenev himself. The novel whose composition was interrupted is Dym (Smoke). Valentine Delessert (1806-1894) was a celebrated salonist, formerly the mistress of Prosper Mérimée: she took a close interest in Turgenev's illegitimate daughter, Paulinette, and had been responsible for her (rather unsuccessful) marriage, which took place the previous year.
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Thomas VenningHead of Department, Books and Manuscripts
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