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Lot 436: TOLSTOY, LEO

Est: $7,000 USD - $10,000 USD
Sotheby'sNew York, NY, USJune 17, 2010

Item Overview

Description

TOLSTOY, LEO A fine letter from Tolstoy to Mme Guervich, publisher of the influential literary journal, The Northern Herald . Although Tolstoy was fond of Mme Guervich and allowed her to publish several of his stories, Countess Tolstoy was extremely jealous and accused her of being Tolstoy's mistress. The countess referred to Mme Guervich as a "half-Jewish witch" and in 1895 fought bitterly with Tolstoy over her, husband and wife both running out into the street partially clothed to continue their argument in the heavy snowdrifts. In this letter, Tolstoy comments on an unpleasant scene involving a young man turned out of Mme Guervich's apartment: "I am happy for you, that you behaved well and in God's cause .... You say that you are afraid of boasting on his part, and of slander, and I greatly regret that this matter cannot be publicized as loudly as possible and made known everywhere. People would only feel sorry for him, this unfortunate, erring youth, who, having acted in the basest manner, was sure that he was acting nobly. (I say was because I am certain that even before he had left your apartment, his conscience had begun to trouble him.) This matter cannot be publicized only because you do not want it and because publicizing it would be self-praise, destroying the dignity of you action, which lies in its humility. This incident is all the more precious because it involved a woman. Because of the absurdity still inherent in our mores, a man would have been reproached as being weak if he had not defended himself, but for a woman there is nothing else to be done but to call upon men to defend her, with force against force, or to bear all not calmly, yet happily, something which in our course customs is considered to be a degradation .... I am very, very happy for you." Not in R.F. Christian's edition of Tolstoy's letters; possibly unpublished.

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