PENDANT DEUX ANNÉES Nikolaï Nikolaïevitch Gusev était le secrétaire personnel de Léon Tolstoï, avant qu'il était arreté et exilé en Sibérie de l'ouest à l'été de 1909.  Gusev, un des associés les plus proches au grand écrivain, a compilé plus tard de vastes archives de la corréspondance et des mémoires sur Tolstoï.  Ce volume en renferme huit, ainsi que 45 lettres personnelles que Gusev a écrit à son mentor de 1903 à 1910.  La plupart d'entre eux était écrite de son exil, et décrivait ses efforts à remplir ses obligations de secrétaire en exil, ses perceptions sur les oeuvres de Tolstoï et l'influence de Tolstoï sur sa propre examination de soi.

NIKOLAJ GUSEV (1882-1967) devoted most of his life to the study of Tolstoyís life and works. ...  From 1907 to 1909 he served as Tolstoyís personal secretary, described by his employer as a "priceless assistant and worker" in one of his letters to Vladimir Chertkov. ... The materials were compiled and annotated by Zinaida Ivanova and Lidija Gromova -- legendary Tolstoy specialists in their own way, both of whom were well acquainted with and worked closely with Gusev.  Ivanova has also contributed a brief biographical sketch of Gusev.  They describe traits of both the professional and the personal, both the outer and the inner Tolstoy, as seen through episodes of everyday life, and here and there shed new light on certain passages from his writings from a completely new and different angle.
 
 

Extraits des résumés :

22 September 1909.  Korepino.  ... Description of activities: cooking, music, reading (esp. War and peace and What is art?).  G[usev] wishes to write to T[olstoy] his views on the Russian intelligentsia; he mentions receiving letters from Dushan Makovitskij and Ol'ga Verbitskaja and sends greetings from exile Ignat Shashkov.

3 November 1909.  Korepino.  ...  G. has been borrowing books from the local library, especially Dostoevsky's Notes from the house of the dead, in which he finds many parallels with T.'s own views; he quotes two passages, and wonders about T.'s attitude toward Dostoev-sky.  He has also been impressed by Maupassant. *** G. suggests (with Chertkov's concurrence) that he himself take over the revision of T.'s On life, which Chertkov has started.  ...

Reminiscences by Sergej Nikolaevich Èverling.  Èverling describes Tolstoyís ironic reply to a guest's attempt to convince him of the merits of modern medical science, along with his remarks on Turgenev and Darwin.  The host repeated his desire to discuss Shpir's views with Èverling as soon as his books had been read.  This desire was fulfilled a month later, when Èverling paid a third visit to Khamovniki, this time accompanied by only one other person.  In addition to Shpir, their conversation also touched upon the role of medical science and the possibility of revolution in Russia (which Tolstoy admitted, even though he strongly doubted that violent methods would lead to any significant social improvement).
 
 

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Cliquez sur les liens ci-dessous pour voir les autres volumes de la Série Tolstoï
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Série Tolstoï -- Volume I	Sergej Tolstoy and the Doukhobors: a journey to Canada
Série Tolstoï -- Volume II	L. N. Tolstoj i F. A. Zheltov: perepiska > Traduction anglaise de ce volume
Série Tolstoï -- Volume III	L. N. Tolstoj i S. A. Tolstaja: perepiska s N. N. Strakhovym / The Tolstoys' correspondence with N. N. Strakhov
Série Tolstoï -- Volume IV	Novye materialy o L. N. Tolstom: iz arkhiva N. N. Guseva / New materials on Leo Tolstoy: from the N. N. Gusev archive
Série Tolstoï -- Volume V	Edinenie ljudjej v tvorchestve L. N. Tolstogo / The Unity of people in Leo Tolstoy's works
Série Tolstoï -- Volumes VI & VII	L.N. Tolstoj--N.N. Strakhov: Polnoe sobranie perepiski / Leo Tolstoy & Nikolaj Strakhov: Complete correspondence

  

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