Letters Summer 1926 (2001)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Letters Summer 1926:

Pasternak, Tsvetayeva, Rilke

 

This book is a collection of forty-nine letters written by three famous poets:

 

** The Russian writer and poet Boris Pasternak 

(1890-1960)

** The Russian poet Marina Tsvetayeva 

(1892-1941)

** The Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke 

(1875-1926)

 

Where were these three persons in 1926?

 

Boris was born in Russia. He survived the revolutions of 1917. His parents and his two sisters left Soviet Russia in 1921, but he did not want to leave the country. He stayed behind.

 

In 1926, he was living in the Soviet Union trying to find a way to live under a new political system

 

Marina was born in Russia. She survived the revolutions of 1917. Five years later, in 1922, she left Soviet Russia in order to avoid the famine which followed after the Civil War (1918–1920).

 

In 1926, she was living in exile in France.

 

Rainer was born in Prague. At that time the city of Prague was a part of the Austrian-Hungarian double monarchy. This is why he is known as an Austrian poet. As an adult, he lived in different countries: Germany and France. During World War One he was in Germany.

 

In 1926, he was living at a sanatorium in Switzerland. He had recently been diagnosed with leukaemia. He knew the end of his life was close.

 

His contribution to this collection of letters was one of his last literary efforts. He died in December 1926.

 

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When we are talking about a correspondence, it is usually letters between two persons. In this case, we have letters between three persons. This is a three-way correspondence.

 

How this this three-way correspondence come about?

How did it happen?

 

The three-way correspondence was initiated by Leonid Pasternak, the father of Boris. In December 1925, Leonid wrote a letter to his old friend Rainer. He had just learned that Rainer was living in Switzerland. Leonid wanted to congratulate Rainer on his 50th birthday.

 

In his letter, Leonid told Rainer that his son Boris was a poet living in the Soviet Union.

 

Leonid also wrote a letter to his son Boris in the Soviet Union. In this letter, he told him that he ad just sent a letter to Rainer in Switzerland in order to wish him a happy birthday.

 

When Rainer heard the news from his father, he was excited. He wrote a letter to Rainer. He also wrote a letter to his good friend Marina who was living in France. In this letter, he told her the news about Rainer.

 

Boris and Marina were interested in German affairs: German history, German culture, and the German language.

 

Rainer was interested in Russian affairs: Russian history, Russian culture, and the Russian language.

 

This is how the three-way correspondence began.

 

○●○●

 

How could Leonid refer to Rainer as his old friend? In order to understand this, we must go back to the time when Rainer was a young man.

 

In 1897, when Rainer's first name was still René, he met a Russian-born woman who became his girlfriend: Lou Andreas-Salomé (1861-1937).

 

They were together for three years (1897-1900). Lou told him to change his first name René to Rainer. He did what she wanted. While they were together, they travelled to Russia two times: in 1899 and in 1900.

 

While they were in Russia, they met the famous Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy.

 

During the first trip (1899), they met him in Moscow.

 

During the second trip (1900), they met him in his home Yasnaya Polyana, which is ca. 200 kilometers south of Moscow.

 

While they were in Russia, they also met Leonid Pasternak and his family, including his son Boris.

 

The first meeting with Leo Tolstoy was arranged by Leonid.

 

In 1899 and 1900, Boris was still a young boy, only nine and ten years old, but the foreign visitors made a big impression on him.

 

As an adult, he still remembered how he had met the Austrian poet, while he himself was still a young boy.

 

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Which topics were discussed in this three-way correspondence?

 

# 1. The creative process. How to write a poem?

# 2. Boris and Marina wanted to praise the poems Rainer had written. Rainer said he was impressed by the poems written by Boris and Marina.

# 3. The harsh reality of life in the 1920s.

# 4. The desire to meet face to face. They were far from each other. They knew it was difficult or impossible to meet but they had to express the desire to meet.

 

○●○●

 

Which languages were used during this three-way correspondence?

 

Two languages were used in these letters:

 

When Boris and Marina wrote to each other, they used Russian.

 

When Boris and Marina wrote to Rainer, they used German

 

When Rainer wrote to Boris and Marina, he used German.

 

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Letters Summer 1926: Boris Pasternak, Marina Tsvetayeva, Rainer Maria Rilke

** With a preface by Susan Sontag

** The letters were translated by Margaret Wettlin and Walter Arndt

** Additional essays were translated by Jamey Gambrell

** This edition was published by the New York Review of Books in 2001 

** The letters were published in German in 1983. The letters were first published in English in 1985

 

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REFERENCES

 

Maria Popova,

“Dissident poet Boris Pasternak on aloneness and why we make art,”

The Marginalian

17 November 2016

 

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Carla Baricz,

“Reading Letters Summer 1926,”

Ploughshares

30 March 2026

○●○●

 

Lou Andreas-Salomé (2016)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lou Andreas-Salomé: 

The Audacity to Be Free

 

This historical and biographical drama, which premiered in 2016, is about the life and work of the Russian-born psychoanalyst and author Louise von Salomé, who is also known as Lou Andreas-Salomé (1861-1937).

 

Here is some basic information about this drama:

 

** Director: Cordula Kablitz-Post

** Writers: Cordula Kablitz-Post and Susanne Hertel

** Language: German

** Subtitles: German

** Run time: 112 minutes

 

The cast includes the following:

 

** Helena Pieske as Louise von Salomé as a young girl – six years old

** Liv Lisa Fries as Lou von Salomé as a teenager – 16 years old

** Katharina Lorenz as Lou Salomé (and Lou Andreas-Salomé) – as a woman aged 21-50

** Nicole Heesters as Lou Andreas-Salomé – as an old woman aged 72

 

** Marcel Hensema as Hendrik Gillot (1836-1916) – a Dutch priest who works as Louise’s teacher while she is a teenager

** Katharina Schüttler as Mariechen (Maria) (1905-1994) - Lou’s housekeeper in the 1930s

** Matthias Lier as Ernst Pfeiffer (1893-1986) – a publisher

** Philipp Hauss as Paul Rée (1849-1901) – a philosopher and a friend

 

** Alexander Sheer as Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) – a philosopher and a friend

** Julius Feldmeier as René (later Rainer) Maria Rilke (1875-1926) – a poet and a friend

** Merab Ninidze as Friedrich Carl Andreas (1846-1930) – an orientalist – Lou’s husband 1887-1930

** Harald Schrott as Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) – a psychoanalyst

 

Since this drama is based on a true story, the basic facts are part of the public record. They are not a secret. This is why I feel free to mention some of them here.

 

While this drama is based on a true story, it is not a documentary film. It is a dramatized version of events. Not everything happened exactly as shown here.

 

Some details may have been added, altered or excluded for dramatic reasons or practical purposes. But the basic story is true.

 

Louise von Salomé was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1861. Her parents were German ex-patriates. When she was a teenager, her first name Louise was shortened to Lou. When she married Friedrich Carl Andreas in 1887, she became Lou Andreas-Salomé. While she was born in Russia, she lived and worked in Germany for most of her life. She died in Germany in 1937.

 

When this drama begins, we are in 1933. Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party have taken power in Germany. Lou, who is 72, suffers from diabetes. Her vision is impaired. She has to use a magnifying glass for reading and writing.

 

A young man comes to her house to visit her. At first, he is sent away by the housekeeper Mariechen, but when he knocks on the door a second time and hands her a letter, Lou tells her to let him in.

 

The young man is Ernst Pfeiffer, a bookseller and a publisher. Lou and Ernst become friends. She tells him the story of his life and he writes it on his typewriter. From this point, the story of her life is told in a series of flashbacks, beginning with her childhood in Russia in 1867.

 

In this drama we follow her life, as she leaves Russia and moves to Switzerland, Italy, and Germany. She studies philosophy. Several men fall for her, but she does not want to marry anyone, because she is an independent spirit. If she marries a man, the law will give her husband the right to control her. She cannot accept that.

 

We see her when she meets Paul Rée and Friedrich Nietzsche, both of whom want to marry her. She turns them both down. She wants to live with them in an academic commune. They try to make it work, but they do not succeed.

 

In 1887, Lou agrees to marry Carl Friedrich Andreas, on the condition that the marriage is never consummated. They remain married until his death in 1930.

 

While married to Carl, Lou has several lovers, perhaps the most famous is the poet René Maria Wilke. Lou tells him to change his first name to Rainer, which he does. This is why he is known as Rainer Maria Rilke. They are together for three years (1897-1900).

 

In 1899 and in 1900, they travel to Russia where they meet the famous Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy. But even this passionate relationship cannot last. Lou must have her independence.

 

When Lou meets Sigmund Freud, she decides to study with him. This is how she becomes the first female psychoanalyst. Now there is a new passion in her life.

 

What do reviewers say about this drama?

Here are some answers:

 

60 percent = Meta

64 per cent = Allo Ciné

65 per cent = IMDb

66 percent = Letterboxd

70 per cent = KINO Check

 

In my opinion, all these ratings are too low. I like this drama and I want to give it a good rating, but I cannot go all the way to the top, because it has at least two flaws:

 

# 1. Only one language is spoken here. Except for a brief Russian conversation between Lou and Carl, all dialogue is in German. This is not quite realistic. When we see Louise as a child and Lou as a teenager, she is in Saint Petersburg. At least some conversations should be in Russian. But this is not the case. All characters speak German. This is a flaw.

 

# 2. Lou Salomé moves from place to place and meets a lot of people. But these places and these people are not always identified. I think the director should help the viewer understand where we are in time and place and who the people around Lou are. There is an easy way to do this:

 

An on-screen message can tell us the time and the place whenever Lou begins a new chapter of her life.

 

An on-screen message can identify each character the first time he or she appears in the movie.

 

Sadly, this was not done. This means that the viewer is not always sure where we are in time or place. When Lou meets a new character, we do not always know who this character is, which is annoying. This is a flaw.

 

I have to remove one star because of these flaws. This drama deserves a rating of four stars (80 percent).

 

PS. Here is a brief chronology:

 

1861 – Louise is born in St. Petersburg, Russia

1877-1879 – Lou studies with the Dutch priest Hendrik Gillot

1879 – Lou’s father dies

1880 – Lou travels to Switzerland to study philosophy

1882 – Lou travels to Italy where she meets Paul Rée and Friedrich Nietzsche

1882 – Lou moves to Germany where she lives with Paul Rée – she writes her first book (which is published in 1885)

1885 - Lou and Paul Rée split up

1887 - Lou marries Friedrich Carl Andreas

1897 – Lou meets the poet René Maria Rilke

1900 – Nietzsche dies – Lou and Rilke separate

1901 – Paul Rée dies

1911 – Lou meets Sigmund Freud

1913 – Lou’s mother dies

1926 – Rilke dies

1930 – Lou’s husband dies

1933 – Lou and Ernst Pfeiffer work on her memoirs

1937 – Lou dies in Göttingen

1951 – Lou’s memoirs are published in German – edited by Ernst Pfeiffer

1991 – Lou’s memoirs Looking Back are published in English – translated by Breon Mitchell

 

REFERENCES

 

My Sister, My Spouse:

A Biography of Lou Andreas-Salomé

By H. F. Peters

(1963 = hardcover)

(1974 = paperback)

 

Salomé: Her Life and Work

By Angela Livingstone

(1984)

 

Lou von Salomé: A Biography of the Woman who inspired Freud, Nietzsche and Rilke

By Julia Vickers

(2008)

 

*****

 The Russian-born writer 

Lou Andreas-Salomé 

(1861-1937)

*****