Unpublished Letters of Ivan Turgenev and their insight into history, biography, art, and character.

Many years ago a friend of mine inherited some letters written by the great Russian writer, Ivan Turgenev (1818-1883). She translated them and I helped her with historical background and biographical detail. I will be presenting a program on these letters this Friday, February 8, 2013, at 2:00 PM, for the San Francisco Browning Society, at The Sequoias,1400 Geary Blvd., San Francisco.

On Good Writing - Ivan Turgenev’s Unpublished Letters to a young Princess.

When Madame Olga Dmitrievna Nelidow (née Princess Khilkov) died at Paris in 1918 – widow of the Tsar’s Ambassador to France – she left her son Alexander 16 letters written to her half a century earlier by the great Russian novelist, Ivan Turgenev. In these letters Turgenev (a Khilkov family friend) advised young aspiring author Princess Olga Dmitrievna on methods and principles of good writing.

These letters have remained unknown to scholars and unpublished. They are still in family hands.

Excerpts from the letters will be read and discussed, as well as illustrative passages from Turgenev’s works.