Description:
TURGENEV, IVAN. (1818-1883). Russian novelist, poet, and playwright; his novel Fathers and Sons is a masterpiece of 19th-century Russian literature. AMsS. ("Ivan Tourguineff"). 1p. Small 8vo. Bade[n], 1869. In French with translation on stationery blind-embossed with his initials. A quatrain from part of a longer work ("Stances Irregulières") that Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) sent to King Frederick the Great's sister, Princess (later Queen) Louisa Ulrika of Sweden (1720-1782), in January 1747."S'occuper c'est savoir jouir
L'oisiveté pèse et tourmente;
L'âme est un feu, qu'il faut nourrir
Et qui s'éteint, s'il ne s'augmente"
[Translation:]
"To keep busy is to know how to enjoy
Idleness weighs and torments;
The soul is a fire, which must be fed
And which goes out, if it does not grow"Following his education in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Turgenev left for Berlin to study philosophy and history at the university where he became enamored of Germany and its development since the Age… Read More