Vyacheslav Ivanov and C.M. Bowra: a ... - UCL Discovery

Dear Professor Ivanov,
8
Bowra – Ivanov
3 October 1947 54
110
October 3rd 55
I cannot settle down to my usual routine here without sending you a word of gratitude
for the charmingly human welcome which you gave me in Rome. It was more than delightful to
see you and to feel at perfect and happy ease with you, to talk of the things that most matter and
to find you so approachable and hospitable. Thank you too for the fine bottle of wine which
your son brought to me and which I am treasuring for some special occasion. 56
I am sending you herewith two books of mine which I think you have not got. 57 Both
were written in the war and may show signs of it, but I hope will interest you. 58
progress. 59
When Berlin returns here with your poems, we will get to work at once and report
54
RAI, Bowra folder. Typescript, one sheet, on printed stationery of The Warden, Wadham College, Oxford; no
envelope.
55
The year ‘1947’ has been added by Ivanov in pencil.
56
Ivanov’s son, Dimitrii Ivanov (1912-2003), was aged thirty-five at the time of Bowra’s visit; he worked as a
teacher and also as a journalist under the pseudonym of Jean Neuvecelle.
57
During his visit to Rome Bowra must have noticed that Ivanov did not have copies of his two works most closely
connected with the poet: A Book of Russian Verse (including his translations of three poems by Ivanov) and The
Heritage of Symbolism (including a chapter on Blok). Both books, first published in 1943, had recently been
reprinted in 1947. On his return to Oxford, Bowra sent Ivanov inscribed copies of these new editions, now located
in Ivanov’s library in Rome. For details of the inscriptions, see the section on ‘True’ Symbolism in Chapter 4. For
Ivanov’s response to both gifts, see letter 9. In a letter of 8 December 1947 to Konovalov Ivanov describes the two
books sent to him by Bowra (RAI, opis’ 3, 112).
58
Bowra’s letter contains an uncorrected error; by mistake he typed ‘but I hope you will interest you.’
59
Berlin transported the manuscript of Svet Vechernii from Rome to Oxford. He was charged with this task as he
stayed on in Italy for longer than Bowra and could therefore wait until the manuscript was ready. Olga Bickley, a
lecturer in Italian from Oxford and close friend of Konovalov, had previously written to Ivanov from Genoa,
suggesting that she could convey the manuscript back to Oxford, but this plan was dropped when Bowra and Berlin
announced their intention to visit Ivanov in Rome; see Ivanov’s letter of 8 December 1947 to Konovalov (RAI,