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Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library© 1997 By the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. All rights reserved.
Funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
Processed by: Margarete Groschel
Collection is open to research.
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Hjalmar Hjorth Boyeson Collection, Accession 6903-b, Special Collections Department, University of Virginia Library
Gift 6 Feb 1963
Funded in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities
[Says she has translated his book, Gunnar , from English, which was translated from Swedish, into French; lets him know that Scandinavian novels are not very popular since Russian novels are being widely read; talks about other books (she may be a literary agent); states that she has sent things to Hachette Publishers , Revue des deux mondes ; discusses his style; asks for something "amusing"; thinks that Gunnar may have a better chance at acceptance that Daughter of the Philistines ; says that France is drowning in English and American novels.] (In French)
[Compliments him on his use of English; says that Boyesen's last letter will require at least a day's talk; addresses problems of church and state, old forms of thought, old apprehensions of truth; says he is glad to see him go to Urbana University in Ohio as a teacher of Greek and Latin; speaks highly of Sewall who, though intimidating, will help him a lot; speaks of his summer at home, his daughter, friends, etc.]
[Apologizes for long silence; inquires after his health, family, work, whereabouts; requests a novella for Westermanns Illustrierte Deutsche Monatshefte , preferably on a theme from the "new world" to interrupt the publication's European monotony; guarantees a first-rate translation and honorarium; lays down the conditions; suggests that he contribute steadily twice a year to his publication; gives theme of American Literature and American Society; says level of the pieces should be neither "scientific" nor "light," but in the middle; says translation of Gunnar will soon be published by S. Schottlander in Breslan ; regrets not being the translator; reports on his health, family, friends; mentions Carl Schurz 's suggestion to visit America ; says his health prevents the trip and that he could not bear the long separation from his family.] (In German)
[Approves of his essay; explains honorarium, the quality of the translation into German done by P. Jungling ; speaks about the soon to follow "novella"; says the honorarium will fall short of expectations as the translator also must be paid; discusses his own literary work, his poems, his novel Quisisana , which he would like Boyesen to translate; suggests he contact Holt & Co. to work out an arrangement; doubts he will ever travel to America ; hope to see the Boyesen family in Berlin . ] (In German)
[Discusses his ill health as well as the recent illnesses of the Boyesen family ; gives him specific instructions on the length of the "novella"; speaks about monetary compensation; requests an essay regarding the literature of the Southern American "provinces."] (In German)
[Encloses 26 pages of commentary on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 's Faust ; compliments him on his use of German; urges him to write poetry in German; inquires about Scandinavian names and customs.] (In German)
[Reports on his travels to Hamburg , Dresden , Magdeburg , St. Petersburg to see his recently written drama performed; says he enjoyed meeting the large German colony in St. Petersburg ; adds that his Russian journey was a triumph and that he gave many speeches and had many dinners in his honor, and thus finding it necessary to take the water in Karlsbad afterwards; comments on Boyesen's recent work on the modern German novel, Idyls of Norway , Daughter of the Philistines ; disagrees in regard to Gustav Freytag whom, in his opinion, Boyesen thinks too lightly of; praises Freytag's Soll und Haben , but judges Die Verlorene Handschrift harshly; speaks about the political situation to support his opinion of Freytag; thinks that Boyesen does not see enough in Berthold Auerbach ; comments on Boyesen's work and his own poetry; expresses admiration of Carl Schurz ; would still like to visit America ; says Westermann's Illustrierte Deutsche Monatshefte will cease to be published in October as they are no longer profitable to the publisher.] (In German)
[Discusses business; says he has sent his latest novel An der Heilquelle , set in Baden-Baden , to the New York Staatszeitung hoping the paper will publish it in German for an honorarium; asks for his collaboration to publish An der Heilquelle in an American language paper, either in German or in an English translation by Boyesen, if other attempt should fail; says he will split honorarium with him.]
[Publisher requests permission to issue a German translation of Daughter of the Philistines in his new collection of foreign novels; encloses a banknote for the authorization.]
[Speaks about health-related trips to Karlsbad and to Helgoland in the North Sea ; says his play "Die Philosophin" was neither a critical nor popular success and calls it "caviar for the masses"; blames the failure of his play on Zola and Ibsen and the realism phase in Germany at the time; gives a pessimistic assessment of the present-day German literature and the way his own work is going under the circumstances; asks for help in finding a correspondent or reviewer job with an American paper.] (In German)
[Expresses admiration for Gunnar . ] (In German)
[Thanks him for the gift of one of his books; identifies herself as the unauthorized translator of Gunnar ; says she added the translation of another of his stories to make a "roundes" book; says she named the book Unter dem Gletsher (Under the Glacier); states that she translated at the same time that Jungling did the authorized translation; begs for forgiveness and a few lines from his hand, which would increase the value of the book her gave her.] (In old German script)
[Laments the present trend in thinking in Berlin and Germany , realism and naturalism; says he is pleased that Boyesen sees things his way and stays true to his beliefs and principles; explains the difficulties facing the German novelist who somehow must incorporate the political and social conditions of his country into his writing and thereby confess to his own way of thinking; says he is convinced that Boyesen, as an American writer, is at an advantage in this respect; mentions family.] (In German)
[Says he could not accept the proposition of Cosmopolitan , has finished part two of "Erinnerungen"; feels "half-dead" from over-work; plans to bring out a new novel in the fall; says a new drama of his has been successful on the stage; plans to go to Karlsbad and then to the North Sea for four weeks; mentions family matters.] (In German)
[Speaks about the writings of Mrs. [ Julie Grinnell Cruger ] which he has translated; says he keeps correspondence with her; shows renewed interest of becoming a correspondent for an American newspaper, provided the money is good; discusses family matters; recommends his autobiography Finder und Ertlinder ; mentions the success of his play In Eisner Zeit in Hamburg and Vienna ; encloses a volume of his poems, which he hopes will receive public praise; speaks about his disillusionment; sends regards to Carl Schurz . ] (In German)
[Discusses his recent serious illness, which prevented him from reading his book; says he will send the Harper's Monthly review of it to a publisher in Dresden who publishes translated books, although he is not sure it will be successful; says his correspondent work for the New York Staatszeitung has come to nothing due to his ill health; feels guilty toward Ottendorfer from the paper, but that he has a deadline for his new novel and has no time for correspondent work; appreciates endeavors of Boyesen and Carl Schurz on his behalf; asks him to relate his troubles to Schurz and explain why he has not answered the letter from Schurz he received two years ago; expresses admiration for Schurz.] (In German)
[Discusses his reasons for being upset with Cosmopolitan after their request through, Boyesen for two letters "on Berlin life-society . . . or anything of that sort"; got a noncommittal reply from Charles D. Lanier (includes a copy of Lanier's letter); believes the pieces were of first rate quality and suited to American taste, humorous, but not on too high a plane; counts on Boyesen to sort out the confusion; says he will submit the pieces to New York Staatszeitung ; if they are rejected, Boyesen is to keep this quiet.] (In German and English)
[Says Boyesen's translation of his "letters" will appear in Cosmopolitan ; feels obliged to him; sends a copy of his novel Sonntagskind through his publisher; enjoys his Mammon of Unrighteousness ; passes judgement on American women and their love of themselves; inquires about his house building, horse riding, etc.; writes about his family.] (In German)
[States that he needed twelve weeks of rest at the Baltic Sea after producing Sonnatagskind and another novel as well as many literary reviews in the last 1 1/3 years; mentions the latter novel will appear in a German weekly Die Romanwelt and in New York Staatszeitung ; bemoans his constant financial stress, saying he will never own a house; says that Georg Moritz Ebers and Carl von Heyse , being born to wealth, are the only contemporary German writers who do not have money worries; says Boyesen is in his best years, while he himself is already 64; considers the Cosmopolitan essay topic of German literature of the present too wide a field and limits the first installment of the essay to the dramatists; hopes to mail it to Walkes in 8 days; intends to send essay published in Preussiche Jahrbucher , which he must modify before sending it to Cosmopolitan ; judges the present crop of German writers as "students all, no masters yet"; calls Hermann Sudermann the most talented of the lot; finds Mammon of Unrighteousness more important than Social Strugglers ; wonders about Americans' reactions to the latter since they would be looking at themselves in a sort of mirror.] (In German)