BR TO CONSTANCE MALLESON, 16 FEB. 1921
BRACERS 19729. ALS. McMaster
Edited by S. Turcon. Reviewed by K. Blackwell

16 Feb. ’21.1

4 letters from you came last night, the latest Jan. 5,2 containing a sprig of heather from the North Walk3 — it made me very homesick.

Who is Comisarjevsky?4 You mention him as if I knew all about him, but I never heard of him — it is not a name one could forget. Yes, I know Guido’s Beatrice Cenci5 — I had a long letter from Sanger6 by the same mail — yes, he is wonderfully lovable, and I will write to him. — It is painful what you say about whether C.A.7 will recover morally.8 There is something sinister and terrible about Russia — I feel as if I should not easily become a whole man again. — I am sorry if you destroyed the MS of the letters9 — I wanted to talk them over with you when I get home; also I wanted to get hold of some from prison not specially to you.10 We can select enough to make something of — it is only that I feel shy of publishing things said very specially to you only. — I wonder what is happening to you. You wrote that something bad was happening11 but “10 to 1 you would survive” — then your letters grow less affectionate — I don’t know whether you are unhappy or hurt or absorbed in some new person — it is so hard to keep in touch at this distance. Whatever it is, my heart is with you. I have booked my passage home, sailing from Yokohama for Vancouver on August 27.12 I am homesick for green lanes and soft air and rain — it has only rained once since I came to Peking, and the country is a parched sandy plain without anything green in winter. But I dread the atmosphere of insanity and hysteria and futile excitement that hits me like a hot breath from a furnace whenever I get English newspapers. Here life is calm and large, and one has time to possess one’s soul and survey the world. I feel that once back in England the Irish horrors13 will drive me mad. And I observe that we are working up for a war with America — in this I think America is more to blame than we are. I see no hope for the world anywhere.

I read a book The Soul of the Russian Revolution by Olgin,14 well worth reading. Otherwise, I am absorbed in Einstein and trying to get a simpler statement of his theories. The real world is so depressing, and it is no use for me to write — they think my vision jaundiced — I feel like Cassandra, with the gift of prophesy but not power to get believed. — Goodbye my dear one. Don’t forget that I love you and care for you and want all that is best to come to you. —

B.

• 1

  [document] Document 200731.

• 2

  the latest Jan. 5 See Bracers 116436.

• 3

  from the North Walk In Lynton, Devon where Colette had spent Christmas.

• 4

  Comisarjevsky Theodore Komisarjevsky (1882–1954), theatrical producer, director, and designer. He had fled Russia in 1919 and was just beginning to make a name for himself in the world of London theatre. Colette had written in an undated letter (BRACERS 116435) after she arrived at Lynton for Christmas 1920, that she was taking lessons from him, working on Shelley’s verse play, The Cenci: A Tragedy in Five Acts (1820).

• 5

  Guido’s Beatrice Cenci The portrait of Beatrice Cenci (1577–1599), by Guido Reni (1575–1642) is at the National Gallery of Art, Palazzo Barberini, Rome. The story of the aristocratic Cenci family, involving domestic violence, murder, and executions, inspired many creative works.

• 6

  letter from Sanger C.P. Sanger’s letter was written on 1 January 1921 (BRACERS 80500).

• 7

  C.A. (Reginald) Clifford Allen (1889–1939). For information on him, see BRACERS 19046, n.7.

• 8

  recover morally None of Colette’s extant letters contain such a sentiment.

• 9

  destroyed the MS of the letters For information on their letters project, see BRACERS 19585, n.6. Colette, in fact, did not destroy it, saying she forgot to do so upon her return from Lynton (“Letters to Bertrand Russell from Constance Malleson, 1919–1969”, p. 460).

• 10

  some from prison not specially to you See BRACERS 19729, n.9.

• 11

  something bad was happening This is the second time BR has commented on this. See BRACERS 19728. She never enlightened BR as to what it was.

• 12

  August 27 BR and Dora actually sailed from Yokohama for Vancouver on 27 July 1921.

• 13

  Irish horrors The Irish War of Independence (1919–21) was underway. BR would have read of the violence, including what came to be known as Bloody Sunday in Dublin on 21 November 1920. Earlier, on 1 October 1920, Colette had written: “They’re razing Ireland to the ground, killing and shooting, burning towns, destroying industries” (BRACERS 116419).

• 14

  The Soul of the Russian Revolution by Olgin The book by Moissaye J. Olgin (1874?–1939), was published in 1917 (New York: Henry Holt). Olgin, a Jew, was born in Ukraine and emigrated to the United States around 1915. He later became a leader of the Communist Party there. His date of birth is also given as 1878. The New York Times gave his age as 67 when he died, which matches neither birth date.