ALS, one page both sides, 6.5 x 10, July 9, 1933. Letter to Princess Alexa Rostislav offering comments and insight on her manuscript which she sent to Wilder. In part: “In the first place it is very interesting; you are a natural born penwoman. A great many admirably observed, admirably expressed things keep falling into the narrative. The first part is by far the best. This is natural since its subject matter is so dramatic. But it is also due to the fact that it is better written; for some reason (probably caution, or fearing hurting people & feelings). The second part is not merely less stirring as event, but also more colorless as writing…The Odyssey is so well done already that I am very eager that you work over it still longer in order to make of it not merely an admirable Topical book, but a choice and lasting book. And my suggestion is that you expand the first half and compress the second. The first half is still so full of opportunities you have wasted—pages that without padding you could expand to layers and layers of further richness!
For example you do not use your eye enough. Surely if you should sit down now and shut your eyes, you could recover a great deal of wonderful detail about such a passage as that on Page 55 and the interviews on Page 32. The visit to Maricano (Page 43) is splendid, but anyone with long experience in writing would rejoice to have a subject like that which could be treated—without weakening it—at much greater length. Keep reminding yourself to record what the eye saw. The faces of these relatives—still more of The School for Criminal Children. One of the great beauties of the book is the calm brave understatement of the sufferings and separations in the First Part…As for the London years, I should recommend that you cut down all details that might have happened to anyone. Because of the exceptional character of the Russian portion, everything that follows is bound to appear a letdown, you are specially bound not to take up the reader’s attention with material that is merely domestic as such—unless your literary gift at every moment is making it delightful and novel. Time after time you have shown that you have such a gift, but it is intermittent, and in these pages especially, I beg you to keep the MS by you for some time, adding to it, cutting it down, drawing upon your memory and reflection for more humor, observation and significance.
In commenting on work shown me I am always in danger of taking the excellence for granted and devoting myself only to the aspects I would like to see bettered. The last impression I want to leave today however is that I was absorbed in this story and often delighted by it; and to add that it has the most desirable of all qualities in a memoir, namely, a clear and interesting self-portrait of the author. This art usually slips out unconsciously from the visitor’s pen; in this book it is at its best and promises highly for whatever writing you may also choose to do in the future.”
In very good condition, with central horizontal and vertical fold, scattered light toning, slightly heavier to top half of reverse, and a few small brushes to text. Accompanied by two 1934 news clippings regarding Rostislav’s life and her memoir.
Princess Alexandra Pavlovna Galitzine was the wife of Russian Prince Rostislav Alexandrovich. Her father was a grand marshal of the nobility and member of the Council of State for the Royal Court of Nicholas II, and the family faced severe persecution during the Russian Revolution. Failing to escape Russia in 1919, the 14-year-old princess was confined to a Soviet colony for criminal children. She escaped to England three years later, where she met her husband in London.
In 1933, Wilder was teaching at the University of Chicago, where he likely met the Rostislavs, who also lived in Chicago. Already a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Wilder was working on Heaven’s My Destination, his first novel set in contemporary America. His income had dropped precipitously as the Depression set in—from $40,000 in 1930 to $6,700 in 1933—and his writing took the back seat as he lectured across the country to support his family. It is possible he sought the patronage of the wealthy Rostivslavs with the review of the princess’ manuscript. Wilder considered himself a teacher first and then a writer, and this lengthy letter shows the encouraging, yet incisive, style of his critiques. Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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