Marlene Dietrich & Konstantin Paustovsky

Just finished 'The Story of a Life' by Konstantin Paustovsky (1892-1968), Russian writer nominated 4 times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He was of Zaporozhian, Turkish + Polish descent + raised mostly in Ukraine

In her autobiography, Marlene Dietrich devoted an entire chapter to the author inspired by his novel 'Telegram' :
"This novel made so great an impression on me that I could no more forget it than I could the name of the author, of whom I had never heard before"
In 1964, Dietrich arrived in the Soviet Union on a concert tour. As soon as she got off the plane she asked about Paustovsky. Despite being ill, Paustovsky attended the performance + afterwards went up on the stage. “I was so shocked by his presence that, being unable to utter a word in Russian, I did not find any other way to express my admiration for him, except to kneel in front of him"

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"But then, sometimes it's the mere anticipation of happy days - and not the days themselves - that is the most enjoyable part. At the time I knew nothing about this strange quality of life, but I would become convinced of it later."

--- The Story of a Life, Konstantin Paustovsky (Translation by Douglas Smith)

Photographs from Missoula, Montana, Boulder, Colorado and Somerville, Ma. (1986/7)

#thestoryofalife #happydays #konstantinpaustovsky #quotes #missoula #boulder #boston #mylife #russianwriter

“At its best, ‘The Story of a Life’ rivals any autobiography in world literature. Its hero is imagination itself. While the Soviets professed absolute certainty regarding all important questions of life, Paustovsky detected mystery, complexity and hidden poetry everywhere.”

Gary Saul Morson raves about Douglas Smith's translation of Konstantin Paustovsky's Story of a Life in The Wall Street Journal
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-story-of-a-life-book-review-uncovering-the-glory-of-a-russian-writer-11675441910
#RussianLiterature #memoir #KonstantinPaustovsky #LitInTranslation