141 - William Butler YEATS (1865-1939)

William Butler YEATS (1865-1939) Lot de 2 L.S. en anglais, dans une enveloppe, adressées à Jurgis Kasimirovitch BALTRUCHAITIS (1873-1944), datées du 27 juin et du 10 juillet 1911. Il y est question du choix de Jurgis Kasimirovitch quant à la ou les pièces de Yeats qu'il traduira en russe : -"My agent has sent me a copy of your letter of 10th June. I have told him that you are free to pick what play you please. At the same time I am anxious that you should have my latest work before you, before you definitively decide upon that little play. I wrote it many years ago, and have never produced it myself. (...) I have always found that when I produce my work I have to rewrite it in a great many ways. I cannot judge that little play; it has toured in the United States successfully, but did not seem to me work in Dublin, where, however, the production was all wrong. I have written to my publisher to know whether he has certain acting editions of my most recent work ready for the reader. If so, I will send them to you. I am gradually going through the work of my life and shaping it for the Stage, of which I have had now considerable experience. I am at this moment re-shaping a long play of my youth called the Countess Kathleen, and will let you see a copy when I can. Gordon Craig has done some designs for my later work." -"I promised to send you some little books which contained the acting versions of various plays of mine which are played at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. I send you five little books and will send you two more in a few days. Every one of these versions is the result of many performances, of constant rewriting. "Cathleen Ni houlihan" is a personification of Ireland and is very popular, but would probably be unintelligible except in some country with a burning National question. It has been played with a revolutionary purpose, in India and I have been told also, in Poland. "Deirdre" we constantly play. We have not played "The Shadowy Waters" for some year but will revive it in a few months. (...) "On Baile's Strand" fell out of repertory through the loss of an actor essential to it, but will be revived shortly. Craig wrote me a very enthusiastic letter about it the other day. Choose what you like, but see all before you choose. I have longer plays, but when I have sent you two more of these little books, you will have seen all my one-act pieces." MC Provenance -Jurgis Kasimirovitch Baltruchaïtis (1873-1944), diplomate et poète lituanien. -Leur fils, Jurgis Jurgissovitch Baltruchaïtis (1903-1988), historien. -Son épouse, Hélène Baltruchaïtis (1908-2004), née Castel-Focillon, fille d'Henri Focillon (1881-1943). -Puis par descendance.