Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Sidor ...
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
212
SÖNYA KOVALÉVSKY
time my lectures, or to work. To-day we have suspended our
lectures for the Easter fortnight, and I am as happy as a
schoolgirl at, the prospect of a holiday. The 1st of May is not far
distant, and then I hope to go to Berlin via St. Petersburg. My
plans for next winter are still undecided, as they do not depend
upon me. As you can easily imagine, people talk constantly
about you. Every one wants to hear about you. Your letters
are read, commented upon, and make quite a sensation. The
leading ladies of Stockholm seem to have very few subjects of
conversation, and it is really a charity to give them something
to talk about. I enjoy beforehand the effect of your play when
it is put on the stage next autumn.
In April Sönya finished her course of lectures and
left for Russia. She writes as follows to Mittag
Leffler:
Russia, April 29, 1884.
... It seems a century since I left Stockholm. I shall
never be able to express or to show all the gratitude and
friendship I feel for you. It is as if I had found in Sweden a new
foster-land and family at the moment when I most needed
them. . . .
The course of lectures Sönya had given that year
in German at the University of Stockholm was quite
private. The lectures had raised her greatly in public
estimation, and Mittag Leffler was enabled to collect
privately the funds necessary to give her an official
appointment, which was to last, in the first instance,
for five years. Several persons bound themselves to
pay a lump sum of about £112 a year. The University
gave about the same sum, so that Sönya had £225 a
year. Her pecuniary position was such that she could
no longer give her work gratis, as she had at first
generously offered to do. But it was not only the
pecuniary question which had raised difficulties in the
way of her official appointment.
The conservative opposition which actually arose on
many sides against the employment of a woman as a
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
