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EXTRACTS FROM ELLEN KEY’S BIOGRAPHY OF THE
DUCHESS OF CAJANELLO
translated by isabel p. hapgood
Wherever Anna Carlotta Leffler went, her personal
appearance attracted general attention, but she was never
such a brilliant conversationalist in society as, for example,
Sophia Kovalévsky. When the two friends passed the
evening in any company, a circle of listeners almost always
formed around Sophia, while Anna Carlotta, on the
contrary, liked to play the part of a listener herself in the
circle which gathered round her. Her conversation did not
shine by any particular originality of thought, or witty
sallies, but it was distinguished by its wealth of material.
When she related anything, analyzed any psychological
problem, expounded the contents of a book, one always got
the actual delineation of the person or situation in question,
a delineation set forth in a clear and definite manner; she
hewed out the block of marble, so to speak, and presented
it to her hearers in its natural state. But when the same
block of marble fell into Sophia’s hands, she, the Michael
Angelo of conversation, flung herself upon it with stormy
energy, and very soon, where there had been only material
before, the contour of a figure was revealed. Everything
had taken place thus always, as Anna Carlotta Leffler
narrated it; everything might take place thus, as Sophia
narrated it, and then everything would have been much
more interesting than it was in reality. When she lacked
material, Sophia worked over what she had at hand. Thus,
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