Item 44 - Letter from Oswald Valentine Sickert to R. C. Trevelyan

Apartado 847. - Has seen Pedredo [?] and told him Trevelyan does not want "España" any more. As for Trevelyan's offer to send books, and comments on 'what [he] should, or ought, to do and think of them', the suggestion of Tchekoff's letters was a good one, as Sickert got them for Durán for Christmas. He found them in the German bookshop. Durán will not know 'how unsympathetic her [Constance Garnett's?] translations are', or she may have improved; Sickert did not like her Turgenev, who he thinks the best Russian novelist. Don Julio [Álvarez del Vayo] and Luisa have returned to Berlin; he is back with "El Sol". Has finished his sale of the Diccionario and is trying to get on with a prospectus of 'a Geography in 20 volumes' but is feeling too lazy; this letter 'has been going on for days and days'. Saw Benavente's 'chef d'oeuvre', "Los Intereses Creados", which was 'very strange'; discusses the theatre and mime, including on the Japanese stage, at length. New parliament just assembling, so there is a 'pack of motor cars' outside the office; 'curious that it occurs to no Spanish politician to make bids for popularity'.