Unpublished Translation by Vera Ahrens. Francis Jammes. Almaida d’Etremont, or The Story of a Passionate Young Girl

The poet and translator V.E. Ahrens-Gakkel, who actively collaborated with the “World Literature” publishing house in the late 1910s and early 1920s, translated by its order three novels by French symbolist F. Jammes — “Pomme d’Anis”, “Clara d’Ellébeuse” and “Almaïde d’Etremont”. However, none of these translations has been published due to a number of circumstances. This publica- tion is the first edition not only of this translation, but also of the novel “Almaïde d’Etremont” in Russian. Wishing to give the readers the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the only existing translation of the novel “Almaïde d’Etremont”, as well as to draw attention to the activities of Ahrens the translator, the publishers, focusing on the form of publications of “World Literature”, deliberately refused to comment on it, presenting the text almost in the form in which it should have been published in the Gorky’s publishing house. The text of the translation is based on typewritten sheets with the author’s alterations, which were preserved with other translations in her personal archive at the National Library of Russia.