Lost Tales: Stories for the Tsar's Children
Loading...
Authors
Botkin, Gleb
King, Greg
Schweitzer, Marina Botkin
Issue Date
1996
Type
Book, Whole
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
What one finds in this fascinating book is the albums, done as gifts for the tsar's children, of the son Gleb of the tsar's personal physician Dr. Eugene Botkin. For extended periods, young Gleb apparently entertained the royal children with his sketches and stories. Gleb's father stayed loyal to the tsar after he was deposed and sent to Tobolsk, and Gleb and his sister came along. The pictures and stories in this book were created during this time of the Provisional Government (March to October, 1917) while the royal family was still at Tobolsk. When the royal family was sent by the Bolsheviks to Ekaterinburg, Dr. Botkin went with them, leaving his own children behind. He was killed with the tsar's family in July, 1918. Fleeing from the Bolsheviks, Gleb was forced to entrust the albums to a friend, who later returned them to him. What interests me in the book is not the historical parodies, well summarized on XIV-XV, but the several fable-watercolors, done in 1914-15 and appearing in Book III: Krylov's Quartet, LS, and Krylov's The Monkey and the Looking Glass. There is also an unidentified fable that I would love to pin down!
Description
Citation
Publisher
Villard Books: Random House