A leitura, c. 1760
Pierre Antoine Baudouin (França, 1723-1769)
guache sobre papel
Museu de Artes Decorativas, Paris
Em sua noite de núpcias, Tolstoy, aos trinta e quatro anos, forçou sua noiva de dezoito anos, a ler seu diário com detalhadas descrições de suas aventuras sexuais com outras mulheres, inclusive com mulheres serviçais. Aparentemente essa era sua ideia de abertura e honestidade, mas foi informação demais, de acordo com Sonya. No dia seguinte, ela escreveu em seu diário sobre o nojo que sentiu ao ser submetida a tanta imundície.
Tradução: Ladyce West
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On their wedding night, thirty-four-year-old Tolstoy forced his eighteen-year-old bride to read his diary accounts detailing his sexual escapades with other women, including female serfs. Apparently, that was his idea of openness and honesty, but it was “T.M.I.” as far as Sonya was concerned. The next day, she wrote in her diary of the disgust she felt at being subjected to such “filth.”
Secret Lives of Great Authors: What Your Teachers Never Told You about Famous Novelists, Poets, and Playwrights, Robert Schnakenberg, Quirk Books: 2008
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