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Business, Literary, and Miscellany Collection

Partial Finding Aid for the
Irina Kunina Aleksander Papers, 1938-1978
(MSS-032)

Irina Kunina Aleksander Papers
Biographical Sketch

Irina Aleksander, born in St. Petersburg, Russia (née Irina Ephimovna Kunina), was the author of plays, film scenarios, poetry, novels and short stories, and children’s stories. She received her education in her native city and in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, where she studied law. She began writing at age seven, appeared in print at age sixteen, and participated in many literary movements in Russia. Works include her play, Pushkin; novels, Douglas Tweed; Only Facts, Sir; Bosnian Symphony; The Running Tide; and a collection of short stories, The Red Fez. Her husband, Bozidar, was a distinguished Zagreb lawyer and member of one of the richest between-the-wars Croatian families. The Aleksanders were associates of the intelligentsia. They travelled and lived in a number of countries including Russia, Yugoslavia, Germany, Poland, France, the United States, and Switzerland. They shared a wide range of intellectual interests including literature, the arts, philosophy and history.

Irina Kunina Aleksander Papers
Scope and content note

The collection consists of correspondence, photographs, manuscripts, and miscellaneous materials which reflect the Aleksanders’ association with a number of literary notables such as Anaïs Nin, Miroslav Krleža, Marijan and Zora Matković, Léon Pierre-Quint, Claude Aveline, and Evgenii Zamiatin.  The Zamiatin materials include a corrected Russian typescript of his novel, We, published in 1924; letters and postcards in Russian to Irina Aleksander, 1928–37; and typescripts of his stories, plays, film outlines, notes, and essays. Zamiatin left Russia to live and write in exile in France.

Irina Aleksander Papers
Box and Folder List

Box 1

Blue 3-ring binder with 38 items of correspondence, two typed items, folder of clippings, two copies of the offprint, "Moskau Leningrad", one copy of an offprint.

Typescript of "MH" (carbon) [142] leaves

Plaid two-ring binder with 18 plastic holders containing typescripts of manuscripts.

Contents (in Russian (LC transliteration) unless otherwise indicated)

1. Epitafii (2 p.)
2. Iz zapisei Tarkviniia Priska (2 p.)
3. Bich Bozhii (75 p.)
4. Bich Bozhii / 1-i variant (11 p.)
5. Le Fleau de Dieu : synopsis du film par Eug. Zamiatine [in French] (9 p.) 6. Atilla (50 p.)
7. {Untitled. Text begins: Ikh bylo semnadtsat' : burgund, gerul, vestgot, kalendonets ...}
(Apparently typewritten notes on Atilla, with a brief explanation of marginal
notes from Irina Alexander) (29 p.)
8. Der Floh : ein Spiel in vier Akten, von Jewgenij Zamjatin [Expose, in German] (7 p.)
9. Rozhdenie Ivana : p'esa v 7-mi kartinakh [outline of acts] (4 p.)
10. Bog (2 p.)
11. Lev (4 p.)
12. Aprel' (7 p.)
13. Sovetskie deti (3 p.)
14. Lettres russes [in French] (3 p.)
15. Moskva-Peterburg (9 p.)
16. Anatol' Frans : nekrolog (1 p.)
17. O literature, revoliutsii i entropii (6 p.)
18. Rasskaz o samom glavnom (25 p.)

Box 2

Box 3

1. Typescript of poems by Rikki Jaipal.
2. Folder of signed woodcuts.
3. Record album – Anaïs Nin, “Let Me Read You My Own Stories as the Storytellers of Old.”
4. Record album in Russian.
5. Portfolio – poem “Cook” by Roy Fisher, with an original print by Ronald King.
6. Chart of Russian characters.
7. Naša Borba: 12 linorezov by Nikolaj Pirnat, 1944.
8. Domovi. Jece. Gozdovi. Na pragu svobode jeseni 1944.
9. Kroz Narodno-Oslobodilacku Borbu: 16 linoreza by Branka Kovacevica, 1944.
10. Branko Kovacevic: 22 Marzo – Aprile 1971. Exhibition catalog.
11. Iz Mape U: nedovršena mapa linoreza by Marijan Detoni, 1941-1942.
12. Mi Pamtimo: 16 listova iz mape by Vanja Radaus. (1 is missing)
13. Three Sisters – Anton Chekhov. Poster.