Don’t die before your death : an almost documentary novel. (Inscribed and signed by Yevtushenko)

Port Melbourne, Vic. : William Heinemann, 1994. First Australian edition. Trade paperback (235 x 153 mm), pictorial wrappers; a presentation copy inscribed on the title page by the author in black ballpoint ‘To Geoffrey Dutton – to the outstanding midwife and nanny of this book. Thank you for your midwife’s decisiveness  & tenderness. Yevtushenko’; pp 454; clean throughout.

Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Yevtushenko (1933-2017) was an acclaimed Soviet and Russian writer – principally a poet – who came to prominence during the Khrushchev Thaw of the 1960s as an anti-Stalinist political activist. In later life he divided his time between the USA and Russia.

This copy of his novel Don’t die before your death was inscribed by Yevtushenko for his friend Geoffrey Dutton AO (1922 -1998), doyen of Australian letters. Dutton had known Yevtushenko ever since he had invited him to Australia to appear at the Adelaide Festival of the Arts in 1972. Dutton had also translated some of Yevtushenko’s poems into English: on 1 January 1972, Stolen Apples: poetry by Yevgeny Yevtushenko with English adaptations by James Dickey, Geoffrey Dutton, Lawrence Ferlinghetti et al. was published by Doubleday, New York. Yevtushenko’s affectionate inscription reveals the great respect he had for Dutton as a writer and critic and the extent to which he felt indebted to Dutton for his unwavering support and loyal friendship.

Provenance:

Geoffrey Dutton AO (1922 – 1998), Australian author and historian;

by inheritance to Robin Lucas, formerly Robin Dutton, wife of Geoffrey Dutton from 1985;

acquired from the above.