Fluidity and Timelessness in the Letters of Nikolai Gretsch

Abstract

In 1839, Russian traveler Nikolai Gretsch published Travel Letters from England, Germany and France, a series of letters in three volumes that details selected events from his 1837 voyage through these countries. Gretsch was a shrewd observer of the cultures he experienced, and he sent many of his observations home for publication in the newspaper he edited called The Northern Bee. These articles became the basis for the Travel Letters volumes. The letters constitute a valuable resource for historians and literary scholars interested in an outsider’s view of post-Napoleonic Western Europe. Additionally, they offer the unique perspective of a writer from a country that still used the Julian calendar when England, France, and Germany used the Gregorian calendar. This disjunction between calendars was frequently on Gretsch’s mind as he made notes of his travels, and the resulting narrative provides a unique awareness of the passage of time and of the arbitrary nature of time measurement, which we examine through the theoretical framework established by Stephen Kern. Throughout the narrative, Gretsch conflates past and present to produce a sort of historical present that creates a sense of immediacy and liveliness for readers.

Opsomming

Die Rus Nikolai Gretsch het in 1839 'n reeks briewe in drie bande uitgegee. Travel Letters from England, Germany and France  is 'n beskrywing van sekere gebeure tydens 'n reis wat Gretsch in 1837 deur Europa onderneem het. Hy was 'n fyn waarnemer van die kulture waarmee hy kennis gemaak het. Hy het sy reisbeskrywings huis toe gepos om in Die Noordelike By, die koerant waarvan hy redakteur was, geplaas te word. Travel Letters is op hierdie koerantartikels gebaseer. Vir historici en letterkundiges wat in 'n vreemdeling se siening van Wes-Europa ná die Napoleontiese era belangstel, is Gretsch se briewe van groot waarde. Afgesien hiervan is sy reisbeskrywings uit die oogpunt van iemand in wie se vaderland die Juliaanse kalender gevolg is. Die Gregoriaanse kalender was toe reeds in Engeland, Frankryk en Duitsland ingestel. Terwyl hy sy reisbriewe geskryf het, het Gretsch deurentyd met die verskil tussen die twee kalenders rekening gehou. Sy narratief gee blyke van 'n eiesoortige bewustheid van die verloop van tyd en die willekeurigheid van tydsmeting. Ons het dit aan die hand van die teoretiese raamwerk van Stephen Kern ondersoek. Die hede en die verlede smelt dwarsdeur Gretsch se narratief saam en vorm 'n historiese presens wat by die leser die indruk van onmiddellikheid en lewendigheid wek.