Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-05-24
y. S. Author Heroine
To Soviet Readers

editions with q net printing Of
more than 8 million copies in 10
languages Of the Soviet Union. Red
China and the satellite countries,
Soviet university students study
the life and work of Ethel Voynich.
Critical essays are devoted to her
and school children discuss the
book in their literary clubs.
In Russia, the only books by
English authors which exceed her
sales are by Shakespeare and H.
G. Wells. Special sections of all
Soviet encyclopedias and of the
History of English Literature pub
lished by the Soviet Academy Of
Sciences are devoted to her work.
THE Gadfly" is invariably in
cluded in lists Of fiction recon-
mended for reading.
Theatrical companies in more
than 200 Soviet cities have adapted
it to the stage. Two films Zone
without sound and one in color
were made. Three operas were
written based on THE Gadfly," the
most recent by Composer Anton
Spadavecchia.
Amusing Footnotes
Although Mrs. Voynich's words
in the book, which antedate "Das
Kapital," contain no hint of boil
shevism. communism, Marxism,
Leninism or similar PHILOSOPHERS,
some of the footnotes in a Moscow
edition for English-reading Rus
slams are Illuminating.
The Soviet editors noted for the
benefit of the reader that a "eate-
chism" is "set of fixed questions
and answers connected with COM
pulsory religious training" and
that Methodists are "a petty
bourgeois Protestant religious
sect"
Since her husbands death in
1880. Mrs. Voynich has practi-
cally given up writing. Her quiet
life with a companion. Anne Mil.
in New York apartment is CEN
tered around music, the writing
OF oratorios and cantatas. and
rereading Dickens and Shakes
peare.
Miss Mill told The Star Mrs.
Voynich is as well and active to-
day as any person of that age
can be. The elderly author spent
"a rather hectic" day on her
birthday. There were many phone
calls and the mail is still coming
in from all over the world, Miss
Mill said.
Her obscurity in New York was
shattered in 1855 when the Rus
slams "rediscovered" their idol
personally.
Peter Borisov, member of the
Russian delegation to the U. N,
set out to find Mrs. Voynich's
grave. But he was aStounded to
find, instead, that she was alive
and well.
Discovery Is News
The discovery was headline news
in Russia. much as if Judge
Crater we're to be found today.
A Moscow newspaper shouted the
news: "Voynich Is Living in New
York;"
Six Russian newspapermen came
calling on her in awe and with
flowers and it was then she learned
of her fame in the Soviet Union.
BY now, Mrs. Voynich is used to
the flood of fan mail and cables
she receives from her Russian and
satellite readers and she appears
to enjoy it. A woman with a great
hatred for war (she worked for
the Quakers in World War u she
hopes her contacts will help les
sen the tensions between east and
west.
Her profit from 1.-THE Gadfy"
has not been great. 1t is out of
print in the United States and so
far she has received only $4,000
from Russia and some small roy
alties from satellite countries.
Otherwise, she still works at her
music for the Plus x Liturgical
Music School of Manhattanville
College of Sacred Heart in New
York, a best seller twice in a life
span. well aware of her RESPONSE
bility to her young readers and
ashamed because she has done so
little.