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DearV. —Among other things, this is to tell you that at last I am here, in the country whithersomanysunsetshave led. OneofthefirstpersonsI saw was our good old Gleb Alexandrovich Gekko gloomily crossing Columbus Avenue inquest ofthepetitcafé du coinwhich none of us three will ever visit again. He seemed to think that somehow or otheryou werebetrayingournationalliterature, and he gave me your address ...

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1In the early years of this century, a travel agency on Nevski Avenue displayed a three-foot-long model of an oak-brown internationalsleepingcar. Indelicateverisimilitudeit completely outranked the painted tin ofmyclockworktrains. Unfortunatelyit was not for sale. One could make out the blue upholsteryinside,theembossedleather lining of the compartment walls,theirpolishedpanels,insetmirrors, tulip-shapedreadinglamps,andothermaddening details. Spaciouswindowsalternatedwithnarrowerones,single or geminate, and some of these were of frosted glass. In a ...