Estonia Lost and Found: Moura Budberg, H.G. Wells and the Lost World of Yendel Thus, H.G. Wells, the famed 20th century writer, fantasist and futurist, perhaps best known for War of the Worlds, described his fateful 1934 reunion in Estonia with his elusive “shadow lover,” the celebrated Moura Budberg, before they entrained for her murdered husband’s storied estate, Yendel, now the site of the Janeda museum and conference center. Though distracted by Moura’s continued involvement with Gorky — and perhaps the Soviet secret police* — Wells got a better understanding of the claim that Yendel and Estonia still had on his maddeningly elusive lover when he flew to Tallinn in 1934 for what was supposed to have been a romantic reunion, but now turned into the great crisis of their relationship, which would last up until Wells’ death in 1946. “We sat over a great dish of crayfish and a bottle of wine,” Wells recalled, sourly in his autobiography. “Moura, why do you keep lying?” Wells asked. “You have been to Russia three times in the past twelve months.” “No,” Moura stubbornly replied. And so it went on for days against the silvery backdrop of the lake at Kallijarv. Before Wells departed he was the reluctant guest of honor at a banquet of the Estonian Writers’ Congress. He left on the hydroplane to Stockholm. Impetuously, Moura decided at the last minute to join him. But he never loved her in quite the same way again. lettredeparis/content/articles/moura-budberg-mata-hari-russia
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 19:12:34 +0000