Paul Yssayevitch

Overview

Paul Issaïevitch (Yssayevitch), nephew of Domenica (Domenica), the former wife of Marie's uncle Georges Babanine and mother of Dina, son of her brother. Mon Journal t.7 index: «Issaïevitch (Paul), neveu de Domenica Issaïevitch, 223–228…»; his sister is also called Dina (064.0617). A student at Kharkov in the late 1860s, he was in 1876 twenty-seven and «chargé des commissions particulières» of the chancellery of the governor-general of Vilna (056.0485), then in the suite of Governor-General Albedinsky (064.0413).

Relevance to Marie

Stub replaced. Kinship and age from the diary (056.0484, 056.0485) and the t.7 index. The surname-only stub YSSAYEVITCH was merged here on 2026-10-22. 064.0061 and 082.0174 name him by surname only. 064.0617 says his sister is called Dina. The «maréchal de noblesse Yssayevitch» of t.10 (pp.246, 297) is probably Paul himself (see the end of this entry).

References in Diary

Paul is Marie's persistent suitor in 1876. He arrives in Rome on 7 April 1876: she receives him «de la manière d'une reine qui reçoit ses courtisans habituels» (056.0489); he wears a beard, reasons, is «à la dernière mode, ses bottes craquent (élégance russe)» (056.0498). She finds that he courts her too much (057.0136), writes that he «cherche une fortune, il a dit-on jeté les yeux sur moi» (057.0155), and he leaves on 11 April «avec bien des regrets, trop de regrets peut-être» (057.0144). In Russia in the summer of 1876 he telegraphs her mother when Marie does not come (064.0061) and meets her at Petersburg on 4 August (064.0411–064.0414): «un cavalier pour me servir à Pétersbourg». She feels his love grow «comme Jésus sentit quelque chose se détacher de lui» (064.0448), is cruel to him (064.0464) and bids him goodbye on 12 August (064.0526). In August 1878 she thinks of marrying him to Dina: «Je veux marier Issayevitch avec Dina» (082.0174). In July 1877 she notes that she has answered Yssayevitch's letter (072.0422).

• Merged entry YSSAYEVITCH (surname only): 25 May 1876, she answers his letter, spacing the words so that it looks longer (061.0112); 30 May 1876, «Combien Yssayevitch avait raison de dire qu'en Russie nous occuperions toujours la position qui est la nôtre» (062.0030); 11 August 1877, in a margin note among her suitors: «Et Yssayevitch ? Qu'est-ce que je fais de lui ? Il vient d'être nommé maréchal de noblesse et gentilhomme de la chambre. Et Michel Hamsley ?» (073.0391). The suitor context makes the maréchal de noblesse of 1877 Paul himself (0.8), so the t.10 index «Yssayevitch, maréchal de noblesse» is probably the same man.