A. Suvorin's letters to Anton, 1888. 31 This letter (24 Nov. 1888) is cut in the PSSP: see A. P. Chudakov, ' 'Neprilichnye slova' i oblik klassika' in Literatumoe Obozrenie 1991, 11, 54. 32 Pleshcheev notes 14 v 1891, see Pis'ma russkikh pisatelei k Suvorina, Leningrad 1927, 130. 33 Bowdlerized in the PSSP: see RGALI, 594 1 269. 34 She was still writing Anton from Kharkov, inviting him there to help her husband. 35 See S. I. Smirnova-Sazonova's diary, LN8j, 305. 36 Shcheglov reconstructed the play, a poor piece, in 1911 as The Power of Hypnotism.
610
37 See OR, 331 59 75: Anastasia Suvorina's letters to Anton, 18891900. 38 See Vladimir Nemirovich- Danchenko's letter to Anton in Ezhegodnik MKhaTa, 1944, 1,93. 39 See RGALI, 189 1 19: Lazarev-Gruzinsky to Ezhov, 1884-91: letters of 10 Dec. 1888, 21 Jan. 1889. 40 See N. M. Ezhov, A. P. Chekhov in Istoricheskii vestnik, 1909, 11, 595 - 607. 41 See OR, 331 59 46: Anna Suvorina's letters to Anton, 1887-1901. 42 At Obock Ashinov was joined by Father Paisi, who had once dug Mitrofan Chekhov's cellar, and Dr Tsvetaev, whom Chekhov had met at Voskresensk. When the French fired on the Cossacks, some of the invaders crossed the Danikil desert to serve the Negus of Abyssinia. 43 See OR, 331 82 16: Kolia's postcard to Evgenia. 44 See OR, 331 82 25: Kolia's letter to an unidentified Aleksandr Viktorovich (May? 1889). 45 See OR, 331 32 15: this passage is cut from Pis'ma, 1939. 46 See OR, 331 82 25: Kolia's letter to an unidentified Aleksandr Viktorovich (May? 1889). 47 See RGALI, 459 1 4617: Aleksandr Chekhov's letters to A. S. Suvorin, 1888-96. 48 See OR, 331 31 1: Aleksandr's letters to Pavel Chekhov, 1874-96. 49 See RGALI, 2540 1 43: Misha's letters to his parents, 1888-1901. 50 See OR, 331 31 1: Aleksandr's letters to Pavel Chekhov, 1874-aa. Another mourner held her grief back: in 1953 Tatiana Ivchenko aged 103, dying in Kharkov, insisted on being buried next to Kolia Chekhov.
NO'
She had brought Kolia milk in his last weeks of life. 51 See OR, 331 63 25b: Franz Schechtel's letters to Anton, 1887952 See RGALI, 189 1 19: Lazarev-Gruzinsky's letters to Nikolai Ezhov, 1884-91: 24 June
1889.
53 See OR, 331 81 21: Pavel Chekhov's letters to Anton, 1886-96. 54 Kleopatra Karatygina had acquired by marriage the Karatygin surname which had a generation before belonged to one of the finest actors in the Russian theatre. See LN68, 575-86: Karatygina, Vospominaniia 0 Chekhove. 55 See Pis'ma russkikh pisatelei k Suvorinu, Leningrad, 1927, 38 (misdated 1897). 56 See OR, 331 81 32: written on the back of Pavel Chekhov's letter to Anna Ipatieva-Golden. 57 See OR, 331 58 27V: P. Svobodin's letters to Anton, 1889; pardy in Zapiski OR, 16, 1954. 58 See OR, 331 50 izh: Leikin's letters to Anton, 1889: 26 Aug. 1889. 59 The story eventually had an echo in the Chekhovs' life: in 1917 Anton's nephew Volodia shot himself. 60 Professor Storozhenko avenged the insult in 1899: as theatre censor, he blocked Uncle Vania. PART iv Annies de Pelerinage 1 See OR, 331 47 13a: K. A. Karatygina's letters to Anton Chekhov, 1889. 2 See OR, 331 63 3a: E. K. Shavrova's letters to Anton Chekhov, 1889. 3 See RGALI, 189 1 19: A. Lazarev-Gruzinsky's letters to Ezhov, 1884-91: 21 Oct. 1889. 4 See OR, 331 59 46: Anna Suvorina's letters to Anton: 12 Nov. 1889.
6l
ANION CHEXHOV
letters to Pavel Chekhov, 1875-90. 20 See RGALI, 2540 1 160: Evgenia's letters to Ivan, 1888-1905. 21 See OR, 331 31 1: the letter to Masha 8 Oct. 1890 is filed with Aleksandr's letters to his parents. 22 See RGALI, 2540 1 483: Masha's letters to Mikhail Chekhov, 1884-1904: 15 Oct. 1890. A year later Suvorin offered Vania a career in his Moscow bookshop, see RGALI, 2540 1 143. 23 See LN68, 496. 24 See N. M. Ezhov, A. P. Chekhov in Istoricheskii veslnik 1909, 11, 595-607. 25 See RGALI, 2540 1 158: Pavel's letters to Ivan, 1879-98: 29 Nov. 1890. 26 See Vokrug Chekhova, 278-80; OR, 331 83 25: Misha's Chekhov i mangusy. 2 7 May die gods serve you, die nymphs love you and the doctors not treat you. Yours A. See OR, 331 59 7 ib: A. A. Suvorin's letters to Anton, 1889-92. 28 See OR, 331 43 nb: N. Ezhov's letters to Anton, 1890-1: 20 Oct. 1890. 29 See OR, 331 46 ia: Ivanenko's letters to Anton, 1889-91. 30 See LN68, 479-92: Leontiev-Shcheglov's diary. 31 See OR, 331 52 46: Daria Musina-Pushkina's letters to Anton, 1891, 1896-8. 32 See OR, 331 63 4a: Elena Shavrova's letters to Anton, 1889-91: 14 Jan. 1891. 33 See OR, 331 52 2a: Lib Mizinova's letters to Anton, 1891-2; in Perepiska 1984, II, 16-59. 34 See Novoe vremia, No. 1017, 4 July 1904. 35 See RGALI, 2540 1 158: Pavel's letters to Ivan, 1879-98: 7 Apr. 1891.
612
36 Hoth Misha and Masha in their memoirs imply that the palmcat was given to Moscow Zoo; the Zoo's records do not mention it. 37 See OR, 331 81 8: Pavel's notebooks, 1880-97. 38 See RGALI, 2540 1 158: Pavel's letters to Ivan, 1879-98: 3 May 1891. 39 Grillparzer's play Sappho was performed in Moscow that year; the nicknames were topical. 40 See Chaleeva's memoirs (in Soligalich local museum), quoted in A. V. Kandidov, A. P. Chekhov v Bogimove, Kaluga, 1991, 32. 41 See OR, 331 36 38: Bezdetnov's letter to Anton Chekhov. 42 Cut in PSSP: see A. P. Chudakov, ' 'Neprilichnye slova' i oblik klassika' in Literaturnoe Obozrenie, 1991, 11, 54. 43 See OR, 331 52 2a: Lika Mizinova's letters to Anton, 1891-2; in Perepiska, 1984, II, 16-59. 44 See Sazonova's diary, 15 Mar. 1895, LN87, 307. 45 See OR, 331 81 83: Fenichka Dolzhenko's letter to Evgenia, 9 July 1891. 46 Quoted by Aleksandr in Pis'ma, 1939, 246. Anton used Pavel's prayer in 'The Duel'. 47 See OR, 331 46 33: Anna Ipatieva-Golden's letter to Anton, 25 Sept. 1891. 48 See OR, 331 81 25: Pavel's letters to Mitrofan and Liudmila, 1876-93: 27 Oct. 1891. 49 See OR, 331 63 4a: Elena Shavrova's letters to Anton, 1889-91: 17 Nov. 1891. 50 See MXaT, (Sanin) 5323/ 1933-73: L. S. Mizinova's letters to Sofia Ioganson, 1877-99. 51 See OR, 331 46 ia: Ivanenko's letters to Anton, 1889-91. 52 See OR, 331 49 12b:
NOT
Lazarev-Gruzinsky's letters to Anton, 1889-92: 4 Nov. 1891. 53 See OR, 331 39 25: Volter's letter to Anton, 15 Jan. 1892. 54 See OR, 331 58 2 7g: P. Svobodin's letters to Anton, 1891; pardy printed in Zapiski OR GBL, 16, 195455 See OR, 331 43 9: Lt Evgraf Egorov's letters to Anton Chekhov, 1882-92. 56 This story, the first Chekhov set in western Europe, is told by a terrorist who, assigned to spy on a minister, elopes with die mistress of die minister's son. Revised, it was published in 1893. 57 Chekhov had also written 'A Great Man', now known as 'The Grasshopper', showing a saindy doctor destroyed by his wife's treachery: this bombshell (for the main characters were recognizable as die Levitan menage) exploded in spring 1892. 58 See OR, 331 96 37: Aleksandr Smagin's diirty-four letters to Masha, 1888-92. 59 See E. M. Shavrova-Iust's memoirs in I. M. Sel'vaniuk, V. D. Sedegov, Sbornik statei i materialov pi, Rostov, 1963, 267-308. 60 See OR, 331 81 21: Pavel's letters to Anton, 1886-96: 3Jan. 1892. PART v Cincinnatus 1 Nikolai Ezhov teased Anton in a skit, Certified Authentic: a Mr Mongoose buys 600 acres, but the forest is not his and the piano is unplayable. 2 See OR, 331 96 37: Aleksandr Smagin's letters to Masha, 1888-May 1892. 3 See OR, 331 96 38: Aleksandr Smagin's 34 letters to Masha, June 1892-1929.
6.
4 See 0 semie, 1970, 203. 5 Cockroaches were believed to leave a house only before a fire. 6 See MXaT, (Sanin) 5323/ 1933-1973: L. S. Mizinova's letters to Sofia Ioganson, 1877-99. 7 See OR, 331 52 2a: Lika's letters to Anton, 1891-2; some in Perepiska, 1984, II, 16-59. 8 Leskov had written 'The Unmercenary Engineers': an officer resists corruption and is committed to a psychiatrist, who declares deadi the ultimate medicine. Leskov's late 'Hare Park' pays homage to 'Ward No. 6': a secret policeman, nursed by the radical he persecuted, dies in a madhouse. 9 See OR, 331 63 25V: Franz Schechtel's letters to Anton, 1891-3. 10 See OR, 331 48 79a: O. P. Kundasova's letters to Anton, 1892 -1904: 25 May 1892. 11 In remoter areas peasants believed that doctors were deliberately spreading cholera: in Samara, on the Volga, they killed one doctor and drove the others out. 12 Petrov was a shop assistant in Muir and Mirrielees, the Moscow store where the Chekhovs ordered everything from crockery to rifles. Sixteen years earlier, at Petrov's wedding in Kaluga, Aleksandr, Kolia and Masha had been poor relatives: now the scales had tipped the odier way. 13 See OR, 331 93 78: Lika Mizinova's letters to Masha Chekhova, 1891314 Pavel began a diary on arrival in Melikhovo: it records comings and goings, the weather, and incidents, odd and banal. See A. P. Kuzicheva, E. M. Sakharova Melikhovskii letopisets, 1995.
ANTON CIIKKIIOV
15 See OR, 331 56 38: A. A. Pokhlebina's letters to Anton, 1892-8: 10 July 1892. 16 See OR, 331 51 12: Klara Mamuna's letter to Anton. 17 SeeLN68, 855-870: E. Z. Balabanovich, Chekhov v pis'makh brata…: letter of 26 June 1892. 18 See OR, 331 81 21: Pavel Chekhov's letters to Anton, 1886-96. 19 See RGALI, 459 1 4617: Aleksandr's letters to A. S. Suvorin, 1888-96: 13 July 1892. 20 See OR, 331 59 46: Anna Suvorina's letters to Anton: undated, filed as sheets 36-7. 21 Dr Obolonsky, a 'vulture' for a lucrative patient, showed his concern: 'I've heard… your stay depends on the degree of Suvorin's illness. They say he's seriously ill… he believes you and in you unconditionally. Arrange for him to invite me to examine him.' See OR, 331 54 7: N. N. Obolonsky's letters to Anton, 1889-1901. 22 Anton also examined Leskov, who feared his doctors were lying about his terminal heart condition. He reassured Leskov, but told others that the novelist had at most a year to live. 23 See Zankovetskaia's memoirs, LN68, 592-3.
