616
617
ANTON CHEKHOV NOTES 30 PSSP, 6, 523.
31 See OR, 331 63 4g: Elena Shavrova's letters to Anton, 1896. 32 Kugel bad not met Lika, who drank, or her friend Varia Eberle, who took snuff. 33 Quoted in PSSP, 6, 532; written 21 Oct. 1896. 34 See E. M. Shavrova-Iust's memoirs in I. M. Sel'vaniuk, V. D. Sedegov, Sbornik statei i materialov pi, Rostov, 1963, 267-308. 35 See Perepiska, 1984, II, 150-1. 36 See K. A. Chaikovskaia, 'Melikhovskie pozhary' in Chekhoviana, 1995, 272-7. 37 Russian dramatists usually received two per cent of the gross takings for each act of their play. 38 See OR, 331 63 25g: Franz Schechtel's letters to Anton, 1894-1900: 17 Dec. 1896. 39 See OR, 331 36 72: Emilie Bijon's letters to Anton, 1896-1900. 40 See OR, 331 54 50: Liudmila Groupillon-Ozerova's eight letters to Anton, 1896-7. 41 Meanwhile Nikolai Ezhov was enrolled as census taker for the dosshouses of Moscow. 42 See OR, 331 63 4d: Elena Shavrova's letters to Anton, 1897. 43 See OR, 331 48 7: Vera Komissarzhevskaia's letters to Anton, 1897-1903. 44 See Pis'ma, 1939, 331-3. PART VIII Flowering Cemeteries 1. See LN68, 479-92; Leontiev-Shcheglov's diary. 2 See Sazonova's diary, LN87, 309. 3 Koumiss is fermented mares' milk; it tastes like a mixture of champagne, chalk and rancid butter. It is easily digested and its bacteria are thought to be beneficial.
6i8
4 According to her memoirs she elicited from Anton a confession of undying love; at the time, however, she told Leikin (see his diary LN68, 499-510) diat Chekhov was forbidden to speak. 5 See PSSP, 6, 616-7: Olga Shavrova's account is hard to believe. 6 See OR, 331, 63 4d: Elena Shavrova's letters to Anton, 1897. 7 See S. M. Chekhov, I semie, Iaroslavl, 1970, 118. 8 See PSSP, 6, 631-2.
9 See Zapiski GBL VIII 1941, 49. 10 See OR, 331 36 72: Emilie Bijon's letters to Anton, 1896-1900. n See OR, 331 33 51: Georgi Chekhov's letters to Anton, 1897: 13 Apr. 12 See A. P. Kuzicheva, E. M. Sakharova, Melikhovskii letopisets,
1995.
13 See Sazonova's diary, LN8-], 310. 14 Cut from Levitan: Pis'ma, 1956; see
OR, 331 49 25.
15 See OR, 331 54 50: Liudmila Groupillon-Ozerova's eight letters to Anton Chekhov, 1896-7. Anton's letters to her are lost. 16 See OR, 331 93 80: Lika's letters to Masha, 1895-7. 17 See OR, 331 52 2g: Lika's letters to Anton, 1897; some printed in Perepiska II, 1984, 16-59. 18 See OR, 331 59 46: Anna Suvorina's letters to Anton, 1889-1901. 19 Dnevnik, 1923/1992: this passage is followed in published versions by a series of morbid reflections attributed to Chekhov. A closer look at Suvorin's manuscript suggests they are Suvorin's own thoughts. Roskina's transcription of Suvorin's diaries (in RGALI) may soon be published by the author of this book. 20 The Potapenkos were now iii grata at the Suvorins, viz. Emilie Bijon (Dec. 1897); 'M. Potapenko… s'est permis d'ecrire un sale feuilleton concernant les malheureuses governantes, qu'ils meprisent et sa femme qu'etait elle?' 21 See RGALI, 2450 1 59 [a fragment also used by Vania to write to Aleksandr]. 22 Quoted in A. Fiodorov-Davydov, A. la. Shapiro Levitan: Dokumenty, 1966: letter 29 July 1897. 23 See OR, 331 51 18: N. Maksheev's letters to Anton, 1897-8. 24 See OR, 331 56 36V: Potapenko's letters to Anton, 1897-9. 25 He refolded JVra Times for the Russian reading room in Menton; he resold World Echoes to State Counsellor Kulakov, a resident of the pension, for 2 francs a month. 26 See OR, 331 73 10: Pavel's letters to Misha, 1885-98: 17 Sept. 1897. 27 See OR, 331 73 11: Evgenia's letters to Misha, 1888-1903: 3 Nov. 1897. 28 Russia had refused to sign the international convention on copyright, so Russian authors had no right to be paid for foreign editions of their work. 29 Grigorovich still hoped: he wrote to Suvorin (29 Oct. 1898): 'As for your Nastenka, I've always dreamt of Chekhov… he is himself so nice and talented that nothing better can be desired. But how does Nastenka feel?' See Pis'ma russklkh plsatelei k Suvorinu, 1927, 42-3. 30 18 Dec. 1897: quoted in PSSP, 7, 51731 See OR, 331 59 25: Vasili Sobolevsky's letters to Anton, 1892-1904. 32 See OR, 331 73 11: Masha's postscript to Evgenia's letter to Misha, 3 Nov. 1897. 33 See OR, 331 81 23: Pavel's letter to Vania, 22 Dec. 1897.
61
34 See OR, 331 52 2d: Lika's letters to Anton 1898; some printed in Perepiska II, 1984, 16-59. 35 Quoted in PSSP, 7, 493. 36 Tolstoy wavered; Alphonse Daudet believed that twelve officers could not be wrong. Lidia Iavorskaia was, however, a fiery Dreyfusarde. 37 Quoted in PSSP, 7, 516. 38 Suvorin had won his own Dreyfus affair. In 1892 New Times exposed fraud by the Odessa branch of Parisian grain traders, Louis Dreyfus Co., who sued Suvorin for libel and lost. Moreover, Suvorin was convinced that Zola had abused him and his wife by calling the anarchist in Germinal Souvarine and his partner Anna. 39 Quoted in PSSP, 7, 528. 40 Kovalevsky's memoirs of Anton Chekhov are in Vokrug Chekhova, 361-6. 41 See OR, 331 73 10: Pavel's letters to Misha, 1885-98: 8 Jan. 1898. 42 Quoted in S. M. Chekhov, I semie, Iaroslavl, 1970, 135 - 7. 43 Cut in Pis'ma, 1939; see OR, 331 32 24: Aleksandr's letters to Anton, 1898. 44 The interview was so heavily edited that Chekhov refused permission to publish. 45 See N. A. Rosldna, 'Ob odnoi staroi publikatsii' in Voprosy literatury, 1968, 6, 250-3. 46 See RGALI, 459 2 14: A. S. Suvorin's letters to Anna Suvorina; quoted PSSP, 7, 567. 47 See RGALI, 459 1 4172, May 1898: Nastia Suvorina seldom mentioned Chekhov in her letters. 48 See OR, 331 73 11: Evgenia's letters to Misha, 1888-1903: 8 May 1898. 49 Married to Ekaterina ('Kitten', formerly Baroness Korf), Nemirovich-Danchenko was both teacher and lover of the twenry-eight-year-old Olga
34
ANION CHEKHOV NOTES
Knipper. (Anton's familiarity with Nemirovich-Danchenko's wife 'Kitten' once aroused Lika Mizinova's jealousy.) Knipper, after an affair with a student Dmitri Goncharov (an aristocrat with a hereditary disease), forced' her mother, a singer, to let her study for the stage. 50 Quoted in V. Lakshin, Proval in Teatr, 1987, 4, 86. 51 See Perepiska, 1984, II, 153-4. 52 Tychinkin set type by night and taught in school by day; reputed to be Petersburg's most absent-minded man, he was the only employee of New Times widely trusted by the writers whom Suvorin published. 53 See OR, 331 48 79a: Olga Kundasova's letters to Anton,
1892-1904.
54 Lidia Avilova was convinced that 'About Love' told of Chekhov's renunciation of love for her. She angered Anton, by accusing him of exploiting intimate secrets for literary gain. 55 See Olga Knipper's memoirs in Vokrug Chekbova, 381-2. 56 See Perepiska, 1984, II, 82; OR, 331 64 2; T. Shchepkina-Kupernik's letters to Anton, 1893- 1900: minuscule script on mauve and white card, 8 Sept. 1898. 57 'I want sex, but 'I've got a headache', my penis stands, nobody comes, nobody gives.' Cut in Pis'ma, 1939; see OR, 331 32 24: Aleksandr's letters to Anton,
1898.
58 RGALI, 2316 2 35.
59 The journal was saved when Suvorin wheedled a subsidy from Vitte, the Minister of Finances. 60 Ertel to Vostriakov, quoted in N. Gitovich, Letopis', 522-3. 61 See OR, 331 81 66: Evgenia's letters to Masha, 1891-1914. 62 It was Vania whom Anton rewarded for his management of the catastrophe. He asked Anatoli Iakovlev, his former pupil, the son of a senior civil servant, to exchange favours. Anton would get Iakovlev's stories published for securing Vania's promotion to pensionable civil service rank. 63 See RGALI, 2540 1 49: Misha's letters to Evgenia, 1888-1904, end Oct. 1898. 64 See PSSP, 7, 648 and S. M. Chekhov, I semie, Iaroslavl, 1970, 151. 65 See OR, 331 82 60: Misha's letters to Masha, 1897-8: 25 Oct. 1898. 66 See PSSP, 7, 632: see VI. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, Teatral'noe nasledie, 1954, II, 144. PART ix Three Triumphs 1 Anton had met the Ilovaiskys in Voronezh in the famine of 1892. 2 See OR, 331 73 n: Evgenia's letters to Mikhail Chekhov, 1888-1903: 7 Nov. 1898. 3 For this Varenikov was summoned by the magistrates, but the authorities dropped the case. 4 See OR, 331 56 38: Aleksandra Pokhlebina's letters to Anton, 1893-8. 5 See E. A. Polotskaia, 'Ialrinskaia redaktsia 'Shutochki'' in Chekhoviana, 1993, 101-16. 6 See OR, 331 48 4: Nadia Kolomnina's letters to Anton, 1896-1900. 7 See OR, 331 48 7: Vera Komissarzhevskaia's letters to Anton, 1896-1900. 8 Many of Gorky's letters to Chekhov are printed in Perepiska, 1984,11, 297-365. 9 See OR, 331 37 64: Semi on Bychkov's letters to Anton, 1898-9: 3 Jan. 1899.
10 Sergeenko's letters and diaries are quoted in PSSP, 9, 282. 11 See LN8-J, 261. 12 In 1900 Rainer Maria Rilke wrote to Chekhov (331 57 24): 'J'ai l'intention de traduire aussi Oncle Vania… toutes mes demarches pour me procurer l'edition imprimee de vos ceuvres dramatiques ont ete en vain.' Unable to find Chekhov's Plays, Rilke turned back to lyrical poetry. 13 See OR, 331 82 61: Misha's letters to Masha, 1899-1901: 24Jan. 1899. 14 The jest had its serious side. Adolf Marx was a very bourgeois publisher, but Karl-Marxists now acclaimed Chekhov as a champion of the working classes against their exploiters, and Chekhov promised his next major story to Life, a staunchly left-wing journal. 15 See OR, 331 61 52: Gavriil Kharchenko's letters to Anton, 1899-1901. 16 See A. M. Melkova, Novye materialy…, in Chekhovskie chteniia v lake, 1987, 110-22. 17 The Russian institution of'court of
