The Chekhovs in Taganrog in 1874, when Anton was fourteen. Standing: brother Ivan, Anton, brother Nikolay, brother Alexander, Uncle Mitrofan Chekhov. Sitting: brother Mikhail, sister Maria, father Pavel, mother Evgenia, Aunt Liudmila, cousin Georgy.
Chekhov, armed only with a giant quill, was well enough known as a young writer to be parodied in magazines. (Illustrator unknown.)
Nikolay Chekhov, a talented but irresponsible artist, never finished this oil painting of Anton that he began in 1884. Anton’s right ear awaits completion.
Isaac Levitan (1860–1900), one of Russia’s most renown landscape painters, was introduced to the Chekhov family by his art-school classmate Nikolay. He became particularly close to Anton and Maria. This sketch was drawn by Aleksey Stepanov in 1888.
Dmitry Grigorovich (1822–1900) is better known today as what he wasn’t, “the man who discovered Chekhov,” than for what he was, a novelist considered at the time in the same league as Dostoevsky, Turgenev, and Tolstoy.
The artist and architect Franz Schechtel (1859-1926) was among Chekhov’s closest friends in the mid-1880s. He designed the frontispiece of Chekhov’s first big collection, Motley Stories (1886).
The wealthy right wing publisher of New Times, Aleksei Suvorin (1834–1912), opened his newspaper’s literary supplement to Chekhov’s contributions in 1886, and a few years later became Chekhov’s best friend and confidant.
The frontispiece of Motley Stories (Piostrye Rasskazy), most of which were stories originally published in Moscow and St. Petersburg humor magazines in 1884–1885, was drawn by Chekhov’s friend Franz Schechtel.
The children’s story author Maria Kiseleva (1847–1922) was Chekhov’s first writing mentee. Though she resisted much of his advice and rejected many of his opinions about literature, she cultivated and valued their friendship.
The Chekhov House Museum, located on Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya Street in Moscow, faces a busy boulevard today.
Chekhov hesitated to post the nameplate (“Doctor A. P. Chekhov”) on the door of the house when he became overwhelmed by patients and deadlines in the fall of 1886.
Chekhov’s study as recreated in his Moscow house museum.
The primary characters of “The Dependents” (September 8, 1887): Mikhail Petrovich Zotov, the dog Lyska, the unnamed “priceless steed.” Illustration by N. Nikonov (1903).
In “Vanka,” Chekhov’s 1886 Christmas story, illustrated here by S. S. Boim, the nine-year-old, apprenticed to a shoemaker in the city, writes to his grandfather “in the village.”
The anonymous illustrator of “Enemies” lingers over the deathbed scene of Dr. Kirilov’s only son.
The composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky delighted in Chekhov’s short stories. Meeting in 1889, Tchaikovsky suggested they write an opera libretto together (this suggestion did not bear fruit).
Alexander Lazarev (1861–1927) was a humor writer (pen name Gruzinskiy) mentored by Chekhov in 1887.
The author Ivan Leont’ev (pen name, Shcheglov, nicknamed “Jean” by Chekhov) met Chekhov in St. Petersburg in December 1887, when they became fast, lifelong friends.
The November 19, 1887 opening night poster announcement of Chekhov’s Ivanov. It was performed in Moscow’s Korsh Theater’s “Barbershop Hall.”
Though embarrassed about the modest fee he collected for the second-level stories in Innocent Speeches (Nevinnye Rechi), Chekhov acknowledged the high quality of the volume’s artistic production. The book’s cover illustration is by Nikolay Chekhov; the author is “A. Chekhonte.”
The actor Olga Knipper (1868–1959) became Chekhov’s wife in 1901. She performed in Chekhov’s plays in Stanislavsky’s Moscow Art Theater.
Chekhov in 1904, in the last photograph of him before his death in July.
Chekhov’s grave at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. Photograph by Ross Robins (2009).
Appendix
All the stories in 1886–87 in chronological order with their translated and Russian titles.
A Chronological List of Chekhov’s Work in 1886–1887
The unbracketed first title is that given by Constance Garnett in one of her 13 volumes of translations unless noted [not in CG]; the bracketed subsequent differing titles are those by the listed translator. If the titles are nearly identical, I do not list the other translators. Sources: David Magarshack, Chekhov: A Life; the Collected Works (30-volume Soviet Edition); Wikipedia (“Anton Chekhov Bibliography”); Prospero’s Isle (“The complete (530) stories of Anton Chekhov: synopses, comments and ratings”).
DATE OF ORIGINAL PUBLICATION
RUSSIAN TITLE IN THE SOVIET
COLLECTED WORKS EDITION
The Maskers [no translation]
1 Jan 1886
Ряженые
New Year’s Great Martyrs
[not in CG] [Pimenoff, Small Fry and Other Short Stories]
4 Jan 1886
Новогодние Великомученики
Champagne: Thoughts from a New Year’s Hangover [no translation]
4 Jan 1886
Шампанское (Мысли с новогоднего похмелья)
Visiting Cards [no translation]
4 Jan 1886
Визитные Карточки
Letters [no translation]
4 Jan 1886
Письма
Art
6 Jan 1886
Художество
A Night in the Cemetery [not in CG] [Sekirin, A Night in the Cemetery and Other Stories of Crime and Suspense]
8 Jan 1886
Ночь на Кладбище
A Blunder [Foiled! (Pitcher, Chuckle with Chekhov)]
11 Jan 1886
Неудача
The Contest [no translation]
11 Jan 1886
Конкурс
Tips for Husbands [not in CG]
{This story was refused publication by the censor; it was not published in Russian until 30 Oct 1927 as “Boa Constrictor and Rabbit.”} [See FitzLyon and Zinovieff, The Woman in the Case and Other Stories.]
[censored 11 Jan 1886]
К Сведению Мужей
His First Appearance [not in CG] [FitzLyon and Zinovieff, The Woman in the Case and Other Stories.]
13 Jan 1886
Первый Дебют
On the Telephone [not in CG] [Pitcher, Chekhov: The Comic Stories]
19 Jan 1886
У Телефона
Children [Kids (Pitcher, Early Stories)]
20 Jan 1886
Детвора
The Biggest City [no translation]
25 Jan 1886
Самый большой город
The Discovery [no translation]
25 Jan 1886
Открытие
Misery [Anguish, Pevear and Volokhonsky, Fifty-two Stories]
27 Jan 1886
Тоска
An Upheaval [A Commotion, Pevear and Volokhonsky, Fifty-two Stories]
3 Feb 1886
Переполох
Conversation of a Drunken Man with a Sober Devil [not in CG] [Sekirin, A Night in the Cemetery and Other Stories of Crime and Suspense]
8 Feb 1886
Беседа пьяного с трезвым чертом
An Actor’s End
10 Feb 1886
Актерская гибель
The Requiem
15 Feb 1886
Панихида
The Stupid Frenchman [not in CG] [Lydia Razran-Stone, Chtenia: 2010]
15 Feb 1886
Глупый француз
Bliny [not in CG] [translators Robert Greenall and Mikhail Ivanov, Russian Life Magazine, Apr 1996]
19 Feb 1886
Блины
Anyuta
22 Feb 1886
Анюта
On Mortality: A Carnival Tale [not in CG] [Constantine, The Undiscovered Chekhov]
22 Feb 1886
О бренности
The Big Wig [no translation]
1 Mar 1886
Персона
Ivan Matveyich
3 Mar 1886
Иван Матвеич
The Witch
8 Mar 1886
Ведьма
Poison [no translation]
8 Mar 1886
Отрава
A Story Without an End
10 Mar 1886
Рассказ без конца
A Joke [The Little Joke, Pitcher, Early Stories]
12 Mar 1886
Шуточка
Agafya
15 Mar 1886