2 Pis’ma. Vol. 1. 203–206. [To Bilibin, dated February 28, 1886, written March 1.]
3 Works. Vol. 4. 365–368.
4 Mikhail Chekhov. Anton Chekhov: A Brother’s Memoir. 57.
5 Letopis’. 233. [March 5, 1886.] Also, as recounted by Magarshack: “at the beginning of March he received a summons from another shopkeeper from whom Alexander and Nikolay had taken goods (presumably drinks) on credit in his name.” (Magarshack. Chekhov: A Life. 101–102.)
6 Magarshack. Chekhov: A Life. 101–102. [To Leykin, March 8, 1886.]
7 Bartlett. Anton Chekhov: A Life in Letters. 74.
8 Magarshack. Chekhov: A Life. 107.
9 Mikhail Chekhov. Anton Chekhov: A Brother’s Memoir. 14–15.
10 Simmons. Chekhov: A Biography. 46.
11 Translated by Heim and Karlinsky. Anton Chekhov’s Life and Thought: Selected Letters and Commentary. 49.
12 Coope. Doctor Chekhov: A Study in Literature and Medicine. 107.
13 As Garnett skipped over the last sentence of the paragraph, I quote there from Heim and Karlinsky, 50.
14 These two sentences are translated by Heim and Karlinsky (as Garnett skipped over one phrase and fractured the one after that).
15 Heim and Karlinsky’s translation of the rest of this point follows here, as Garnett skipped over it.
16 A Soviet edition deletion here, as well as a walk-over by Garnett.
17 Garnett translates “good breeding” as culture.
18 Pis’ma. Vol. 1. 211. [To Leykin, March 8, 1886.]
19 Translated by Constance Garnett.
20
21 Logan Speirs, discussing the ideas expressed by Chekhov’s characters, observes: “An argument is impressive only if the person who uses it is.” (Tolstoy and Chekhov. 160.)
22 Mikhail Chekhov: “Levitan occasionally suffered from depression. During these bouts, he would either take his shotgun and leave home for a week or two or sit at home, silent and sullen and all alone.” (Anton Chekhov: A Brother’s Memoir. 111.)
23 Pis’ma. Vol. 1. [To Leykin, January 12, 1886.]
24 Translated by Louis S. Friedland. Letters on the Short Story, the Drama, and Other Literary Topics. 58–59. [To Aleksei Suvorin, May 30, 1888.]
25 Pis’ma. Vol. 1. 212–214. [To Bilibin, March 11, 1886.]
26 Or as translated by Rayfield: “As a columnist you are like a lover to whom a woman says ‘You take me too tenderly… You must be rougher!’ (By the way, women are just like chickens, they like to be hit at that particular moment.)” Rayfield. Chekhov: A Life (2021). 142.
27 To repeat: Chekhov’s frequent use of pauseful, slowing ellipses are often ignored by translators, but I’m going to use all of them. Chekhov had frequent chances in various editions to take them out if he didn’t after all want them, but he left them in.
28 Works. Vol. 5. 490.
29 Two other translations of that sentence: “Oh, the emotions that play across that dear face” [Miles and Pitcher]; “Oh, the play of feeling on that sweet face!” [Garnett]; theirs are better (clearer), but, in my defense, Chekhov does not use the word “feeling” or “emotions.”
30 Works. Vol. 5. 36.
31 Translated by Avrahm Yarmolinsky as “Hydrophobia” in The Unknown Chekhov. 99.
32 Laffitte. Chekhov, 1860–1904. 83.
33 Simmons. Chekhov: A Biography. 95–97.
34 Pursglove. D. V. Grigorovich: The Man Who Discovered Chekhov. 96.
35 There should be a semicolon between “the snowstorm” and “the night,” as there is no snow in summery “Agafya”; Grigorovich might be referring to the snowstorm in “The Witch.”
36 Magarshack. Chekhov: A Life. 271. [To Suvorin, n.d., 1891.] Grigorovich’s remark stuck with Chekhov, who refuted it at least once more: “In my opinion, this express-train writing is not at all a drawback, as Grigorovich thinks, but a peculiarity of talent. One village wench will thrash around like a sturgeon for two days before she gives birth; for another, to give birth is like running into a lavatory.” [To Suvorin, November 28, 1893.] (Simmons. Chekhov: A Biography. 298.)
37 Rayfield. Chekhov: A Life (2021). 153.
38 Translated by Constance Garnett.
39 See Letters. Vol. 1. 217.
40 Rayfield translates it this way: “I shall free myself of hack work, but it will take time.” (Rayfield. Chekhov: A Life [2021]. 154.)
41 See his letter of January 18, 1887. (Pis’ma. Vol. 2. 17.)
42 Koteliansky and Tomlinson note that Chekhov had this inscribed photograph (“From an old writer to a young talent”) on the wall of his Yalta house at the time of his death (The Life and Letters of Anton Tchekhov. 75). The inscription itself is quoted from Letopis’, 241. [April 2, 1886.]
43 Works. Vol. 5. 75.
44 Translation by Constance Garnett.
45 Translation by Constance Garnett.
46 Coope. Doctor Chekhov: A Study in Literature and Medicine. 138.
April 1886
1 Translated by S. S. Koteliansky and Philip Tomlinson. The Life and Letters of Anton Tchekhov. 75. [To Alexander Chekhov, April 6, 1886.]
2 Letopis’. 241. [April 2, 1886.]
3 Pis’ma. Vol. 1. 226. [To Bilibin, April 4, 1886.]
4 Richard Carter. “Anton P. Chekhov, MD (1860–1904): Dual Medical and Literary Careers.” 1559.
5 Coope. Doctor Chekhov: A Study in Literature and Medicine. 136–137. [To Suvorin, November 13, 1891.]
6 Coope. Doctor Chekhov: A Study in Literature and Medicine. 137. Michael C. Finke usefully adds Dr. Robert Coles’ similar and exasperated point on this matter: “Look, he was a doctor and he had an illness that is not silent and secret. I know as a physician what tuberculosis is. I treated some tuberculous patients many years ago in medical school, and you know when you have tuberculosis. You cough up blood. You feel chest pain. There is an illness there—we’re not talking about something spreading like cancer cells for a long time that aren’t even known. This is a tangible, physical, concrete, palpable phenomenon of the body that Chekhov knew; he knew it as a physician, and he also knew it because at that time tuberculosis was a major prevalent illness. Of course he knew it. He knew that he was dying. He knew he was dying as a human being knows.” (Finke. Freedom from Violence and Lies: Anton Chekhov’s Life and Writings. 133.)
7 Coope. Doctor Chekhov: A Study in Literature and Medicine. 138. [Quoted from Suvorin’s diary, c. April 1897.]
8 Translated by Marian Fell.
9 Translated by S. S. Koteliansky and Philip Tomlinson. The Life and Letters of Anton Tchekhov. 73–76. [To Alexander Chekhov, April 6, 1886.]
10 Translated by Constance Garnett.
11 Pis’ma. Vol. 1. 233–234.
12 “Being a doctor was Chekhov’s unalloyed gift to the poor and to friends and family,” writes Dr. Coope. (Coope. Doctor Chekhov: A Study in Literature and Medicine. 28.)
13 Translated by Bartlett. Anton Chekhov: A Life in Letters. 65.
14 Mikhail Chekhov. Anton Chekhov: A Brother’s Memoir. 23.
15 Rayfield. Anton Chekhov: A Life (1997). 13.
16 Laffitte. Chekhov: 1860–1904. 24. [To Suvorin, February 6, 1889.]
17 Pis’ma. Vol. 1. 235. [To Leykin, April 13, 1886.]
18 Magarshack. Chekhov: A Life. 101–102. [To Leykin, April 13, 1886.]
19 Letopis’. 245. [April 13, 1886.]
20 Pis’ma. Vol. 1. 238. [To Leykin, April 19, 1886.]
21 Mikhail Chekhov. Anton Chekhov: A Brother’s Memoir. 154.
22 Translated by Heim and Karlinsky. Anton Chekhov’s Life and Thought: Selected Letters and Commentary. 40.
23 Mikhail Chekhov. Anton Chekhov: A Brother’s Memoir. 153.
24 Magarshack. Chekhov: A Life. 64. [To Leykin, January 1883.]
25 Ibid., 66. [To Leykin, April 24, 1885 and April 18, 1885.]
26 Hingley. A Life of Chekhov. 58.
27 Magarshack. Chekhov: A Life. 67. [From Leykin to Chekhov, May 19, 1885.]
28 Ibid., 68. [To Suvorin, November 3, 1888.]
29 Translated by Constance Garnett.
30 Bartlett. Anton Chekhov: A Life in Letters. 149.
31 Rayfield. Chekhov: A Life (2021). 102.