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. 24 See LN68, 493-510 for V. A. Tikhonov's and Leikin's diaries. 25 See OR, 331 81 13: Pavel's letters to Aleksandr, 1874-94. 26 See OR, 331, 52 2b: Lika's letters to Anton, 1893-4. 27 See LN68, 570-2. 28 See LN68, 484. 29 The same journalist also attacked Chekhov as 'a writer without support or goal' and hoped 'he gets closer to human sufferings…', but now Chekhov overlooked abuse from Russian Thought.
30 The Suvorins and Chekhov were all relieved they had not gone: the Russian contribution was just a party of bureaucrats, who were the butt of the American President's sarcasm. 31 Anton's letter to Gorbunov-Posadov, Chertkov's editor, 26 Apr. 1893. 32 Potapenko's memoirs are in V vospominaniiakh. 3 3 Suvorin was not intentionally cheating Anton, but New Times had notoriously bad bookkeeping. 34 See RGALI, 459 1 2161: O. P. Kundasova's letters to A. S. Suvorin, 1891-1908. 35 See OR, 331 43 ug: N. Ezhov's letters to Anton, 1893: 16 Apr. 36 That Athenian night was beautiful. The beautiful is unforgettable. Dear poet, if you only knew what a headache…/I await the supreme vice and send you your dowry./My little Sappho. Come at once, urgent. See RGALI, 571 1 1204: Lidia Iavorskaia's fifty-one letters to Shchepkina-Kupernik, 1893. 37 See OR, 331 64 2: T. L. Shchepkina-Kupernik's letters to Anton, 1893-1900. 38 See OR, 331 64 34: Lidia Iavorskaia's letters to Anton, 1893-6. 39 See PSSP, 5, 506: see RGALI, 459 3 I240 See LN68, 479-92; Leontiev-Shcheglov's diary. 41 See OR, 331 56 36a: Potapenko's letters to Anton, 1893-5. See Perepiska II, 1984, 62-76. 42 See OR, 331 46 ib: Ivanenko's letters to Anton, 1892-4. 43 See OR, 331 93 79: Lika Mizinova's letters to Masha, 1894. NO PART vi Lika disparue 1 See OR, 331 52 zb: Lika's letters to Anton 1893-4; some in Perepiska II, 1984, 16-59. 2 Miroliubov was soon to leave the opera and become Chekhov's last editor. 3 See OR, 331 93 79: Lika Mizinova's letters to Masha Chekhova, 1894. 4 See OR, 331 64 34: Lidia Iavorskaia's letters to Anton Chekhov, 1893-6. 5 See OR, 331 56 36a: Potapenko's letters to Anton, 1893-5. See Perepiska II, 1984, 62-76. 6 See OR, 331 95 2: Potapenko's letters to Masha, 1894-5. 7 See OR, 331 64 2: T. L. Shchepkina-Kupernik's letters to Anton Chekhov, 1893-1900. 8 Quoted in PSSP, 5, 611. 9 See OR, 331 50 11: Aleksandra Liosova's three letters to Anton, 1894. 10 Quoted from E. M. Sakharova, A. I. Ivanenko - vechnyi drug in Chekhoviana: Melikhovskie trudy i dni, 1995, 327-33411 See OR, 331 46 lb: Ivanenko's letters to Anton, 1892-4. 12 See LN68, 479-92; Leontiev-Shcheglov's diary. 13 See OR, 331 81 13: Pavel's letters to Aleksandr Chekhov, 1874-94: Aug. 1894. 14 See MXaT, (Sanin), 5323: L. S. Mizinova-Sanina's letters to Lidia Iurgeneva. 15 See MXaT, (Sanin), 5323/ 1933-1973: L. S. Mizinova's letters to Sofia Ioganson, 1877-99. 16 SeelRLI, fond 285, S. I. Smirnova-Sazonova papers. 17 Sablin's brother, a tax inspector (died in 1895), protected Misha; Mikhail Sablin, a theatre manager, edited The Russian Gazette. The Sablins and Misha made Masha a monthly allowance, which Anton pretended not to know about. 18 Chekhov's library had two books on syphilis, and none on ÒÂ, yet Potapenko remembers him telling a consumptive passenger on a train to abandon work and family and live in Algiers. 19 See RGALI, 2540 1 483: Masha's letters to Misha, 1884-1904: 7 Aug. 1894. 20 See OR, 331 81 21: Pavel's letters to Anton, 1886-96. 21 See OR, 331 33 iv: Pavel Chekhov, various documents. 22 See 0 semie, 1970, 179. 23 See A. P. Kuzicheva, E. M. Sakharova, Melikhovskii letopisets, 1995. 24 See RGALI, $JI 1 1137: Masha's letters to Shchepkina-Kupernik, 1894-1951. 25 See OR, 331 33 14: Natalia Golden-Chekhova's letters to Anton, 1888, 1894. 26 See L. Z. Abramenkova, 'Sosed Chekhovykh V. N. Semenkovich' in Chekhoviana: Melikhovskie trudy i dni, 1995, 264-72. 27 Mikhailov became Medvedenko in The Seagull. In 1895 the peasants called for his dismissal. 28 Quoted in PSSP, 5, 587. 29 See OR, 331 43 nd: Nikolai Ezhov's letters to Anton, 1894-7. 30 See OR, 331 93 80: Lika's letters to Masha Chekhova, 1895. 31 See A. la. Al'tshuUer, A. P. Chekhov i L. B. Iavorskaia, in Chekhoviana, 1990, 140-51. 32 See OR, 331 64 34: Lidia Iavorskaia's letters to Anton Chekhov, 1893-6. 33 See OR, 331 52 2v: Lika's letters to Anton, 1895 -6; some in Perepiska II, 1984, 16-59. 34 See OR, 331 48 79a: O. P. Kundasova's letters to Anton, 1892 -1904.