«7»
On the next day, June 29, correspondents of Russian News and the Daily News, who had been closely following the course of Chekhov's illness, telegraphed their newspapers: . . . after a severe attack on
tuesday, the condition of the heart did not appear to be very dangerous, for after an injection of morphine and inhaling oxygen the pulse became fine and the patient slept quietly. The following
day another sinking spell took place, and when Chekhov recovered he took the precaution to send a request to a Berlin bank that funds should be forwarded in his wife's name. When Olga asked why he did this, he replied: "Well, you know, just in case. . . ."
On Friday, July 1, Chekhov seemed to feel better. The correspondents sent encouraging wires to the effect that he had spent the day relatively well and that his heart action had become stronger. Toward evening he insisted that Olga, who had not left his side for three anxious days, take a stroll in the park. When she returned he was worried that she had not gone down to the dining room for supper, but she answered that the gong had not yet sounded, though it actually had and they had failed to hear it.
To pass the time Chekhov began to improvise a story. He described a fashionable health resort which catered to well-fed bankers and red- cheeked English and American tourists who doted on rich and abundant food. They had been out all day on various sight-seeing expeditions and returned in the evening, weary, famished, dreaming of an elaborate meal. But at that moment they learn that the cook had vanished and that there would be no wonderful dinner. Chekhov then went on to describe, with humorous touches, how each of these gourmands reacted to this terrible blow to their stomachs. And Olga, curled up on the sofa, laughed heartily over his narration, which served to release the tensions she had been under.
Soon Chekhov slipped into sleep. But after several hours he suddenly awoke at half-past midnight, and asked for a doctor. The request surprised Olga. She tells in her reminiscences that she had never remembered his voluntarily asking for a doctor. For a moment she was overwhelmed by a feeling of helplessness and loneliness in this large hotel, surrounded by people on all sides who were fast asleep. But the sense of something awesome about to happen lent decision and direction to her thoughts and actions. She recalled two Russian students in the hotel with whom they were acquainted, and she aroused one of them and asked him to fetch a doctor. "I can hear now," she later wrote, "the sound of retreating footsteps on the crunching gravel in the stillness of that unbearably sultry July night."
Then Olga went to get some ice. In his fevered condition Chekhov began to rave; to speak of some sailor or other, to ask about the Japanese. But when his wife tried to place a bag of cracked ice on his heart, he suddenly came to himself and said with a sad smile: "Don't put ice on an empty heart."
It was two o'clock in the morning when Schwohrer arrived. As he approached him Chekhov raised his head and said clearly: "Ich sterbel" ТЪе doctor gave him an injection of camphor. Chekhov gasped for breath, but when the doctor ordered that oxygen be administered, he objected: "Now nothing more is needed. Before they bring it, I'll be a corpse."
The doctor, who later remarked how stoically calm Chekhov remained in the face of death, asked that champagne be brought in. Chekhov took the proffered glass, and turning to Olga with a radiant smile said, "It is some time since I have drunk champagne," and slowly drained the glass. Then he quietly lay down on his left side and in a few moments was silent forever.
The doctor departed. Olga was left in the solemn stillness of the dead, broken only by the sound of a large black moth which had flown in the open window, beating its wings against the glowing electric lamp. Suddenly there was the shattering explosion of the cork shooting out of the unfinished champagne bottle. It slowly grew light outside as she watched his serene face, lit up by a smile that seemed to suggest an awareness of some secret of life beyond human comprehension. As nature awakened, the tender, lovely singing of birds seemed like the first requiem. "No sound of human voice was heard, there was none of the bustle of daily life, nothing but peace, beauty, and the grandeur of death."
Bibliographical Survey
the bibliograrhy of Chekhov's writings and of works about him is very xtensive. The present survey is highly selective, including largely the books nd articles that are quoted or were used in the preparation of this biog- liphy. A few other titles, which may prove to be of help to students of the Ield, are added.
i. Archive Material Chekhov usually destroyed manuscript drafts of his works after they were iublished, and with minor exceptions copies sent to editors disappeared ■fter publication. Since his death, however, all archival remains have been Jarefully collected, consisting of some manuscripts of published and unpublished material, vast quantities of his letters and of letters to him, copv- jooks and diaries, memoirs, and a variety of other material bearing on his life -■nd works. Though some of this archive material still exists in private hands, he major portion of it by far has been brought together in three main extinctions: The Manuscript Division of the Lenin Library, Moscow; The Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House), Academy of Sciences, Vloscow; and The Central Government Archives of Literature and Art, vloscow. Additional archive material may be found in The Manuscript Division of the Saltykov-Shchedrin Public Library, Leningrad; The Gorky viuseum of the Moscow Artistic Academy of the Theater; the A. A. iakhrushin Central Theater Museum; the Taganrog Museum; the Yalta jrlouse Museum of A. P. Chekhov.
Published descriptions of much of this material may be found in:
%ukopisi A. P. Chekhova — Opisanie. Sost. E. Ye. Leitnekker. Moscow, 1938. A catalogue of the collection of manuscripts and letters of Chekhov in the Lenin Library, Moscow.
I\rkhiv A. P. Chekhova: Annotirovannae opisanie pisem k A. P. Chekhovu. Vyp. 1. Sost. E. Ye. Leitnekker. Moscow, 1939. A description of letters to Chekhov in the Lenin Library, Moscow. Д-Ialova, M. M.: Rukopisi Chekhova v sobranii Instituta literatury (Push- kinskogo doma). Moscow-Leningrad, 1947. A description of the Chekhov manuscript material in the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House).
A. P. Chekhov — Rukopisi, pisma, biograficheskie dokumenty, vospomin- ariiya, teatralnye postanovki, risunki, jotografii. Opisanie materialov Tsen- tralnogo Gosudarstvennogo Arkhiva literatury i iskusstva. Moscow, i960. A listing and description of the archive material on Chekhov in The Central Government Archives of Literature and Art.
11. Bibliographies No single definitive bibliography of Chekhov's writings and the works about him has been published. But the following specialized items are helpful :
Klenskii, M. P.: "Bibliograficheskoe spisok sochincnii Chekhova," in A. P. Chekhov. Zateryannye proizvedeniya. Neizdannye pisma. Vospominaniya. Bibliografiya. Editors, M. D. Belyaev and A. S. Dolinin. Leningrad, 1925, pp. 253-301. A bibliography of the works of Chekhov, 1880-1904. Masanov, I. F.: Chekhoviana — Vyp. I: Sistematicheskii ukazatel literatury