Here in Russia suicide has really become something contagious. There’s no shortage of gunpowder for good people. Children run for the revolver when they get low grades, grown-ups on account of trifles . . . They fall out of love — a bullet to the brain. Their vanity’s been wounded, they aren’t appreciated — they shoot themselves. What’s become of strength of character?2
Chekhov picks up this notion and carries it to its logical conclusion in his afterpiece, but he also deals with it in his later works. Treplyov’s two suicide attempts in Seagull and Uncle Vanya’s pilfering morphine must be viewed in this light. After Ivanov, Chekhov treated suicide as an act of weakness in its refusal to cope with life’s demands.
Chekhov’s Tatyana Repina, a pastiche rather than a parody, is most intriguing as an experiment in polyphonic structure; in miniature, it practices the intricate interweaving of melodramatic pathos and diurnal crassness that was to become the trademark of Chekhov’s major plays. Not just the suicides, but the mismatched marriages, failed careers, and dashed hopes that will, in the last plays, be jumbled amid meals, card games, and dirty galoshes are foreshadowed here.
NOTES
1 Nina overhearing Trigorin in the dining room in the last act (“He’s here too . . . Why, yes . . . Never mind . . . Yes”) may be an echo of Tatyana’s overhearing her lover singing at his bachelor supper (“Is he there? Wait . . . Yes, yes, that’s his voice . . . l’amour qui nous . . . He is there, he is . . . [Listens intently.]).
2 A. S. Suvorin, Tatyana Repina, komediya v chetyrakh deistvyakh (St. Petersburg: A. Suvorin, 1889), Act IV, scene 3.
TATYANA REPINA
Taтьянa Peпинa
A Drama in One Act
(Dedicated to A. S. Suvorin)
Translator’s note: Except for the clergy, the main characters derive from Suvorin’s Tatyana Repina. Sabinin, an impecunious landowner, had been Tatyana’s lover, but jilted her for a rich woman, Vera Olenina. The Jewish banker David Sonnenstein had made the match in order to profit from the sale of Sabinin’s estate. The journalist Adashev was a close friend of Tatyana’s, Matveev the manager of the theatrical troupe she starred in, and Kokoshkina a comic chatterbox. Kotelnikov was a skirt-chasing landowner, and Patron-nikov a lawyer.
CHARACTERS
OLENINA
KOKOSHKINA
MATVEEV
SONNENSTEIN
SABININ
KOTELNIKOV
KOKOSHKIN
PATRONNIKOV
VOLGIN, a young officer
A UNIVERSITY STUDENT
A YOUNG LADY
FR. IVAN, the archpriest of the cathedral, an old man of 70
FR. NIKOLAY
young priests FR.
ALEKSEY
DEACON
SACRISTAN
KUZMA, the church caretaker
LADY IN BLACK
THE DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
ACTORS AND ACTRESSES
Between six and seven o’clock in the evening. A cathedral church. All the hanging lamps and candle stands are lit. The royal gates1 of the altar screen are open. Two choirs, the diocesan and the cathedral, are singing. The church is packed with people. It is dark and stuffy. A marriage ceremony is being solemnized. SABININ and OLENINA are getting married. Among the first group of groom’s men are KOTELNIKOV and Officer VOLGIN, among the second his brother, a UNIVERSITY STUDENT, and the DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY. All the local intelligentsia. Elegant attire. The ceremony is being performed by FR. IVAN in a discolored kamelaukion,2 shaggy FR. NIKOLAY in a skullcap, and a very young FR. ALEKSEY in dark glasses; behind and somewhat to the left of FR. Ivan is a tall, thin DEACON with a book. In the crowd the local theatrical troupe with MATVEEV at their head.
FR. IVAN (reads). Remember too, O Lord, the parents who reared them: for the prayers of the parents secure the foundations of the house. Remember, O Lord our God, Thy servants who are in attendance and are gathered here to rejoice. Remember, O Lord our God, Thy servant Pyotr and Thy handmaid Vera and bless them. Bestow upon them fruit of the womb, children and children’s children, bonds of harmony in body and soul; raise them up, like unto the cedars of Lebanon, like unto the well-tended vine. Bestow upon them corn from the sheaves, that having all things in sufficiency, they may thrive in all works that are good and pleasing unto Thee; and may they behold the sons of their sons, like unto a newly planted olive grove, around their table; and may they shine before Thee, like unto the heavenly bodies, that they be good and pleasing unto Thee, our Lord. And with Thee be the power and the glory, the honor and the devotion to Thine eternal father and Thy life-endowing spirit, now and forever, world without end.
DIOCESAN CHOIR (sings). Amen.
PATRONNIKOV. It’s stuffy! What’s that medal ‘round your neck, David Solomonovich?
SONNENSTEIN. It’s Belgian. And why are there so many people here? Who let ‘em in? Oof! It’s like a steam bath!
PATRONNIKOV. The police are worth crap.
DEACON. Let us pray to the Lord!
CATHEDRAL CHOIR (sings). O Lord, be merciful.
FR. NIKOLAY (reads). O Holy God, Who didst create man out of dust and mould his wife from his rib and yoked her to him to be his helpmeet, for it was pleasing to Thy majesty that man be not alone on earth; and even now, O Lord, do Thou stretch forth Thine own hand from Thy holy dwelling place and conjoin this Thy servant Pyotr and this Thy handmaid Vera, for by Thee is wife bestowed on husband. Yoke them together in bonds of harmony, crown them in one flesh, bestow on them fruit of the womb, the boon of children and children’s children. For Thine is the might, and Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, now and forever, world without end.
CATHEDRAL CHOIR (sings). Amen.
YOUNG LADY (to Sonnenstein). Now they’re going to put the crowns on them. Look, look!
FR. IVAN (takes a crown from the analogion3 and turning his face to Sabinin). The servant of God Pyotr is crowned for the handmaid of God Vera in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, amen. (Hands the crown to Kotelnikov.)
IN THE CROWD. The best man’s the exact same height as the groom. Not very attractive. Who is he?
—That’s Kotelnikov. The officer’s not very attractive either. Lord, let the lady through! You can’t get through here, madame.
FR. IVAN (turning to Olenina). The handmaid of God Vera is crowned for the servant of God Pyotr in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. (Hands the crown to the student.)
KOTELNIKOV. The crowns are heavy. My arm’s already fallen asleep.
VOLGIN. Never mind, I’ll be taking over for you soon. Who’s that stinking of cheap perfume, I’d like to know?