Ward No. 6 and Other Stories, 1892-1895

PUBLISHING HISTORY

AND NOTES

The Grasshopper

First published in the journal North in 1892, then in Tales and Stories of 1894. For some reason Chekhov had difficulty in finding a suitable title. He wrote to V. A. Tikhonov, the editor, when sending the story: ‘I’m sending you a small sensitive novel for family reading. This is The Philistines, but after writing this story I’ve given it, as you can see, another name’ (letter of 30 November 1891). (This was A Great Man.) Neither of these satisfied Chekhov (he had also suggested simply A Story) and he finally settled on ‘The Grasshopper’. Ivan Bunin, who greatly admired the story, considered the title ‘awful’.

This story served to create a long rift between Chekhov and the painter Isaak Levitan (1861–1900), who saw the story as an attack on his affair with a certain lady called S. P. Kuvshinnikova, a doctor’s wife, whose Moscow salon was attended by many artists, painters, actors and writers, some of whom may well have served as prototypes for Olga’s guests in ‘The Grasshopper’: in a letter of 29 April 1892 to Lidiya Avilova, Chekhov wrote that ‘the whole of Moscow is accusing me of libel’.

1. Kineshma: Small town on the Volga, about 200 miles north-east of Moscow.

2. Masini: Angelo Masini (1844–1926), Italian tenor. Toured Italy, Spain, sang in St Petersburg. Sang tenor role in Verdi’s Requiem in London and Vienna.

3. Show me that abode…: From the poem Reflections at a Main Entrance by the civic poet N. A. Nekrasov (1821–78). This poem was very popular amongst the young intelligentsia of the 1860s; later, it was often sung by young doctors at Chikino hospital, where Chekhov worked in 1883.

4. Polenov: V. D. Polenov (1844–1927), leading Russian landscape painter, influenced by Barbizon plein air school. Taught at Moscow School of Painting; among his pupils was Isaak Levitan, satirized in the person of Ryabovsky in this story.

5. Barnay: Ludwig Barnay (1842–1924), German actor. Toured Russia with the Meiningen Troupe in 1890 and met with a rapturous reception.

6. Gogol’s Osip: Khlestakov’s comic servant in N. V. Gogol’s The Inspector General. In Russian the play upon words is Osip khrip, a Arkhip osip, lit. ‘Osip wheezed, but Arkhip went hoarse.’

Ward No. 6

‘Ward No. 6’ was first published in Russian Thought, 1892, and then in a collection entitled Ward No. 6 (1893). Originally the story was offered to the journal Russian Review, but long delays in payment of fees compelled Chekhov to take the story back and in June 1892 Chekhov was invited to become a contributor to V. M. Lavrov’s²¹ Russian Thought.

First details of work on the story appear in a letter to A. S. Suvorin (1834–1912) of 31 March 1892, where Chekhov states: ‘I’m writing a story. Before having it printed I wanted to send it to you regarding the censorship as your opinion is like gold for me, but I must hurry, as I don’t have any money… There is much argumentation in the story, but no love element…’ And to Lidiya Avilova: ‘I’m completing a story which is very boring, as there’s a complete absence of women and any love interest. I can’t stand such stories and I wrote it rather at random, flippantly’ (29 April 1892). P. A. Arkhangelsky, whom Chekhov had assisted in his rural hospital at Chikino, recalled that in the late eighties and early nineties Chekhov had shown great interest in his Account of an Inspection of Russian Psychiatric Institutions (1887), of which Chekhov had seen proofs at Babkino. In this book there was mention of the use of fists to discipline inmates of lunatic asylums that resembled prisons, where doctors only occasionally visited the inmates – who were at the ‘full disposal’ of the warder.

The description of conditions in the hospital in ‘Ward No. 6’ is very close to that of the prison sickbays in chapter 23 of The Island of Sakhalin (1893–5), where Chekhov paints a dreadful picture of the insane being kept in the same wards as syphilitics and of the appallingly unhygienic conditions. One commentator remarks: ‘One can speak of “Ward No. 6” as being dictated by Sakhalin… the warder Nikita, the people behind bars and much else that Chekhov first saw on Sakhalin’ (A. Roskin: A. P. Chekhov: Articles and Sketches, Moscow, 1959). In a letter to Lavrov of 25 November 1892 Chekhov stresses his own distaste for the story which ‘reeks of the hospital and morgue’.

At the time of writing Chekhov was extremely interested in the Stoic philosophers, especially Marcus Aurelius, whose name is mentioned in ‘A Dreary Story’ and three times in letters of this period. His copy of the Meditations, in Prince L. Urusov’s translation (Tula, 1882) was very heavily annotated.

1. Order of St Stanislas: Awarded for merit in peace or war, first introduced by Peter the Great.

2. Pushkin: Aleksandr Pushkin (1799–1837) suffered for two days after being fatally wounded in the stomach, in a duel with Georges D’Anthès.

3. Heine: Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) suffered for the last eight years of his life from a crippling spinal disease.

4. white tie: Normally worn by doctors at this time (cf. also ‘A Dreary Story’).

5. Svyatogorsk Monastery: Near Pskov. Burial place of Pushkin.

6. The Physician: At the back of this medical magazine (published from 1880) was a chronicle of events, small news items, obituaries, etc.

7. isn’t it time for your beer?: According to the short story writer A. I. Kuprin, the mistress of the bibulous poet and friend of Chekhov’s, L. I. Palmin, would use this phrase. Chekhov was apparently annoyed when Kuprin tactlessly remarked that this was the origin of the phrase in ‘Ward No. 6’.

8. Pirogov: N. I. Pirogov (1810–81), famous surgeon, Professor at St Petersburg Medico-Surgical Academy (cf. ‘A Dreary Story’).

9. Pasteur: Louis Pasteur (1822–95), French chemist and biologist. Discovered role of microorganisms in human and animal disease.

10. Koch: Robert Koch (1843–1910), German bacteriologist, established bacterial origin of anthrax, tuberculosis and cholera.

11. psychiatry with its current classification…: In Chekhov’s library was A Course in Psychiatry (1893) by S. S. Korsakov. In this book Korsakov advocated the latest diagnostic methods and the establishment of psychiatric clinics. Korsakov strongly opposed straitjackets.

12. Someone in Voltaire or Dostoyevsky…: Voltaire’s famous phrase is quoted in Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov (1879–80), book 5, chapter 3. The original phrase occurs in Voltaire’s Epîtres, xcvi: A l’Auteur du Livre des Trois Imposteurs: ‘Si Dieu n’existait pas, il faudrait l’inventer.’

13. Diogenes: Diogenes (born c. 412 BC), celebrated Cynic philosopher, frequently mentioned by Chekhov. He was distinguished for his asceticism and austerity of life. He was said to have rolled in hot sand in summer, to have embraced snow-covered statues in winter, to have lived on the simplest food and to have finally taken up residence in a tub. In an amusing letter to A. S. Suvorin of September 1891, Chekhov accuses the great philosophers, convinced of their own impunity, of being ‘as despotic as generals’. In this respect he calls Tolstoy a ‘latter-day Diogenes’.

14. Marcus Aurelius: Marcus Aurelius (AD 121–180), Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher who gave his view of life in his famous Meditations. Chekhov frequently quotes Aurelius (especially in ‘A Dreary Story’) and had a much-used Russian translation in his library (and see ‘The Black Monk’, note 14, p. 325).

15.… but prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane…: The biblical reference is: ‘O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done’, Matthew 26:42.

16. Pripet marshes: In southern Belorus. The River Pripet is a tributary of the Dnieper, flowing through an extensive area of forest and marsh.

17. Iverian Madonna: Situated in the Iverian Chapel, near Red Square. Most celebrated icon in Moscow.

18. Tsar-Cannon and the Tsar-Bell: Both in Moscow Kremlin. The Tsar-Cannon, one of the largest cannon ever made. Cast in 1586, it has never been fired. The Tsar-Bell, weighing 200 tons, is the largest in the world.

19. St Saviour’s Temple and the Rumyantsev Museum: St Saviour’s Temple, a memorial to the Napoleonic Wars (1812–14: Napoleon had invaded Russia in 1812); Rumyantsev Museum, a famous museum and art gallery, founded through the beneficence of Count N. Rumyantsev in 1787.

20. Testov’s: A well-known restaurant.

21. V. M. Lavrov (1852–1912), editor of radical journal Russian Thought. Chekhov met him in the mid eighties.

Ariadna

‘Ariadna’ was first published in Russian Thought, 1895. In revising this story for his collected works Chekhov made significant cuts of what he considered superfluous detail that interfered with the development of the main story. It was originally written for the journal The Artist, but when the editor of Russian Thought, Lavrov, informed Chekhov that The Artist had ‘crashed’ Chekhov asked for the story to be printed in Russian Thought. Although Chekhov did not think this story was suitable for Russian Thought and had strong reservations, Lavrov was very pleased with it and ‘Ariadna’ was printed in his journal in December of that year.

1. Sevastopol: Port and naval base in Crimea. The scene of the famous siege of 1854–5.

2. Volochisk: Frontier station in north-west Ukraine, on the border with Austria.

3. Max Nordau: Hungarian philosopher and publicist (1849–1923). In a letter to Suvorin (27 March 1894) Chekhov writes: ‘I’m sick and tired of arguments and I read such idle loud-mouths as Nordau with revulsion.’ Chekhov had possibly read in the early nineties some of Nordau’s works in Russian translation: Degeneration (1893) and The Disease of the Age (1893).

4. Veltman: A. F. Veltman (or Weltman) (1800–70), minor author of historical novels of great length. Chekhov here refers to the story ‘Salome’ (1848), from the first volume of a five-volume epic, Adventures Drawn from the Sea of Life, which took twenty-five years to write.

5. Novodevichy Convent: In southern Moscow.

6. Slav Fair Hotel: Large hotel in central Moscow, where Chekhov often stayed. It is mentioned in ‘Peasants’ as the hotel where Chikildeyev worked as a waiter.

7. Hermitage: Well-known restaurant in Trubny Square, Moscow.

8. Tiflis: Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, a favourite watering-place famous for its warm sulphur springs and with many literary associations.

9. Abbazia: Opatiya, seaside resort on Bay of Fiume; now in Croatia, it belonged to Austria before 1914. In letters of 3 and 4 October 1894 to the architect F. O. Shekhtel, Chekhov first calls Abbazia ‘splendid’ and then ‘boring’, infinitely preferring the French Riviera.

10. Fiume: Rijeka, chief port of Croatia. Austro-Hungarian before First World War, it was seized by Italy and then passed to Yugoslavia.

11. Merano: Alpine spa town in northern Italy. Very popular with nineteenth-century aristocracy.

12. Boleslav Markevich: Minor reactionary novelist (1822–84) and, as it happened, an inveterate enemy of Turgenev. Had been guest of the Kiselevs at Babkino, where Chekhov met him, considering him pompous and a third-rate writer.

13. non habeo: ‘I don’t have any.’

14. Addio, bella Napoli: ‘Farewell, beautiful Naples.’

15. Yalta: Seaside resort on Crimean coast, home of Chekhov for many years.

16.… don’t go telling them…: In K. A. Skalkovsky’s compilation Of Women (1886–95), well known to Chekhov, there had appeared a chapter headed: ‘Of female intellect and erudition.’ Skalkovsky had tried to show, with allusions to Schopenhauer and Nicolas Chamfort, that women were inferior to men because their skulls and brains were smaller. Chekhov had earlier ridiculed this book in 1886 in his humorous piece: ‘Oh, women!’

The Black Monk

‘The Black Monk’ was first published in the struggling journal The Artist, 1894, and then in the collection of that year, Tales and Stories. Chekhov turned down Suvorin’s offer to print it in the newspaper New Times as he did not always want his stories to be printed with the words: ‘to be continued’. The editor of the The Artist, F. A. Kumanin, had pleaded with Chekhov to support his journal. When asked by Chekhov’s friend, the playwright L. L. Leontyev-Shcheglov (1855–1911), if he had given him something for The Artist Kumanin replied: ‘Yes, he gave me a little story, but not very good, I must confess. Even a bit wishy-washy and unnatural’ (22 September 1893). But Kumanin was led more by Chekhov’s reputation and what it would do for his journal than its literary merit. After Kumanin’s death his widow asked Chekhov permission to reprint ‘The Black Monk’ in the journal The Reader, but Chekhov refused.

This story directly reflects life at Melikhovo, where it was written. Chekhov was a keen gardener and his brother Mikhail records: ‘From very early morning he went out into the garden and spent a long time inspecting every fruit tree, every shrub, pruned them or squatted for some time by the trunk, observing something’ (M. P. Chekhov, Around Chekhov, Moscow/Leningrad, 1933). Mikhail also records several concrete events reflected further in the story: for example, when Lika Mizinova sat at the piano and played the then popular Wallachian Legend of Braga (see note 3, p. 325). Chekhov’s brother also records conversations about mirages, refraction of the sun’s rays through the air. Chekhov was in very low spirits when he wrote ‘The Black Monk’, but in answer to Suvorin’s statement that he had portrayed himself in Kovrin, Chekhov replied: ‘I seem to be mentally healthy. True, I don’t have any particular desire to live, but as yet this isn’t an illness in the true sense of the word, but something transient and normal in life. At any rate, if an author portrays someone who is mentally ill that doesn’t mean that he himself is. I wrote “The Black Monk” without any melancholy thoughts, in cold reflection. I simply had the urge to depict megalomania. I dreamt of the monk who floats over the field and when I woke up I wrote about him to Misha’ (Chekhov’s brother Mikhail) (letter of 25 January 1894). According to Mikhail, Chekhov was in a highly-strung state at Melikhovo and had a terrible nightmare about a black monk. At the time of writing this story Chekhov was particularly interested in psychiatry and had conversations with the famous psychiatrist V. I. Yakovenko at Melikhovo.

1. Oporto: A variety of eating-apple, very large and juicy and known for its long-lasting qualities.

2. Onegin, I will not hide it…: Gremin’s aria from Tchaikovsky’s opera, Eugene Onegin (1878, libretto by Tchaikovsky and K. S. Shilovsky).

3. Braga’s famous Serenade: Gaetano Braga (1829–1907), Italian composer. The Serenade is otherwise known as Wallachian Legend. Chekhov’s brother Mikhail records Chekhov saying that he found ‘something mystical, full of beautiful romanticism in this romance’ (M. P. Chekhov, Around Chekhov, Moscow/Leningrad, 1933).

4. Gaucher’s article: Nikolaus Gaucher (1846–1911), celebrated French horticulturalist, widely read in Russia. Chekhov, a keen and accomplished gardener, was familiar with his books; among them were Guide to Grafting of Trees and Shrubs and Guide to Fruit Growing for the Practical Gardener.

5. Pesotsky is monarch of all he surveys: Lit. ‘Kochubey is rich and famous’, a line from Pushkin’s narrative poem Poltava (1829).

6. audiatur altera pars: ‘Let the other side be heard.’

7. sapienti sat: ‘Enough for a wise man.’

8. ‘In my Father’s house…’: John 14:2.

9. mens sana in corpore sano: ‘A sound mind in a sound body’, Juvenal (AD 60–130), Satires, x.

10. The Fast of the Assumption: (or Feast) 15 August.

11. Polycrates: Tyrant of Samos. Built up a large navy. Lured to the Greek mainland by Oroetes, Satrap of Sardis, he was crucified in 522 BC.

12. Socrates: Celebrated Athenian philosopher (c. 470–399 BC) who held that virtue is understanding. Sentenced to death for corrupting the youth of Athens.

13. Diogenes: See ‘Ward No. 6’, note 13, p. 321. Features prominently in the discussion between Ragin and Gromov in this story.

14. Marcus Aurelius: See ‘Ward No. 6’, note 14, p. 322. In his argument with Ragin in ‘Ward No. 6’, Gromov supports his idea that sufficient hardship or torture will break down any man’s fortitude.

15. ‘Rejoice evermore’: St Paul’s First Epistle to the Thessalonians 5:16.

16. the eve of Elijah’s Day: Evening of 20 July.

17. jalap: Mexican climbing plant (Exogonium purga).

Murder

‘Murder’ was first published in Russian Thought, 1895, originally with the subtitle ‘A Story’. To intensify the emotional impact Chekhov significantly shortened this story for the collected edition of his works, cutting out lengthy descriptions and extended reflections on the part of the main characters. ‘Murder’ had been fermenting for some time in Chekhov’s mind, as is shown by copious notes in his Note Books for 1892–5. It was written shortly after the death of N. S. Leskov (1831–95), who had given the most powerful and intimately knowledgeable portraits of sectarianism and fanaticism in Russian literature.

There are very strong echoes of Chekhov’s Sakhalin experiences in the story and the character of Yakov Ivanych is possibly based on an actual convict. There are also many passages reflecting conditions on Sakhalin – the descriptions of the convicts’ labours, the unloading of the ships, the description of the gulf and coast, the appalling weather.

1. ‘Song of Archangels’: Solemn canticle for Festival of the Annunciation. In a letter of 1892 Chekhov describes how he sang it in church with his brothers as a child.

2. St Andrew’s Vigil and the Te Deum: This canon was sung during first week of Lent.

3. already reading the Acts and the Epistles: The reading of these during Mass was entrusted to the particularly devout.

4. Mount Athos: Athos – a Greek peninsula in Chalcidice (Macedonia), with numerous monasteries and churches, the object of pilgrimages since the eleventh century.

5. Molokans: Religious sect formed in the eighteenth century. A clean-living, industrious people, their name derived from their drinking of milk on fast days, contrary to Orthodox practice. In the hope that the Kingdom of Christ would be revealed in the Trans-Caucasian regions, they flocked there from the 1830s onwards.

6. Forgiveness Day: Last Sunday before Lent.

7. ‘voice of one crying in the wilderness’: Matthew 3:3. Chekhov often used this phrase in letters and stories.

8. dormeuses: Carriages adapted for sleeping.

9. Flagellant meetings… went around in a white kerchief: The Flagellants, in existence since the church schism of the seventeenth century, led a particularly austere life. Renowned for their neat dress and purity. As a symbol of this clean living, the women members went around in snow-white kerchiefs.

10. Matthew 5:24.

11. Dué Roads: The convict settlement at Dué is described in Chekhov’s The Island of Sakhalin (serialized 1893–5); trans. B. Reeves (Cambridge: Ian Faulkner, 1993).

12. Voyevoda prison: Chekhov gives a chilling account of this grimmest of prisons in chapter 8 of The Island of Sakhalin. Prisoners were chained to wheelbarrows and the whole place was swarming with bugs. (The prison at Dué is described in the same chapter.)

A Woman’s Kingdom

First published in Russian Thought, 1894, then in the collection Tales and Stories, 1894. Much material for this story possibly came from Chekhov’s experience at a cotton factory in Voskresensk, whose owner was A. S. Tsurikova, an educated woman who loved to be philanthropic and who was a trustee of the school where Chekhov’s brother Ivan was a teacher. In a letter to A. S. Suvorin of 18 December 1893 Chekhov had announced that the story – a ‘description of a certain spinster’ – would be appearing in the January issue of Russian Thought. Originally, the story was planned on a much larger scale.

1. Old Creed: The supporters of the Old Creed (Old Believers or Nonconformists) broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church in the seventeenth century, refusing to recognize the reforms in ritual and correction of prayer books introduced by Patriarch Nikon.

2. ‘Thy Nativity…’: Troparion (hymn) for Christmas.

3. brown coat over his tunic: Students at schools and universities wore uniform at that time.

4. actual state councillor: An actual state councillor was fourth highest in the Table of Ranks instituted by Peter the Great in 1722.

5. ribbon of St Anne: Decoration for civic and military distinction, worn around the neck.

6. Leconte de Lisle: Charles Marie René, Leconte de Lisle (1818–94), French poet, leader of the Parnassian school.

7. Duse’s: Eleonora Duse (1859–1924), Italian actress who toured Russia in 1891–2. Famous for roles in Ibsen and D’Annunzio.

8. turbot matelote: Turbot cooked in a wine sauce.

9. Old Believer’s blood: Cf. note 1 above.

10. Jules Verne: French writer (1828–1905) of adventure stories. Chekhov had parodied him in his early Flying Islands (1883).

11. Maupassant: Guy de Maupassant (1850–93), French writer, greatly admired by Chekhov and a strong influence.

12. His last work exhausted, intoxicated me!: Possibly a reference to Maupassant’s Bel-Ami (1885).

13. simoom: A dry, suffocating, dust-laden wind blowing in African and Asiatic (Arabian) deserts in spring and summer.

The Two Volodyas

This story was first published in Russian Gazette, 1893, then in the collection Tales and Stories, 1894. At the time of printing Chekhov was furious with the editors of the magazine for cutting out apparently risqué passages, writing in December 1893 to V. A. Goltsev, co-editor of Russian Thought: ‘Oh, my story in Russian Gazette has been shorn so severely that they’ve cut off the head with the hair. Such puerile chastity and amazing cowardice! If they’d only thrown out a few lines that wouldn’t have been so bad, but they’ve brushed aside the middle, gnawed off the end and so drained my story of colour that it makes me sick.’

In preparing the story for the collected edition of his works, Chekhov made a number of stylistic corrections and changes. In particular, a passage containing severe criticism by the heroine of her husband and father who were to blame for her failure, was cut out.

1. as Derzhavin had blessed Pushkin: The aged poet Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin (1743–1816) had blessed Pushkin as a schoolboy when he recited his celebratory poem before him at Tsarskoye Selo.

2. Ta-ra-ra-boomdeay: Lit. Tararabumbiya, a Russian version of refrain to famous French song of Parisian demi-monde at end of nineteenth century, Tha ma ra boum die (cf. A. Langux, Amours, 1900; 1961). This expression is also used by Chebutykin at the close of Three Sisters.

3. Why this sudden passion… horseradish?: Chekhov here almost literally quotes a passage from ‘Cultured People’ (1876), an article by the satirical novelist and publicist M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin (1826–89). He quotes the same passage in a letter to Suvorin (2 May 1897), when he writes: ‘I really don’t know what to do with myself and what’s beneficial for my health: a constitution or sturgeon with horseradish.’ In his article Saltykov-Shchedrin had ridiculed liberals, whose dreams of a constitution easily changed into dreams of sturgeon with horseradish.

4. Schopenhauers: Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860), German pessimistic philosopher. There are echoes of Schopenhauer in many of Chekhov’s stories, e.g., ‘A Dreary Story’.

Three Years

The most ‘novelistic’ in scope and length of Chekhov’s stories, ‘Three Years’ was first published in Russian Thought, 1895. For the collected edition the story underwent heavy revision, especially in the characterization of Laptev and his friends, and his relationship with Julia.

In a letter of September 1894 Chekhov wrote to his sister that he was writing ‘a novel based on Moscow life’, describing the work as most laborious. In December of that year he wrote to a female friend, E. M. Shavrova: ‘The intention was one thing, but something rather different resulted – rather limp, not silk as I wanted, but cambric… I’m bored with the same thing over and over again. I want to write about devils, about terrifying, volcanic women, about sorcerers – but alas! People demand well-intentioned stories and tales from the lives of so many Ivan Gavriloviches and their wives.’

Chekhov had first considered offering the story to the magazine Niva (The Cornfield ), but he could not promise to complete this long work in time for the editor’s deadline. Original titles suggested by Chekhov were ‘Scenes from Family Life’, ‘From Family Life’, and simply ‘A Story’. In January 1895 he wrote furiously to Suvorin, complaining that the censors had ‘thrown out the lines referring to religion’ – adding that as a result, when writing, he always felt he had ‘a bone stuck in my throat’.

1. Sokolniki: District in north-east Moscow, with a large pleasure park, highly popular for summer outings. Named after the royal falconers (sokolniki) who lived there in the seventeenth century.

2. Pyatnitsky Street: Long thoroughfare in the merchant quarter, south of the Moscow River.

3. Khimki: River port to north-west of Moscow.

4. wretched existence of yokels…: Lit. ‘from the point of view of landscape and Anton Goremyka’. Anton Goremyka (Anton the Wretched), eponymous hero of sentimental, humanitarian novel (1847) of that name by D. V. Grigorovich (1822–99), where peasants were depicted against a background of idyllic nature.

5. as the servant says in Tolstoy, ‘everything will sort itself out…’: Anna Karenina, part I, chapter 2.

6. The Bells of Corneville: Comic operetta (1877) by French composer Robert Planquette (1848–1903).

7. Tambov: Large town about 300 miles south-east of Moscow, founded in 1636 as a stronghold in the Muscovite southern defence line against the Crimean Tatars.

8. Kashira: Town about seventy miles south of Moscow.

9. Fley’s: Well-known patisserie in central Moscow.

10. Vologda: Ancient town about 300 miles north of Moscow. Once an important trading point.

11. Nikolsky Street: A main thoroughfare leading from Red Square.

12. what sanctimonious nonsense!: Lit: ‘just like Saltykov’s Iudushka’. Reference to M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin’s novel The Golovlyov Family, in which Iudushka is the archetypal canting hypocrite.

13. The Prophet Samuel…: 1 Samuel 16:4–5.

14. Anton Rubinstein: Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein (1830–94), pianist and prolific composer.

15. Conservatoire: Founded in 1864 by Anton Rubinstein’s brother Nikolay.

16. Guerrier’s courses: V. I. Guerrier (1837–1919) was Professor of History at Moscow University.

17. Ostozhenka Street: In south-west Moscow. Savelovsky Street leads off it.

18. Great Nikitsky Street: In western Moscow.

19. Reinheit: ‘Purity’ (Germ.). Apparently this was one of the virtues Chekhov demanded in his female friends.

20. Presnya: District in western Moscow.

21. basta: ‘Enough’ (Ital.).

22. Razgulyay Square: In north-west Moscow.

23. Little Dmitrovka Street: In north-west Moscow. Chekhov liked this street so much that he lived in three different houses there. During the Soviet period it was named after him.

24. Old St Pimen’s Church: About 400 metres west of Little Dmitrovka Street.

25. Strastnoy Boulevard: In northern Moscow. The Tver Road was the point of departure for the St Petersburg stagecoach and Moscow’s main thoroughfare.

26. Iverian Chapel: Site of miracle-working Iverian Madonna icon, near Red Square. Built in 1669 it was one of the most highly revered places of worship in Russia. See also ‘Ward No. 6’, note 17, p. 322.

27. Filippov’s: Before the Revolution Moscow’s most fashionable coffeehouse. Ornately decorated, it was founded by the court baker.

28. Volokolamsk: Small town about sixty miles north-west of Moscow.

29. Maid of Orleans: Opera (1881) by Tchaikovsky, after the play by Schiller.

30. Marya Yermolov: Famous actress (1853–1928) of the time who spent five decades at the Maly Theatre.

31. Dresden Hotel: Near the Tver Road, in central Moscow.

32.…he told Pyotr, ‘You are not a sturgeon.’: The Russian for sturgeon is osyotr, thereby rhyming with Pyotr. In fact, a very weak joke, but funny as it is so very bad.

33. ‘In the sweat of thy face…’: Genesis 3:19.

34. Merchants’ Club: In Little Dmitrovka Street.

35. Yar’s: Highly popular out-of-town restaurant in Petrovsky Park, to north-west of Moscow.

36. Strelna: Like Yar’s, situated in Petrovsky Park. Baedeker describes both these restaurants as: ‘much frequented in the evening (not cheap)’.

37. School of Art: In north-west Moscow.

38. Shishkin: I. I. Shishkin (1832–98), landscape painter. In a letter of November 1892 to Suvorin, Chekhov wrote disparagingly of two leading Russian painters: ‘Do the paintings of Repin and Shishkin turn your head?… They’re charming, talented, you admire them. But at the same time you’re dying for a smoke.’

39. Exaltation of the Cross: Celebrated on 14 September.

40. Yaroslavl: Large town about 200 miles north-east of Moscow.

41. ‘My dear, tender love’: Words from Pushkin’s poem Night (1827), set to music by Anton Rubinstein.

42. Krasny Prud: ‘Red Pond’ – in north-west Moscow, about three miles from Red Square.

43. Lyapunovs and Godunovs… Yaroslav or Monomakh… Pimen’s soliloquy: P. P. Lyapunov (d. 1611), national hero against invading Poles in early seventeenth century; Boris Godunov (1552–1605) was first Regent and then Tsar of Russia from 1598 until his death; Yaroslav I, ‘The Wise’, Prince of Kiev from 1019 to 1054; Vladimir Monomakh, Prince of Kiev from 1113 to 1125; a famous speech from Pushkin’s historical drama Boris Godunov (1831).

44. Polovtsians: Cumans – Turkic-speaking people who battled against Kievan Russia.

45. St Alexis Cemetery: To north of Moscow.

46. You don’t need brains to have babies!: Inaccurate quotation from A. S. Griboyedov’s (1797–1829) famous comedy Woe from Wit (1823–4).

47. European Herald: Liberal monthly published 1860–1918 in St Petersburg. Devoted equally to history, politics and literature.

48. lying in a valley in Daghestan…: Reference to M. Lermontov’s poem The Dream (1841).

49. Ivan the Terrible: Lit. Malyuta Skuratov, most depraved of the oprichniki, Ivan the Terrible’s elite militia, who had total licence to torture, kill, burn and loot.

50. the Exhibition: The World’s Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago in 1893.

The Student

Originally entitled ‘In the Evening’, ‘The Student’ was first published in the Russian Gazette, 1894, and then in the collection Tales and Stories of the same year. Evidently written in Yalta, this story was Chekhov’s favourite. When preparing this story for the 1894 Tales and Stories Chekhov introduced three significant additions: he intensified Velikopolsky’s reaction to his surroundings with the phrase ‘He peered into the surrounding darkness, violently jerked his head and asked…’; gave a clearer explanation why Vasilisa was crying; and at the end of the story strengthened the affirmation of eternity and the continuity of truth and beauty in the world.

This story is saturated with biblical allusions and quotations, of which the principal ones are given here. Commenting on the religious background to Chekhov’s difficult childhood, Ivan Bunin remarked: ‘… its only justification is that had there been no church choir and choral practice, no intimate knowledge of church services and simple believers, there would have been no “Easter Night”, no “Student”, no “Bishop” and perhaps no “Murder”…’ (I. A. Bunin, Sobranie Sochinenii, vol. 9, Moscow, 1965–7).

1. Ryurik, Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great: Ryurik (d. 879), first Varangian (Viking) prince of Russia. He established control of Novgorod and his descendants ruled Russia until 1598; Ivan the Terrible (1530–84), Tsar of Russia from 1547; Peter the Great (1672–1725), Tsar of Russia, 1682–1725. Westernized Russian institutions and founded St Petersburg.

2. ‘I am ready to go with Thee…’: Luke 22:33–4.

3. ‘and meanwhile the workmen…’: A distinct echo of: ‘And the servants and officers stood there, who had made a fire of coals; for it was cold: and they warmed themselves: and Peter stood with them, and warmed himself’ John 18:18.

4. ‘This man was also with Jesus’: Cf. ‘This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth’, Matthew 26:71.

5. ‘I know him not’: Luke 22:57.

6. ‘Did I not see you in the garden with Him this day?’: Cf. ‘Did not I see thee in the garden with him?’, John 18:26.

7.… he left the hall and wept bitterly’: ‘And he went out, and wept bitterly’, Matthew 26:75.