Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends with biographical sketchTo exhaustion, boredom, and the feeling of guilt add one moreenemy: loneliness. Were Ivanov an official, an actor, a priest, a professor,he would have grown used to his position. But he lives on hisestate. He is in the country. His neighbours are either drunkards orfond of cards, or are of the same type as the doctor. None of themcare about his feelings or the change that has taken place in him. Heis lonely. Long winters, long evenings, an empty garden, emptyrooms, the grumbling Count, the ailing wife …. He has nowhere togo. This is why he is every minute tortured by the question: what ishe to do with himself?Now about his fifth enemy. Ivanov is tired and does not understandhimself, but life has nothing to do with that! It makes itslegitimate demands upon him, and whether he will or no, he mustsettle problems. His sick wife is a problem, his numerous debts area problem, Sasha flinging herself on his neck is a problem. The wayin which he settles all these problems must be evident from his monologuein Act III., and from the contents of the last two acts. Menlike Ivanov do not solve difficulties but collapse under their weight.They lose their heads, gesticulate, become nervous, complain, dosilly things, and finally, giving rein to their flabby, undisciplinednerves, lose the ground under their feet and enter the class of the“broken down” and “misunderstood.”Disappointment, apathy, nervous limpness and exhaustion are theinevitable consequence of extreme excitability, and such excitabilityis extremely characteristic of our young people. Take literature. Takethe present time …. Socialism is one of the forms of this excitement.But where is socialism? You see it in Tihomirov’s letter to theTsar. The socialists are married and are criticizing the Zemstvo. Whereis Liberalism? Mihailovsky himself says that all the labels have beenmixed up now. And what are all the Russian enthusiasms worth?The war has wearied us, Bulgaria has wearied us till we can only beironical about it. Zucchi has wearied us and so has the comic opera.Exhaustion (Dr. Bertensen will confirm this) finds expression notonly in complaining or the sensation of boredom. The life of anover-tired man cannot be represented like this:106