Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Anton Chekhovnot by their courage and dexterity, but by their complaints, whiningsand failures. She is the sort of girl who loves a man when he is goingdownhill. The moment Ivanov loses heart the young lady is on thespot! That’s just what she was waiting for. Just think of it, she nowhas such a holy, such a grateful task before her! She will raise up thefallen one, set him on his feet, make him happy …. It is not Ivanovshe loves, but this task. Argenton in Daudet’s book says, “Life is nota novel.” Sasha does not know this. She does not know that forIvanov love is only a fresh complication, an extra stab in the back.And what comes of it? She struggles with him for a whole year and,instead of being raised, he sinks lower and lower.… In my description of Ivanov there often occurs the word “Russian.”Don’t be cross about it. When I was writing the play I had inmind only the things that really matter—that is, only the typicalRussian characteristics. Thus the extreme excitability, the feeling ofguilt, the liability to become exhausted are purely Russian. Germansare never excited, and that is why Germany knows nothing ofdisappointed, superfluous, or over-tired people …. The excitabilityof the French is always maintained at one and the same level, andmakes no sudden bounds or falls, and so a Frenchman is normallyexcited down to a decrepit old age. In other words, the French donot have to waste their strength in over-excitement; they spend theirpowers sensibly, and do not go bankrupt.… Ivanov and Lvov appear to my imagination to be living people.I tell you honestly, in all conscience, these men were born in myhead, not by accident, not out of sea foam, or preconceived “intellectual”ideas. They are the result of observing and studying life.They stand in my brain, and I feel that I have not falsified the truthnor exaggerated it a jot. If on paper they have not come out clearand living, the fault is not in them but in me, for not being able toexpress my thoughts. It shows it is too early for me to begin writingplays.109