Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University
Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University
Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends with biographical sketchTO HIS BROTHER ALEXANDR.ALEXIN, July, 1891.MY PHOTOGRAPHIC AND PROLIFIC BROTHER!I got a letter from you a long time ago with the photographs ofSemashko, but I haven’t answered till now, because I have been allthe time trying to formulate the great thoughts befitting my answer.All our people are alive and well, we often talk of you, and regretthat your prolificness prevents you from coming to us here whereyou would be very welcome. Father, as I have written to you already,has thrown up Ivanygortch, and is living with us. Suvorin hasbeen here twice; he talked about you, and caught fish. I am up tomy neck in work with Sahalin, and other things no less wearisomeand hard labour. I dream of winning forty thousand, so as to cutmyself off completely from writing, which I am sick of, to buy alittle bit of land and live like a hermit in idle seclusion, with youand Ivan in the neighbourhood—I dream of presenting you withfifteen acres each as poor relations. Altogether I have a dreary existence,I am sick of toiling over lines and halfpence, and old age iscreeping nearer and nearer.Your last story, in my opinion, shared by Suvorin, is good. Whydo you write so little?The zoologist V. A. Wagner, who took his degree with you, isstaying in the same courtyard. He is writing a very solid dissertation.Kisilyov, the artist, is living in the same yard too. We go walkstogether in the evenings and discuss philosophy ….258
Anton ChekhovTO A. S. SUVORIN.BOGIMOVO, July 24, 1891.… Thanks for the five kopecks addition. Alas, it will not settle mydifficulties! To save up a reserve, as you write, and extricate myselffrom the abyss of halfpenny anxieties and petty terrors, there is onlyone resource left me—an immoral one. To marry a rich woman orgive out Anna Karenin as my work. And as that is impossible Idismiss my difficulties in despair and let things go as they please.You once praised Rod, a French writer, and told me Tolstoy likedhim. The other day I happened to read a novel of his and flung upmy hands in amazement. He is equivalent to our Matchtet, only alittle more intelligent. There is a terrible deal of affectation, dreariness,straining after originality, and as little of anything artistic asthere was salt in that porridge we cooked in the evening at Bogimovo.In the preface this Rod regrets that he was in the past a “naturalist,”and rejoices that the spiritualism of the latest recruits of literaturehas replaced materialism. Boyish boastfulness which is at the sametime coarse and clumsy …. “If we are not as talented as you, MonsieurZola, to make up for it we believe in God.” …259
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<strong>Anton</strong> <strong>Chekhov</strong>TO A. S. SUVORIN.BOGIMOVO, July 24, 1891.… Thanks for the five kopecks addition. Alas, it will not settle mydifficulties! To save up a reserve, as you write, and extricate myselffrom the abyss <strong>of</strong> halfpenny anxieties and petty terrors, there is onlyone resource left me—an immoral one. To marry a rich woman orgive out Anna Karenin as my work. And as that is impossible Idismiss my difficulties in despair and let things go as they please.You once praised Rod, a French writer, and told me Tolstoy likedhim. The other day I happened to read a novel <strong>of</strong> his and flung upmy hands in amazement. He is equivalent to our Matchtet, only alittle more intelligent. There is a terrible deal <strong>of</strong> affectation, dreariness,straining after originality, and as little <strong>of</strong> anything artistic asthere was salt in that porridge we cooked in the evening at Bogimovo.In the preface this Rod regrets that he was in the past a “naturalist,”and rejoices that the spiritualism <strong>of</strong> the latest recruits <strong>of</strong> literaturehas replaced materialism. Boyish boastfulness which is at the sametime coarse and clumsy …. “If we are not as talented as you, MonsieurZola, to make up for it we believe in God.” …259
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