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 sketchthe Ravine.” The detestable spring of that year affected his moodand his health even more. Snow fell on the 5th of March, and thishad a shattering effect on him. In April he was again very ill. Anattack of intestinal trouble prevented him from eating, drinking, orworking. As soon as it was over Chekhov, homesick for the north,set off for Moscow, but there he was met by severe weather. Returningin August to Yalta, he wrote “The Three Sisters.”He spent the autumn in Moscow, and at the beginning of Decemberwent to the French Riviera, settled in Nice, and dreamedagain of a visit to Africa, but went instead to Rome. Here, as usual,he met with severe weather. Early in February he returned to Yalta.That year there was a soft, sunny spring. Chekhov spent whole daysin the open air, engaged in his favourite occupations; he plantedand pruned trees, looked after his garden, ordered all sorts of seeds,and watched them coming up. At the same time he was working onbehalf of the invalids coming to Yalta, who appealed to him forhelp, and also completing the library he had founded at Taganrog,and planning to open a picture gallery there.In May, 1901, Chekhov went to Moscow and was thoroughlyexamined by a physician, who urged him to go at once to Switzerlandor to take a koumiss cure. Chekhov preferred the latter.On the 25th of May he married Olga Knipper, one of the leadingactresses at the Art Theatre, and with her went off to the province ofUfa for the koumiss cure. On the way they had to wait twenty-fourhours for a steamer, in very unpleasant surroundings, at a place calledPyany Bor (“Drunken Market”), in the province of Vyatka.In the autumn of 1901 Tolstoy was staying, for the sake of hishealth, at Gaspra. Chekhov was very fond of him and frequentlyvisited him. Altogether that autumn was an eventful one for him:Kuprin, Bunin and Gorky visited the Crimea; the writer Elpatyevskysettled there also, and Chekhov felt fairly well. Tolstoy’s illness wasthe centre of general attention, and Chekhov was very uneasy abouthim.In 1902 there was suddenly a change for the worse: violenthaemorrhage exhausted him till the beginning of February; he wasfor over a month confined to his study. It was at this time that theincident of Gorky’s election to the Academy and subsequent expul-28
Anton Chekhovsion from it led Chekhov to write a letter to the Royal President ofthe Academy asking that his own name should be struck off the listof Academicians.Chekhov had hardly recovered when his wife was taken seriouslyill. When she was a little better he made a tour by the Volga and theKama as far as Perm. On his return he settled with his wife in asummer villa not far from Moscow; he spent July there and returnedhome to Yalta in August. But the longing for a life of movementand culture, the desire to be nearer to the theatre, drew him to thenorth again, and in September he was back in Moscow. Here he wasnot left in peace for one minute; swarms of visitors jostled eachother from morning till night. Such a life exhausted him; he ranaway from it to Yalta in December, but did not escape it there. Hiscough was worse; every day he had a high temperature, and thesesymptoms were followed by an attack of pleurisy. He did not get upall through the Christmas holidays; he still had an agonizing cough,and it was in this enforced idleness that he thought out his play“The Cherry Orchard.”It is quite possible that if Chekhov had taken care of himself hisdisease would not have developed so rapidly or proved fatal. Thefeverish energy of his temperament, his readiness to respond to everyimpression, and his thirst for activity, drove him from south tonorth and hack again, regardless of his health and of the climate.Like all invalids, he ought to have gone on living in the same place,at Nice or at Yalta, until he was better, but he lived exactly as thoughhe had been in good health. When he arrived in the north he wasalways excited and absorbed by what was going on, and this exhilarationhe mistook for an improvement in his health; but he hadonly to return to Yalta for the reaction to set in, and it would seemto him at once that his case was hopeless, that the Crimea had nobeneficial effect on consumptives, and that the climate was wretched.The spring of 1903 passed fairly favourably. He recovered sufficientlyto go to Moscow and even to Petersburg. On returning fromPetersburg he began preparing to go to Switzerland. But his state ofhealth was such that his doctor in Moscow advised him to give upthe idea of Switzerland and even of Yalta, and to stay somewherenot very far from Moscow. He followed this advice and settled at29
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<strong>Letters</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Anton</strong> <strong>Chekhov</strong> to His Family and Friends with biographical sketchthe Ravine.” The detestable spring <strong>of</strong> that year affected his moodand his health even more. Snow fell on the 5th <strong>of</strong> March, and thishad a shattering effect on him. In April he was again very ill. Anattack <strong>of</strong> intestinal trouble prevented him from eating, drinking, orworking. As soon as it was over <strong>Chekhov</strong>, homesick for the north,set <strong>of</strong>f for Moscow, but there he was met by severe weather. Returningin August to Yalta, he wrote “The Three Sisters.”He spent the autumn in Moscow, and at the beginning <strong>of</strong> Decemberwent to the French Riviera, settled in Nice, and dreamedagain <strong>of</strong> a visit to Africa, but went instead to Rome. Here, as usual,he met with severe weather. Early in February he returned to Yalta.That year there was a s<strong>of</strong>t, sunny spring. <strong>Chekhov</strong> spent whole daysin the open air, engaged in his favourite occupations; he plantedand pruned trees, looked after his garden, ordered all sorts <strong>of</strong> seeds,and watched them coming up. At the same time he was working onbehalf <strong>of</strong> the invalids coming to Yalta, who appealed to him forhelp, and also completing the library he had founded at Taganrog,and planning to open a picture gallery there.In May, 1901, <strong>Chekhov</strong> went to Moscow and was thoroughlyexamined by a physician, who urged him to go at once to Switzerlandor to take a koumiss cure. <strong>Chekhov</strong> preferred the latter.On the 25th <strong>of</strong> May he married Olga Knipper, one <strong>of</strong> the leadingactresses at the Art Theatre, and with her went <strong>of</strong>f to the province <strong>of</strong>Ufa for the koumiss cure. On the way they had to wait twenty-fourhours for a steamer, in very unpleasant surroundings, at a place calledPyany Bor (“Drunken Market”), in the province <strong>of</strong> Vyatka.In the autumn <strong>of</strong> 1901 Tolstoy was staying, for the sake <strong>of</strong> hishealth, at Gaspra. <strong>Chekhov</strong> was very fond <strong>of</strong> him and frequentlyvisited him. Altogether that autumn was an eventful one for him:Kuprin, Bunin and Gorky visited the Crimea; the writer Elpatyevskysettled there also, and <strong>Chekhov</strong> felt fairly well. Tolstoy’s illness wasthe centre <strong>of</strong> general attention, and <strong>Chekhov</strong> was very uneasy abouthim.In 1902 there was suddenly a change for the worse: violenthaemorrhage exhausted him till the beginning <strong>of</strong> February; he wasfor over a month confined to his study. It was at this time that theincident <strong>of</strong> Gorky’s election to the Academy and subsequent expul-28
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