Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Anton ChekhovDecember 13.… With your permission I steal out of your last two letters to mysister two descriptions of nature for my stories. It is curious that youhave quite a masculine way of writing. In every line (except whendealing with children) you are a man! This, of course, ought to flatteryour vanity, for speaking generally, men are a thousand timesbetter than women, and superior to them.In Petersburg I was resting—i.e., for days together I was rushingabout town paying calls and listening to compliments which mysoul abhors. Alas and alack! In Petersburg I am becoming fashionablelike Nana. While Korolenko, who is serious, is hardly knownto the editors, my twaddle is being read by all Petersburg. Even thesenator G. reads me …. It is gratifying, but my literary feeling iswounded. I feel ashamed of the public which runs after lap-dogssimply because it fails to notice elephants, and I am deeply convincedthat not a soul will know me when I begin to work in earnest.45