Letters of Anton Chekhov (Tchekhov) - Penn State University

Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends with biographical sketchscribblers such as Okrects, Pince-Nez,* or Aloe.”**Allah forgive you if you were sincere when you wrote those words!A condescending and contemptuous tone towards humble peoplesimply because they are humble does no credit to the heart. In literaturethe lower ranks are as necessary as in the army—this is whatthe head says, and the heart ought to say still more.Ough! I have wearied you with my drawn-out reflections. Had Iknown my criticism would turn out so long I would not have writtenit. Please forgive me! …You have read my “On the Road.” Well, how do you like mycourage? I write of “intellectual” subjects and am not afraid. In PetersburgI excite a regular furore. A short time ago I discoursed uponnon-resistance to evil, and also surprised the public. On New Year’sDay all the papers presented me with a compliment, and in theDecember number of the Russkoye Bogatstvo, in which Tolstoy writes,there is an article thirty-two pages long by Obolensky entitled“Chekhov and Korolenko.” The fellow goes into raptures over meand proves that I am more of an artist than Korolenko. He is probablytalking rot, but, anyway, I am beginning to be conscious of onemerit of mine: I am the only writer who, without ever publishinganything in the thick monthlies, has merely on the strength of writingnewspaper rubbish won the attention of the lop-eared critics—there has been no instance of this before …. At the end of 1886 Ifelt as though I were a bone thrown to the dogs.… I have written a play*** on four sheets of paper. It will takefifteen to twenty minutes to act …. It is much better to write smallthings than big ones: they are unpretentious and successful …. Whatmore would you have? I wrote my play in an hour and five minutes.I began another, but have not finished it, for I have no time.*The pseudonym of Madame Kisselyov.**The pseudonym of Chekhov’s brother Alexandr.***“Calchas,” later called “Swansong.”52