concept
Korbo
also: Корбо
Chekhov's dog, the target of a running black joke about a persistent cough and mock plans to put him down with morphine; a later letter reports his actual death of old age.
Reading notes
- To Al. P. Chekhov, 5 April 1888. Moscow. §6 Korbo
Chekhov's dog, here the butt of a black joke about being put down with morphine; a later letter reports his actual death of old age.
- To Al. P. Chekhov, 6–7 November 1888. Moscow. §2 Korbo, the famous dog, has died
Korbo is a recurring, only partially identified entity: the earlier letter to Alexander of 5 April 1888 (§6) already shows Chekhov worrying about Korbo's persistent cough and grimly joking about putting him down with morphine, and mentions one "Gershka" in connection with the dog's care. No fuller identification -- breed, formal ownership, or Gershka's identity -- is attested anywhere else in this corpus. This letter is the follow-up confirming Korbo's actual death, here mock-solemnly announced in Latin.