concept
Bengal lights
also: Bengal fire
Brightly colored pyrotechnic flares used as festive illumination, a standard feature of 19th-century celebrations and processions.
Reading notes
- The New Villa §12 Bengal lights
Colored pyrotechnic flares burned for a striking, theatrical light, popular for outdoor evening entertainments; the villa sets them off along with rockets.
- A Patriot of His Fatherland §10 Bengal lights
Brightly colored pyrotechnic flares (Bengal fire), a standard feature of 19th-century festival illuminations and processions.
- To A. S. Suvorin, 4 February 1889. Moscow. §4 Bengal lights
Brightly colored theatrical flares used for stage effects; Chekhov's image of falling "out of the sphere of Bengal lights" into "a half-dark storeroom" figures his post-premiere letdown after the excitement of the Petersburg production.