figure
Akaky Tarantulov
Tarantulov
also: Акакий Тарантулов
The fictional grievance-writing 'Member of the Society of Dramatic Writers and Opera Composers' whose absurd postscript follows the playlet, claiming it was staged on the shore of Lake Baikal on the nonexistent date '30 February' 1886; not to be confused with the unrelated minor character Tarantulov in 'Kleveta', a different invented figure in a different story.
Reading notes
- To A. S. Suvorin, May 1889. Sumy. §12 Yours, Akaky Tarantulov
Chekhov's own recurring invented parody signature/persona, already established in this corpus as the fictional grievance-writing figure from "Skoropostizhnaya konskaya smert..."; used here purely as a comic false signature closing a personal letter to a close friend, not a reference to any real person. Explicitly distinct from the unrelated minor character Tarantulov, a mathematics teacher among the wedding guests in the separate story "Kleveta" -- the shared surname is coincidental and the two must not be conflated.