figure
Countess Dranitskaya
also: Гр. Драницкая, Браницкая, Branitskaya, графиня Драницкая
A wealthy, glamorous countess spoken of at a distance throughout "The Steppe" -- rumored fabulously rich, admired and gossiped about by the traveling party, and remembered by Yegorushka as a figure of romantic fascination. Chekhov gives her name in this letter with the variant spelling "Branitskaya" in parentheses, reporting to Pleshcheev only that she "is living quite wretchedly." A fictional character of the novella, not a real countess.
Reading notes
- To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 9 February 1888. Moscow. §10 Countess Dranitskaya (Branitskaya)
The glamorous countess spoken of at a distance throughout "The Steppe." Chekhov gives the name with a parenthetical variant spelling, then reports her fictional fortunes as "living quite wretchedly."