figure
Sladkoperstev
also: Сладкоперцев
The old postmaster who hosts the funeral memorial meal for his young late wife, and who boasts at length -- then confesses to a trick -- of having preserved her fidelity through a fabricated rumor.
Reading notes
- At the Post Office §1 Sladkoperstev
The old postmaster and narrator's host, whose comic surname (from *sladkiy*, "sweet," and *perets*, "pepper") suits a garrulous teller of a spicy tale. Invented by Chekhov, not a historical figure.