Actual State Councillor

Reading notes

• The Album §8 Actual State Councillor

  A senior civil rank (4th class) in the Table of Ranks, roughly equivalent to a major-general -- Zhmykhov's own exalted rank, underscoring the absurdity of the subordinates' groveling.

• The Crafty One §7 actual councillor, to your excellency

  Actual State Councillor, a senior civil rank (4th class) in the Table of Ranks whose holders were addressed as "Your Excellency"; Semyon Petrovich is said to be on the verge of reaching it despite his undignified behavior.

• From the Notebook of Ivan Ivanych (Thoughts and Notes) §21 Actual State Councillor

  Deystvitelny statsky sovetnik, class IV, roughly equivalent to a major-general -- the senior rank a mere "state councillor" could be mistaken for, which is the joke's punchline.

• A Short Anatomy of Man §15 true state councillor

  Actual State Councillor (действительный статский советник), a senior civil rank (class IV) equivalent to a major-general -- the coveted rank a mere "state councillor" only sounds like he holds.

• An Unpleasantness §97 actual state councillor

  \emph{Deystvitel'nyi statskii sovetnik}, a senior civil rank (4th class in the Table of Ranks) the justice has attained through long elective service, roughly equivalent to a major-general; Chekhov notes it drily against the man's persistent, faintly absurd cavalry mannerisms.

• A Fragment §1 Active State Councillor

  Действительный статский советник -- fourth grade in the Table of Ranks, roughly equivalent to a major-general and addressed as "Your Excellency"; reaching it marked the summit of a successful civil career. Kozerogov's constant citing of his own rank, even to sparrows and roosters, is the story's running joke.

• An Anonymous Story §46 actual state councillor

  Kukushkin's civil rank (действительный статский советник), 4th class in the Table of Ranks and roughly equivalent to a major-general -- a senior title that sits oddly with his petty, wheedling, do-nothing character, part of the story's running joke about how little such ranks guarantee about the man holding them.

• The Wedding with the General (a story) §87 actual state councillor

  A senior 4th-class civil rank in the Table of Ranks, roughly equal to a major general; the middle term in Nyunin's strained chain of equivalences justifying the rear admiral as good enough.

• Temperaments (According to the Latest Findings of Science) §2 actual state councillor

  A senior civil rank (4th class) in the Table of Ranks instituted by Peter the Great, roughly equivalent to a major-general; reaching it was a mark of a long, successful bureaucratic career.

• They Abolished It! §116 Actual State Councillor

  A senior civil rank (4th class) in the Table of Ranks, roughly equivalent to a major-general, entitling its holder to be addressed as "Your Excellency" — the very title Yagodyshev, in the scene, has been ordered to renounce.

• In the Landau §1 actual state councillor

  A senior civil rank (4th class) in the Table of Ranks, roughly equivalent to a major-general -- Bryndin's rank marks his daughters as belonging to Petersburg's official aristocracy, the world their provincial cousin Marfusha is visiting.

• Vint §82 Actual State Councillors are our aces

  Actual State Councillor (deystvitelny statsky sovetnik), class IV in the Table of Ranks -- the senior grade the clerks assign to the highest card, the ace.

• Visiting Cards §9 Действительный статский советник

  Actual State Councillor, class IV of the Table of Ranks (roughly equivalent to major-general), a genuinely senior civil rank -- paired here with the invented, faintly ridiculous surname Stremglavov (from stremglav, "headlong"), undercutting the rank's real gravity.

• Notebooks. Diaries §410 actual state councillor

  Deistvitelny statsky sovetnik, the fourth-highest rank of the Table of Ranks' civil ladder (equivalent to a major-general), addressed as "Your Excellency"; Chekhov repeatedly uses the title as shorthand for pompous, self-satisfied officialdom.