Alyosha

Reading notes

• To M. M. Chekhov, 4 November 1877. Taganrog. §5 Alyosha

  A young relation of the Chekhov family on whose behalf Mikhail was apparently exerting some effort or influence in Moscow; not further identified in the surviving letters.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 1888. Moscow. §5 Alyosha

  A young relation of the Chekhov family lodging in the flat together with the aunt Fedosya Yakovlevna; not otherwise identified beyond these family letters.

• To F. Ya. Dolzhenko, 28 July 1888. Tiflis. §3 Alyosha

  Alexey Alexeyevich Dolzhenko, Aunt Fedosya Yakovlevna's own son, greeted here alongside her; the same Alyosha established in and, not a separate individual.

• To A. A. Dolzhenko, 8 May 1891. Aleksin. §3 Dear brother!

  IMPORTANT DISAMBIGUATION: the addressee of this letter, mock-formally hailed here as "Dear brother," is Alexey ("Alyosha") Alexeyevich Dolzhenko, the young nephew already established as (per the parallel greeting to "Alyosha" in and the headnote to this letter). He is NOT the same person as, a distinct, unrelated entity in this corpus -- an adult amateur violinist and zither player who was a frequent guest at the Chekhov household, first appearing in. Both men happen to share the surname "A. A. Dolzhenko" (Alexey Alexeyevich Dolzhenko), which is coincidental, not an identity: the addressee here is Fedosya Yakovlevna's son and a household junior being teased and ordered about; is an adult social acquaintance and musician. Do not conflate the two entities.

• To A. A. Dolzhenko, 14 May 1891. Aleksin. §3 Precious Alexis!

  IMPORTANT DISAMBIGUATION: the addressee, mock-formally hailed here as "Precious Alexis," is Alexey ("Alyosha") Alexeyevich Dolzhenko, the young nephew already established as (per the parallel greeting to "Alyosha" in and the same addressee as the immediately preceding, where he is teased as "Dear brother"). He is NOT the same person as, a distinct, unrelated entity in this corpus -- an adult amateur violinist and zither player who was a frequent guest at the Chekhov household, first appearing in. "Alexis" is simply a mock-elevated Latinate form of "Alyosha," continuing the household's running joke of addressing the errand-running nephew with exaggerated formality.

• To A. A. Dolzhenko, 29 July 1891. Bogimovo. §3 Greetings, Alyokha!

  DISAMBIGUATION: the addressee here, hailed by the familiar nickname "Alyokha," is Alexei Alekseyevich Dolzhenko, the young family relation and household junior already established in this corpus as -- confirmed by the parallel wine-errand letter to the same figure (\S3), whose own glossary entry lays out the identification in full: he is Fedosya Yakovlevna's son, first named alongside her in (\S9). This letter's own internal evidence confirms the same reading -- Chekhov's opening instruction to hire help for "your mama" (\S3) and the following line about "that same Fedosya Yakovlevna" both identify the addressee as her son. He is NOT the same person as, a distinct, unrelated entity in this corpus -- an adult amateur violinist and zither player who was a frequent guest at the Chekhov household, first appearing in. The two men share the surname "A. A. Dolzhenko" (Alexei Alekseyevich Dolzhenko) coincidentally, not by identity; the envelope's formal address in \S15 ("Alexei Alekseyevich Dolzhenko") is the same household-junior addressee, given in full for the postal cover after the letter's familiar opening, not a second person.