person
Ivan Dmitrich Chervyakov
Chervyakov
also: Червяков, Иван Дмитрич Червяков
A minor government clerk (an 'exekutor') who, having accidentally sneezed on a general at the theater, is destroyed by his own escalating, unrequited need to apologize.
Reading notes
- The Death of a Government Clerk §1 executive clerk
Translates 'экзекутор' (ekzekutor), a low-grade civil-service post responsible for a government office's housekeeping, correspondence, and minor discipline -- near the bottom of the Table of Ranks. The pettiness of Chervyakov's post sharpens the joke of his terror before a general.