person
Father Pavel (Taganrog)
Father Pavel
also: О. Павел, о. Павел
A swarthy, dandyish Taganrog priest described as writing denunciations "to the whole world" and cursing freely; observed by Chekhov swearing at the shopkeeper Marfochka for not shutting up her stall against the cold.
Reading notes
- To the Chekhovs, 11 April 1887. Taganrog. §8 Father Pavel
Introduced here mid-scene at the cemetery before the vignette that follows; described as dandyish and litigious ("writes denunciations to the whole world"), setting up the overheard exchange with Marfochka in section 9.
- To the Chekhovs, 11 April 1887. Taganrog. §9 "What the deuce are you sitting there for?"
The Russian repeats a mild oath, "чччёрт"/"чёрт" ("chyort," literally "devil," colloquially closer to "deuce" or "damn"), three times in a priest's mouth scolding a market woman for leaving her stall open in the cold. The incongruity of a clergyman cursing is the joke Chekhov is recording verbatim as overheard dialogue; rendered here as "the deuce" to preserve the mild, repeatable register of the Russian oath rather than escalate it into stronger English profanity.