person
Fenogenov
also: Knysh, Kondraty Ivanych
A touring provincial tragedian whose grand stage manner conceals a real surname (Knysh) and, once married to his stagestruck admirer Masha, a violent temper.
Reading notes
- The Tragedian §1 tragedian
Fenogenov, the touring leading actor whose stage name and off-stage cruelty are the story's subject. His real, unglamorous surname (Knysh) surfaces only in his passport.
- The Tragedian §10 Knysh
Fenogenov's actual surname as recorded in his passport, a plain Ukrainian name (literally a kind of stuffed bread) that undercuts his grand stage persona of 'the tragedian.'
- The Tragedian §24 Kondraty Ivanych
Fenogenov's given name and patronymic, used by Masha in a moment of pleading intimacy rather than his stage name.