Fyodorov-Yurkovsky

Reading notes

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 30 December 1888. Moscow. §6 my "Ivanov" is going on at the Alexandrinsky for the benefit performance of Fyodorov-Yurkovsky

  Fyodorov-Yurkovsky (new entity): an actor at the Alexandrinsky Theatre for whose benefit performance Chekhov's "Ivanov" is proposed, named here only by this hyphenated stage surname ("Федорова-Юрковского"). Distinct from the several other unrelated "Fyodorov" figures already catalogued in this corpus (the censor-chairman Veniamin Yakovlevich Fyodorov, the Novoye Vremya editor M. P. Fyodorov, and others) -- none of whom are actors or connected to this benefit performance; not to be conflated with any of them.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 31 December 1888. Moscow. §5 Fyodorov-Yurkovsky, the director of your theater, has expressed a wish to put on my "Ivanov," with Strepetova and Savina, for his benefit performance.

  The Petersburg Alexandrinsky-circle director whose benefit performance this letter reports as the occasion for staging "Ivanov"; already established in this corpus. "Your theater" refers to the theater with which Shcheglov, the letter's addressee, was associated.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 2 January 1889. Moscow. §5 Forgive me, for the Creator's sake, that the director troubled you.

  The unnamed "director" is not named in this letter itself, but context makes the identification with Fyodorov-Yurkovsky, director of the theater staging Chekhov's "Ivanov" for his benefit performance, effectively certain: (\S5, to Shcheglov, 31 December 1888) reports this same Fyodorov-Yurkovsky's direct approach to Pleshcheyev regarding the Petersburg staging, and/ together establish the immediately preceding thread this letter continues (cf. crossrefs). Linked here on contextual grounds rather than an explicit name in this letter's own text.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 4 January 1889. Moscow. §3 I am sending you, for delivery to Fyodorov, two insertions and one correction.

  DISAMBIGUATION -- "Fyodorov" here is the short form of Fyodorov-Yurkovsky, the Alexandrinsky actor/official handling the Petersburg "Ivanov" acting copies, already introduced under his full hyphenated name in and continued in \S4 of this letter, where Chekhov asks Suvorin for the man's name and patronymic so he can write to him directly. Not to be confused with the several unrelated "Fyodorov" entities elsewhere in this corpus (the censor-chairman, the Novoye Vremya editor, the invented prison-editor character, etc.) -- context (theatrical revisions for "Ivanov," continuity with \S4) is decisive here.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 7 January 1889. Moscow. §2 Mr. Fyodorov-Yurkovsky

  An actor at the Imperial Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, already named in this corpus; here Chekhov asks Suvorin to route two further revised passages to him for insertion into a play in production, consistent with a theatrical intermediary role rather than authorship of the corrections.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 7 January 1889. Moscow. §6 What is Fyodorov's first name and patronymic?

  CONTINUING UNANSWERED QUESTION -- Chekhov repeats, nearly verbatim, the same request already made in \S4 ("Tell me the name and patronymic of Fyodorov-Yurkovsky"), indicating Suvorin had not yet answered by 7 January. "Fyodorov" here is short for Fyodorov-Yurkovsky, the Alexandrinsky actor/official handling the Petersburg "Ivanov" acting-copy corrections, already introduced in and continued via the same short surname in \S2 of this same day's correspondence. See crossrefs for the full three-letter thread.

• To F. A. Fedorov, 8 January 1889. Moscow. §4 Fyodor Alexandrovich!

  RESOLVES THE RUNNING JOKE -- this salutation is the corpus's answer to "What is Fyodorov's name?", the question Chekhov puts to Suvorin nearly verbatim in \S4 ("Tell me the name and patronymic of Fyodorov-Yurkovsky") and repeats, still unanswered, in \S6 ("What is Fyodorov's first name and patronymic?"), while \S2 uses the same bare surname as a routing contact without resolving it. Addressing this letter directly to the man himself, Chekhov opens with his full first name and patronymic: Fyodor Alexandrovich. Combined with the source's title line, "Ф. А. ФЕДОРОВУ (ЮРКОВСКОМУ)" ("To F. A. Fyodorov (Yurkovsky)"), this confirms the addressee's full name as Fyodor Alexandrovich Fyodorov(-Yurkovsky) -- the answer Suvorin evidently never gave in writing. See crossrefs for the full four-letter thread.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 8 January 1889. Moscow. §7 I wrote Fyodorov a flattering letter asking him to hurry with the sending of the play.

  Fyodorov is Fyodorov-Yurkovsky, the theatrical figure holding Chekhov's copy of "Ivanov," addressed directly in the same day's companion letter and asked after by name in (\S6) and (\S3-4). The "flattering letter" referred to here is itself; the two letters document a single same-day episode from two angles.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 15 January 1889. Moscow. §3 What witless demons put it into Fyodorov's head to put on my play for his benefit performance?

  The actor Fyodorov-Yurkovsky of the Imperial Alexandrinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, whose benefit-performance night forced the revival and rebuilding of "Ivanov" under deadline -- his full name and patronymic are settled a few days later in the correspondence (addressed to Fyodorov directly).