Ippolit Shpazhinsky

Reading notes

• On Drama §25 Shpazhinsky

  Ippolit Shpazhinsky (1848-1917), a popular Russian playwright of melodramas in the 1880s, frequently mocked by Chekhov and other critics for sentimental, formulaic plotting.

• To N. A. Leikin, 15 November 1887. Moscow. §3 at the Maly Theatre they are rehearsing Shpazhinsky's new play

  Ippolit Shpazhinsky, a popular but formulaic melodramatist frequently mocked by Chekhov; his fussing over stage furniture at the state-subsidized Maly Theatre is offered as proof that even indulged, established authors meddle in production -- undercutting Leikin's complaint.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 4 February 1889. Moscow. §3 Shpazhinsky

  Ippolit Vasilyevich Shpazhinsky, a popular playwright of sentimental 1880s melodramas frequently mocked by Chekhov (cf., where his new play at the Maly Theatre is discussed); "the great Shpazhinsky" here is lightly ironic, and the "document" is only a curiosity because it bears his autograph, not for any content of its own.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 5 December 1889. Moscow. §8 The Charred Watchtower and Mourning Sealing-Wax

  Renders "Обгорелая каланча и траурный сургуч" -- a mocking, physically disparaging nickname for the playwright Ippolit Shpazhinsky, attributed by Chekhov to "the actresses" (i.e. reported gossip) but then explicitly endorsed by Chekhov himself in his own voice: "И то и другое к нему одинаково подходит" ("Both fit him equally well"). "Обгорелая каланча" ("charred/scorched fire-watchtower") mocks his appearance -- likely tall, gaunt, and swarthy or pockmarked, evoking a burnt-out fire lookout tower; "траурный сургуч" ("mourning/funereal sealing-wax") plays on sealing-wax's dark red-black color, again a jab at his complexion or coloring, with "mourning" (траурный) adding a funereal, deathly cast. This is rendered faithfully and in full, per the corpus no-softening policy: Chekhov does not merely relay the nickname as hearsay but affirms it as apt, so euphemizing or trimming it here would misrepresent his own judgment, not just the actresses'.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 5 December 1889. Moscow. §8 Both fit him equally well

  Renders "И то и другое к нему одинаково подходит" -- Chekhov's own dry endorsement of the preceding mocking nickname, not a neutral report of others' opinion. Kept at full force; softening this line would erase Chekhov's authorial complicity in the mockery.

• In Moscow §12 Shpazhinsky

  Ippolit Shpazhinsky (1848-1917), a popular playwright of sentimental, formulaic 1880s melodramas, frequently mocked by Chekhov -- the third and last name in the narrator's chain of unwitting plagiarism.