Karpov

Reading notes

• To I. L. Leontyev, 11 November 1888. Moscow. §4 of Karpovs, of stupidity

  "Карповых" used generically/pluralized as a type ("of Karpovs") rather than naming one man in this first instance, but referring to the same playwright named directly one sentence later; tagged to the person entity since the plural is a rhetorical device pointing at Karpov as emblematic of the kind of playwright Chekhov means.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 11 November 1888. Moscow. §4 Karpov boasted to me

  KARPOV TITLE-RESOLUTION NOTE: Karpov is named here only by surname, with no further biographical detail given in this letter. Cross-referencing the same-day companion letter to Suvorin positively identifies him as the author of "Crocodile Tears" ("Крокодиловы слезы") -- there called "the most talentless five-act nonsense by a certain Karpov" -- and also of "On the Zemstvo Field" ("На земской ниве") and "The Free Little Bird" ("Вольная пташка"). The Suvorin letter further confirms, via direct quotation, that Karpov himself boasted of having given "the callow liberals a good going-over" in "Crocodile Tears" and did not care that the play was poorly received -- the identical anecdote Chekhov recounts to Shcheglov here in \S4, confirming both letters describe the same encounter and the same man. On the strength of this cross-reference, "Crocodile Tears" and "The Free Bird" (\S10, a shortened form of "The Free Little Bird") are both tagged to in this letter's apparatus rather than left as free-floating titles.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 11 November 1888. Moscow. §4 "Crocodile Tears"

  Karpov's poorly received five-act play; see the title-resolution note above (loc 4, "Karpov boasted to me") for the cross-reference to that confirms the attribution. No dedicated work entity exists for the play itself in this corpus; the mention is tagged to the author,.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 11 November 1888. Moscow. §10 "Crocodile Tears,"

  Karpov's play; see the title-resolution note at loc 4 above for the full cross-reference to.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 11 November 1888. Moscow. §10 "The Free Bird"

  "Вольная пташка," referred to as "The Free Little Bird" in the companion letter to Suvorin of the same date, where it is listed among Karpov's works alongside "Crocodile Tears" and "On the Zemstvo Field"; see the title-resolution note at loc 4 above.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 11 November 1888. Moscow. §7 The other day I saw "Crocodile Tears" -- the most talentless five-act nonsense by a certain Karpov, the author of "On the Zemstvo Field," "The Free Little Bird," and so on.

  Karpov (surname only) is a playwright entity already created in this corpus by the apparatus for the companion same-date letter (to Shcheglov), which independently names him as emblematic of contemporary theater's "muddleheadedness" and quotes the same boast about needling "callow liberals" reported here at greater length; that entity record is reused rather than duplicated. "Crocodile Tears," "On the Zemstvo Field," and "The Free Little Bird" are new work entities in this corpus, catalogued from this letter's naming of them; no biographical detail on Karpov beyond authorship of these three titles is given in either letter, and none should be invented.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 11 November 1888. Moscow. §8 In this play I gave the callow liberals a good going-over, which is why it didn't please and they slated it... And I don't give a damn!

  Karpov's own unapologetic remark, quoted directly by Chekhov after running into him following the performance; the same boast (in slightly different English phrasing, reflecting the same Russian "А мне наплевать!") is independently quoted in the companion letter (\S4, to Shcheglov), where Chekhov cites it as evidence of the "muddleheadedness" ("бестолочи") of contemporary theater. Translated faithfully without softening, as Chekhov's direct quotation of another man's self-characterizing words, not incidental authorial profanity.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 11 November 1888. Moscow. §9 If I ever say or write anything of the kind, then hate me and have nothing more to do with me.

  Chekhov's mock appeal to Suvorin, turning his contempt for Karpov's unapologetic remark into a request to be held to the same standard should he ever adopt that tone himself.

• Notebooks. Diaries §4058 Yevtikhy Karpov

  Yevtikhy Pavlovich Karpov (1857-1926), playwright and stage director, later notorious as the director of the disastrous 1896 premiere of The Seagull.