Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko

Reading notes

• Sakhalin Island §885 V. G. Korolenko's fine story "The Vagrant."

  Vladimir Korolenko's short story about a Sakhalin escape, cited by Chekhov as the kind of elaborate preparation that real escapes, in his own observation, rarely require.

• To V. V. Bilibin, 1 February 1886. Moscow. §12 Korolenko

  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko (1853-1921), a rising Russian prose writer whom Chekhov had already mentioned favorably to Bilibin in an earlier conversation; this letter follows up with a specific reading recommendation.

• To M. Ye. Chekhov, 18 January 1887. Moscow. §7 another young writer, Korolenko

  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, Chekhov's contemporary and by 1886 an already well-regarded writer; Obolensky's article had provocatively ranked the twenty-six-year-old Chekhov above him.

• To N. A. Leikin, 26 January 1887. Moscow. §11 Korolenko

  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, a leading realist writer and Chekhov's near-contemporary, named here as one of only three young writers (with Garshin and Nadson) whom Chekhov considers genuinely worth remarking.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 6–7 October 1887. Moscow. §4 Korolenko

  Vladimir Korolenko, the writer, who had read Burenin's review alongside Chekhov and shared his assessment of it.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 6–7 October 1887. Moscow. §11 Korolenko

  Chekhov closes with an admiring account of a three-hour visit from Vladimir Korolenko, whose talent he praises highly and asks be relayed to Burenin and Suvorin.

• To V. G. Korolenko, 17 October 1887. Moscow. §3 Vladimir Galaktionovich

  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, the novelist and short-story writer, whom Chekhov had recently met in person for the first time; this letter is a thank-you note for a book Korolenko had sent him.

• To Al. P. Chekhov, 21 October 1887. Moscow. §2 Korolenko

  Vladimir Korolenko, whom Chekhov argues has the stronger claim to the Pushkin Prize and whose reputation he is wary of overshadowing.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 1 January 1888. Moscow. §17 Korolenko

  Vladimir Korolenko, a fellow writer whose critical reception Chekhov was following closely in the New Year's press round-ups alongside his own.

• To V. G. Korolenko, 9 January 1888. Moscow. §3 Vladimir Galaktionovich

  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, the letter's addressee: a leading Russian writer and moral conscience of his generation, associated with Severny Vestnik and known for fiction drawn from his years of Siberian political exile.

• To D. V. Grigorovich, 12 January 1888. Moscow. §3 a copy of it to Korolenko

  Chekhov was so moved by Grigorovich's letter of encouragement that he shared it with fellow writer Vladimir Korolenko, whose own critical reputation he tracks elsewhere in his 1887-88 correspondence.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 5 February 1888. Moscow. §5 Korolenko

  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, whom Chekhov names his favorite among living writers, though he faults him -- alongside Leontyev (Shcheglov) -- for narrowing his subject matter too much (convicts, in Korolenko's case).

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 9 February 1888. Moscow. §5 Korolenko

  Vladimir Korolenko, writer and Chekhov's new friend and rival in the 1888 "thick journal" debut; Chekhov jokes about a hoped-for river excursion down the Volga together, noting Korolenko's teetotalism.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 9 February 1888. Moscow. §6 Korolenko

  Korolenko is expected at Chekhov's the next day, February 10.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 10 February 1888. Moscow. §6 Korolenko

  Vladimir Korolenko, fellow writer, expected as a visitor that day.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 22 February 1888. Moscow. §9 even Korolenko

  Vladimir Korolenko, prominent contemporary writer, named as the most eminent of the four -- Chekhov's "even" underscores that Shcheglov's versatility exceeds even his.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 23 February 1888. Moscow. §3 Короленко уверен, что Вы поедете

  Korolenko, Chekhov's friend and fellow "thick journal" debutant that season, is invoked as a second voice vouching that Pleshcheev will actually go through with the trip.

• Ivan Leontyevich Leontyev (Shcheglov), February 28, 1888. Moscow. §3 Korolenko will not be in Prague

  Vladimir Korolenko, fellow writer, whose own travel schedule bears on the timing of the proposed group photograph.

• To K. S. Barantsevich, 30 March 1888. Moscow. §12 Korolenko

  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, a prominent contemporary writer whom Chekhov proposes as a further contributor or correspondent to be solicited for the Garshin memorial collection.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 3 April 1888. Moscow. §8 Garshin, Korolenko, Shcheglov, and Maslov

  Vladimir Korolenko, one of the contemporary writers Chekhov names as genuinely worthwhile, alongside Garshin (see loc 7) and Ivan Shcheglov.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 4 April 1888. Moscow. §8 Korolenko

  Vladimir Korolenko, the writer; Chekhov asks Pleshcheyev to pass along word that he is waiting to hear from him and has something pleasant to tell him -- a separate acquaintance from Pleshcheyev himself.

• To V. G. Korolenko, 9 April 1888. Moscow. §3 Vladimir Galaktionovich

  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, the writer and Chekhov's contemporary, at this time living in Nizhny Novgorod on the Volga; the addressee of this letter and the recipient of the story on the theme of suicide that Chekhov is sending.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 9 April 1888. Moscow. §7 Korolenko has spoken of it too

  Vladimir Korolenko, the writer, mentioned here in passing regarding the advance from "Severny Vestnik"; see the note at section 9-10 for his separate, more central appearance later in the letter.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 9 April 1888. Moscow. §9 It was at my place that he made Korolenko's acquaintance

  Pyotr Nikolaevich Ostrovsky met the writer Vladimir Korolenko for the first time at Chekhov's home during this visit -- the two figures named in sections 9-10 are distinct: Ostrovsky is the visitor being introduced, Korolenko the man he meets and whom Chekhov then praises.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 9 April 1888. Moscow. §10 even behind him

  The admiring remark about being glad even to walk behind a companion refers to Korolenko, whom Ostrovsky had just met at Chekhov's house in the preceding section -- not to Ostrovsky himself.

• To K. S. Barantsevich, 14 April 1888. Moscow. §7 Korolenko

  Vladimir Korolenko, whom Barantsevich apparently wished to claim as belonging to "his" side of the memorial dispute; Chekhov rejects the premise that a writer's sympathies can be exclusively claimed by either camp.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 17 April 1888. Moscow. §7 Korolenko

  Vladimir Korolenko, whose supposed unflattering opinion of Pleshcheyev Chekhov defends against; Chekhov insists Korolenko reveres Pleshcheyev sincerely.

• To V. G. Korolenko, 2 May 1888. Moscow. §3 Vladimir Galaktionovich

  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, the writer, addressee of this letter, whom Chekhov reminds of a standing promise to visit the Lintvaryov estate later in the summer.

• To the Chekhovs, 23 July 1888. Feodosia. §5 Korolenko

  Vladimir Korolenko, the fellow writer Suvorina is imagined to regard as a personal literary enemy on account of her devotion to Tolstoy over contemporary literature.

• To D. V. Grigorovich, 9 October 1888. Moscow. §5 Korolenko

  Vladimir Korolenko, the younger writer Chekhov names as more deserving of the prize than himself, noting Korolenko would have won it had his book been submitted.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 3 November 1888. Moscow. §9 Korolenko

  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, the "Severny Vestnik" writer already established and praised in letter 483 and discussed again in letter 512's meditation on envy and the Pushkin Prize; here Chekhov's whereabouts and activity are apparently unknown to him, prompting this quick run of questions.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 10 November 1888. Moscow. §11 Korolenko is not in Moscow

  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, the "Severny Vestnik" writer already established across this correspondence (cf. letters 483, 512, 519); a brief status note here, continuing Chekhov's earlier questions about his whereabouts in letter 519.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 13 November 1888. Moscow. §7 Korolenko

  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, the "Severny Vestnik" writer already established in letters 483 and 512; the "novella" referenced here is not otherwise named in this letter.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 2 January 1889. Moscow. §9 Korolenko did not come to see me.

  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, the writer, previously established in this corpus; his ties to "Russkaya Mysl" are discussed in this section, not otherwise elaborated here.

• To V. A. Tikhonov, 7 March 1889. Moscow. §8 Korolenko

  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, prominent contemporary writer, named here as one of the interchangeable representatives of "the eighties" generation.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 26 June 1889. Sumy. §13 Korolenko's return is a gladdening fact

  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, the writer, whose earlier departure from "Severny Vestnik" alongside Nikolai Mikhailovsky was likewise noted in; his return here completes that thread. Chekhov's assessment is measured and qualified -- praising Korolenko's integrity while judging him "a bit conservative" in technique and lacking youthful freshness -- rather than unreserved.

• To A. M. Yevreinova, 7 September 1889. Moscow. §7 What of Korolenko?

  Vladimir Galaktionovich Korolenko, writer and contemporary of Chekhov's, asked after here in a single terse line with no further context supplied in this letter.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 14 September 1889. Moscow. §6 I have in my past a mass of mistakes such as Korolenko never knew, and where there are mistakes, there is experience.

  Chekhov's frank, unusually candid self-assessment weighing his own checkered early career (hack journalism, potboilers) against Korolenko's more consistent, principled path, reframing his own "mistakes" as a competitive advantage (breadth of experience) rather than simply a liability.