Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev (Gruzinsky)

Reading notes

• To N. A. Leikin, 12 January 1887. Moscow. §7 A. Gruzinsky

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky, a fellow contributor to the Moscow and Petersburg comic press whom Chekhov is here meeting or receiving for perhaps the first time.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 23 January 1887. Moscow. §7 Alexander Semyonovich Lazarev

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name "Gruzinsky" -- a young humorist and fellow Oskolki contributor and the letter's addressee. "His High Nobility" (Его высокоблагородие) is a formal honorific of the period, used on envelope address forms rather than as a genuine title of rank.

• To N. A. Leikin, 4 June 1887. Babkino. §10 His Serene Highness Prince Gruzinsky

  A joking title, not a real aristocratic rank: this is Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, a Moscow humor-press writer and friend of Chekhov's who wrote under the pen name "Gruzinsky" ("the Georgian"). Chekhov puns on the pen name by dressing it up as a princely title, since historically Georgian noble houses did carry princely rank in the Russian Empire -- turning an ordinary colleague's pseudonym into mock nobility.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 30 June 1887. Babkino. §3 Alexander Semyonovich

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky, a younger contributor to the Moscow humor magazines whom Chekhov mentored.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 8 July 1887. Moscow. §5 Lazarev

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky, a fellow humor-press writer and friend of Chekhov's in 1880s Moscow.

• To A. S. Lazarev, August 1887. Babkino. §2 Collegiate Assessor!

  A mock-formal salutation: "Collegiate Assessor" (Коллежский асессор) was a mid-level rank in the Russian civil Table of Ranks. Lazarev held no such office; Chekhov addresses him with the title as a piece of jocular flattery, in the same teasing register he used with several of his young humor-magazine correspondents.

• To N. A. Leikin, 11 August 1887. Babkino. §8 Gruzinsky

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky, a Moscow humor-press contributor whose "insolent" letters to Leikin Chekhov defends here.

• To N. M. Yezhov and A. S. Lazarev, 13–14 August 1887. Babkino. §3 Mr. Gruzinsky

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky, a younger contributor to the Moscow humor magazines whom Chekhov mentored.

• To N. M. Yezhov, 27 October 1887. Moscow. §7 Gruzinsky

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky, a fellow humor-press writer and friend grouped with Yezhov as the letter's other target of mentorly scolding.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 15 November 1887. Moscow. §4 Alexander Semyonovich

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky; a young Moscow humor-press writer and friend of Chekhov's, and this letter's addressee.

• N. A. Leikin, 27 December 1887. Moscow. §8 Gruzinsky

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky, a Moscow humor-press writer and friend of Chekhov's.

• To A. Ya. Lipskerov, 1 January 1888. Moscow. §3 Al. S. Lazarev

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, a Moscow humor-press writer and friend of Chekhov's who wrote under the pen name "A. Gruzinsky"; the colleague Chekhov is recommending to Lipskerov here.

• To N. A. Leikin, 26 February 1888. Moscow. §8 Gruzinsky is improving noticeably.

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky, a Moscow humor-press writer and friend of Chekhov's and fellow "Oskolki" contributor.

• To N. A. Leikin, 7 March 1888. Moscow. §6 Gruzinsky is in Moscow.

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky, a Moscow humor-press writer and friend of Chekhov's; Chekhov will invite him to the Thursday breakfast so he can meet Leikin.

• To N. A. Leikin, 29 March 1888. Moscow. §9 Gruzinsky

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky, a Moscow humor-press writer and friend of Chekhov's; Chekhov had been quietly recommending him to Leikin for a position with the "Peterburgskaya Gazeta."

• To N. A. Leikin, 21 June 1888. Sumy. §4 Lazarev and Ezhov

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev (pen name Gruzinsky), a Moscow humor-press writer and friend of Chekhov's, and Nikolai Mikhailovich Ezhov, a younger contributor in the same "Oskolki" circle -- both are engaged to be married. This first pairing (also \S9) is distinct from Chekhov's brother Alexander in \S6 and from A. N. Pleshcheev in \S11: three separate men, none of them Leikin, appear across the letter and should stay clearly distinguished.

• To N. A. Leikin, 21 June 1888. Sumy. §8 Lazarev

  Lazarev (Gruzinsky), who received Leikin's books on Chekhov's behalf in his absence.

• To N. A. Leikin, 21 June 1888. Sumy. §9 Lazarev and Ezhov

  The same pair named in \S4, now the recipients of Chekhov's belated congratulations on their engagements, relayed through Leikin since Chekhov lacks their addresses.

• To N. A. Leikin, 21 June 1888. Sumy. §9 Lazarev especially

  Chekhov singles out Lazarev, of the two, as the more talented -- a distinction worth preserving in translation since both were just named jointly.

• To N. M. Yezhov, 8 August 1888. Sumy. §3 the thought that you and Gruzinsky dared to marry before I did

  Mock envy: both Yezhov and Lazarev (Gruzinsky) had recently married, and Chekhov -- who would not marry until 1901 -- plays the long-suffering bachelor left behind by his younger colleagues.

• To N. M. Yezhov, 8 August 1888. Sumy. §4 Tell Alexander Semyonovich

  Alexander Semyonovich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky; the same person invoked by the bare surname "Gruzinsky" later in this letter, at loc. 6.

• To N. M. Yezhov, 8 August 1888. Sumy. §6 Bow to Gruzinsky

  The same Alexander Semyonovich Lazarev named by given name and patronymic at loc. 4, here invoked by his pen name alone -- a single person, not a second acquaintance.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 31 August 1888. Sumy. §3 Alexander Semyonovich

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name "Gruzinsky" -- a young humorist and fellow Oskolki contributor, addressed here by name and patronymic.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 31 August 1888. Sumy. §4 a true Georgian

  A play on Lazarev's pen name "Gruzinsky" (from Russian "Грузия," Georgia), here used as a mock-ethnic joke about indifference to money rather than a literal claim of Georgian origin.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 30 September 1888. Moscow. §71 А. С. Лазареву

  A. S. Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky -- the table gives both the real surname and, parenthetically, the pen name for the same person, exactly as it does two rows later for I. L. Leontyev (Shcheglov) at section 86.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 20 October 1888. Moscow. §3 Alexander Semyonovich

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name "Gruzinsky" -- a young humorist and fellow Oskolki contributor Chekhov had been advising through 1888 (compare the 31 August 1888 letter to the same correspondent).

• To A. S. Lazarev, 20 October 1888. Moscow. §9 Lazarev

  Chekhov asks, half-teasingly, why Lazarev decided against publishing under his own surname rather than his pen name "Gruzinsky."

• To A. S. Suvorin, 27 October 1888. Moscow. §6 A. Gruzinsky (Lazarev), is more talented, more intelligent, and sturdier.

  "A. Gruzinsky" is the pen name of Alexander (Sergeyevich) Lazarev, already established in this corpus as -- must not be conflated with Yezhov, the other young writer discussed in the same breath, nor treated as a newly-introduced figure.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 10 November 1888. Moscow. §3 Alexander Semyonovich

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name "Gruzinsky" -- the young humorist and fellow Oskolki contributor Chekhov had been advising and promoting through the autumn of 1888 (compare the 31 August and 20 October letters to this same correspondent and).

• To A. S. Lazarev, 10 November 1888. Moscow. §8 Alexander Semyonovich

  The envelope's addressee line, repeating Lazarev's name and patronymic from section 3.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 10 November 1888. Moscow. §9 Lazarev

  The letter's addressee, Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev (Gruzinsky), named by surname alone on the envelope.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 1 November 1889. Moscow. §3 Alexander Semyonovich

  Alexander Semyonovich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky -- a younger Moscow humor-press writer Chekhov mentored and corresponded with regularly through the late 1880s. Addressee of this letter.

• To A. S. Lazarev, 23 November 1889. Moscow. §3 Alexander Semyonovich

  Alexander Semyonovich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky -- a younger Moscow writer and playwright Chekhov mentored, corresponded with, and helped place with editors and theater managers through the late 1880s. Addressee of this letter; compare, an earlier letter to the same correspondent in the same running mentorship.

• To V. A. Tikhonov, 11 October 1891. Moscow. §6 A. Gruzinsky (Lazarev)

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky; here Chekhov names him surname-first by his pseudonym with the real surname in parentheses, the reverse of the more usual order, and recommends him to Tikhonov as a potential contributor.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 27 November 1891. Moscow. §3 He wants to write together with his friend Lazarev (Gruzinsky); it's merrier as a pair, and Lazarev is a bit smarter than he is.

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who published under the pen name Gruzinsky, is the same friend of Yezhov's whom Chekhov had already been encouraging as a writer in his own right (cf. \S6, where Chekhov calls him 'the young fiction writer A. Gruzinsky (Lazarev)' and recommends him to Tikhonov). Chekhov's aside that Lazarev is 'a bit smarter' than Yezhov is characteristically double-edged, in keeping with his mixed verdict on Yezhov at \S8 below.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 30 November 1891. Moscow. §4 Lazarev is intelligent and would not go writing about the Moscow newspapers.

  Alexander Semyonovich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky; Chekhov vouches for his sense in contrast to whatever careless press commentary was apparently feared from the Yezhov-Lazarev pairing, then pivots to offering his own Moscow feuilleton for "Novoye Vremya" -- the same kind of occasional journalism Suvorin himself had contributed shortly before (\S4, where Chekhov praised Suvorin's own recent Moscow feuilleton).

• To N. A. Leikin, 27 December 1890. Moscow. §6 If I see Lazarev today or tomorrow, I shall try to talk him into going to Petersburg

  Alexander Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name "Gruzinsky," was part of the same Moscow humor-press circle as Chekhov; the suggestion that he make the Petersburg trip -- to see Leikin and the \foreignlanguage{russian}{"Осколки"} circle, by implication -- is offered in the same breath as Chekhov's own postponed version of the same journey, framed as encouragement rather than a report of firm plans.

• To Ye. M. Shavrova, 20 June 1891. Bogimovo. §6 Gruzinsky, otherwise Lazarev, once showed great promise

  Aleksandr Sergeyevich Lazarev, who wrote under the pen name Gruzinsky, a Moscow humor-press writer and longtime friend of Chekhov's; Chekhov gives a mixed verdict here -- talented but overly rational -- and ranks Shavrova above him, having "passed" both of them through his own informal editorial "censorship."