Anatoly Ivanovich Leman

Reading notes

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 31 March 1888. Moscow. §4 Mr. Leman

  A minor literary figure whom Chekhov scorns for speaking at Vsevolod Garshin's graveside funeral, comparing him to "literary fops and touts" -- ticket-scalpers and tavern waiters -- desecrating a writer's grave with an unwanted eulogy.

• To K. S. Barantsevich, 14 April 1888. Moscow. §16 Leman

  A minor literary or journalistic figure Chekhov half-recalls meeting in Moscow; described dismissively as small, dark-haired, and self-important. Likely the same Leman whose opportunistic funeral remarks over Garshin's grave Chekhov excoriates elsewhere in this correspondence.

• To K. S. Barantsevich, 25 April 1888. Moscow. §3 Mr. Leman

  Anatoly Ivanovich Leman, a billiards writer whom Chekhov and his circle refused to recognize as a real "young writer." This is the same figure Chekhov excoriated in the 31 March 1888 letter to Pleshcheyev for delivering an opportunistic graveside eulogy at Vsevolod Garshin's funeral; here, a month later, Chekhov extends the objection into a general principle -- he does not want his own comrades to let Leman speak in the name of young writers over his own grave, since Leman "is not a writer at all but merely a fine billiards player." Distinct from Mr. Bibikov, named in the clause immediately before: Bibikov is charged with a different, separate hypothetical (posthumous reminiscences), not with unwanted eulogizing.

• To A. I. Leman, 30 April 1888. Moscow. §3 Anatoly Ivanovich

  Anatoly Ivanovich Leman, the addressee, a minor literary and billiards writer whom Chekhov had previously scorned as an unwelcome graveside speechmaker at Vsevolod Garshin's funeral; here Chekhov answers him with civil, businesslike courtesy on an unrelated matter, never sent.

• To V. G. Korolenko, 2 May 1888. Moscow. §7 I answered A. Leman abusively too

  Anatoly Ivanovich Leman, kept carefully distinct here from Barantsevich named just before him -- Chekhov describes two separate irritable replies to two separate correspondents in the same breath, and the headnote flags this to prevent the abusive replies from being conflated into a single addressee. Leman had proposed printing, in his own books, a collective announcement of young writers "more or less in solidarity" with his circle; Chekhov's tart reply ("How do you know with whom I am in solidarity and with whom I am not?") is the specific retort quoted here.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 3 May 1888. Moscow. §5 I've had a letter from Leman

  Anatoly Ivanovich Leman, the minor writer and billiards author whose proposal to Petersburg authors (that they advertise one another's books on condition of mutual "solidarity") prompts Chekhov's long reply here. Referent tracking: the whole of section 5 is addressed to Shcheglov as "dear Zhean" and "you Petersburgers" -- Leman is discussed throughout as the third party whose proposal is being debated, not as the letter's addressee; keep Leman distinct from Shcheglov so the reply is not misread as directed at Leman himself. This letter's source text gives only "Лемана" (Leman), no initials -- his full name, Anatoly Ivanovich Leman, is established elsewhere in the correspondence (e.g., addressed directly to him as "А. И. ЛЕМАНУ").

• To K. S. Barantsevich, 17 May 1888. Sumy. §4 that Leman, I mean

  Chekhov's addressee here is Barantsevich, NOT the target of the billiards/graveside criticism -- that referent is Anatoly Leman, clarified explicitly in this clause. The source text is corrupted at this point: the printed edition jump-cuts from "...говорил на могиле Г" ("...speak at the grave of G[arshin]") directly into "не знал, что Леман..." ("...did not know that Leman...") with a fragment missing in between -- almost certainly the rest of Garshin's name and a clause naming Leman as speaking on behalf of the young writers. The translator reconstructed the sense of the gap by cross-reference to the sibling letters on the same episode (to Pleshcheyev, 31 March 1888, which first records Chekhov's scorn for Leman as a graveside speechmaker at Garshin's funeral;, to Barantsevich, 25 April 1888, which repeats the "not a writer at all but merely a fine billiards player" objection; and/430/431, late April-early May 1888, which continue the Leman dispute), all of which independently confirm that the criticized graveside speaker was Leman, speaking at Garshin's grave in the name of the young writers -- not Barantsevich, who is only the letter's addressee and shares no part in the reproach.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 25 October 1888. Moscow. §9 the Lehmans and Co.

  "Lehman" (Леман) is Anatoly Ivanovich Leman, already established as, a minor literary/billiards figure whom Chekhov treats with recurring contempt elsewhere in the corpus (cf. letters 2-400, 2-413, 2-426, 2-429, 2-430). Here "гг. Леманы и Ко" ("the Lehmans and Co.") uses his name generically as a type for self-interested literary hangers-on envious of Chekhov's Pushkin Prize, not as a reference to a literal group of distinct individuals named Lehman.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 25 October 1888. Moscow. §9 sons of bitches

  renders "сукины сыны" ("sons of bitches"), Chekhov's unsoftened invective directed at the Lehman circle over their envy of his Pushkin Prize. Translated faithfully at full force per the corpus's no-softening policy. This is individual/character-directed contempt within a private letter aimed at a real but minor historical figure (A. I. Leman) and the type he represents, not group-directed slur language; no further content flags apply.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 11 March 1889. Moscow. §3 the idealist Leman

  Very likely Anatoly Ivanovich Leman, the minor literary/billiards figure already established in this corpus (see and), whom Chekhov treats with recurring, half-mocking contempt. Flagged as consistent-but-not-certain: the reference here is brief and gives no further identifying detail beyond the surname and Chekhov's characteristic sarcastic epithet "the idealist," which elsewhere in the corpus is likewise aimed at Leman's circle.