person
Lev Alexandrovich Mey
Mey
also: Мея, Lev Mey
Lev Alexandrovich Mey (1822-1862), a nineteenth-century Russian poet and dramatist known for verse tragedies on historical Russian themes; cited by Chekhov alongside Victor Hugo's "Hernani" as a standard of dramatic quality against which he measures the prominence being given to his own "Ivanov" in the proposed Petersburg staging.
Reading notes
- To I. L. Leontyev, 31 December 1888. Moscow. §5 a play which is being given preference, before the eyes of all Petersburg, over plays by Mey and Victor Hugo ("Hernani")
Lev Mey, nineteenth-century Russian poet and verse-dramatist, and Victor Hugo's "Hernani" are cited together as standards of established dramatic quality -- Chekhov's anxious reasoning that a play given such prominence over such company ought to be excellent, which is precisely what worries him about his own play's flaws.