person
Achille Bazaine
Marshal Bazaine
also: маршал Базен, Marshal Bazaine, François Achille Bazaine
French Marshal François Achille Bazaine (1811-1888), notorious for surrendering Metz and his entire army to the Prussians in 1870 and later convicted of treason; invoked here purely for his well-known bearded, bespectacled likeness, to which the story compares the respectable-looking old pianist in the brothel.
Reading notes
- A Nervous Breakdown §73 Marshal Bazaine's
François Achille Bazaine (1811-1888), French Marshal notorious for surrendering Metz and his entire army to Prussia in 1870 and later convicted of treason -- by 1888 a byword, purely for his bearded, bespectacled appearance, rather than any political point being made here. The comparison is visual shorthand only: Chekhov reaches for a recognizable public face to economically sketch the 'respectable-looking old man' at the piano.