Natalya Mikhailovna Lintvaryova

Reading notes

• To the Chekhovs, 23 July 1888. Feodosia. §7 Natalya Mikhailovna

  One of the Lintvaryov sisters at Luka, who ran the estate's farming; distinct from the unrelated fictional Natalya Mihalovna of the story "Dlinny Yazyk".

• To Ye. M. Lintvareva, 23 November 1888. Moscow. §13 And what does Natalia Mikhailovna think of the farmstead?

  Natalya Mikhailovna Lintvaryova, a further Lintvaryov sister (first identified at), asked here for her opinion of "the farmstead" (khutor) -- evidently a piece of property or building project discussed within the family, not otherwise identified in this corpus.

• To Ye. M. Lintvareva, 6 September 1889. Moscow. §9 Is Natalia Mikhailovna cool-tempered?

  A bare, unglossed one-line question -- "Хладнокровна ли Наталия Михайловна?" -- with no surrounding context in the letter to explain what prompted it; likely a private joke or continuation of estate gossip whose occasion is lost. Rendered literally rather than expanded or explained away.

• To N. M. Lintvareva, 16 July 1890. Sakhalin. §4 To Lintvaryova

  "Линтваревой," dative of "Линтварева," addresses the telegram to Natalya Mikhailovna Lintvaryova -- one of the Lintvaryov sisters at the Sumy estate, Luka, where the Chekhov household had summered for several years and was in fact staying that very summer of 1890. Identified with the corpus's existing entity (reused here rather than duplicated), previously established from, \S19 ("Ah, Trosha, Trosha! I don't hear your wonderful laugh!", her household nickname) among other appearances; the telegram's bare-surname dative form gives no first name or patronymic, so the identification rests on her established role in this corpus as the Lintvaryov family's practical point of contact -- she ran the estate's farming -- making her a natural relay for a wire asking that the Chekhov family (his mother, sister, and others, then resident at or near the same Sumy estate) be prompted to write. Compare, \S4, an earlier telegram from the same Siberian crossing addressed instead to "Чеховой" (Evgenia Chekhova, his mother) directly -- this wire, by contrast, goes to the Lintvaryov household rather than to family, consistent with asking a third party to chase the family up rather than addressing them himself.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 16 June 1891. Bogimovo. §7 Natasha Lintvaryova is staying with us

  One of the Lintvaryov sisters from the Sumy estate where the Chekhov family had summered in previous years, here visiting the household at Bogimovo. and, written the same weeks, for further mentions of this visit.

• To L. S. Mizinova, 20 June 1891. Bogimovo. §3 Natasha Lintvaryova

  Natalya Mikhailovna Lintvaryova, one of the Lintvaryov sisters of the family's Sumy estate at Luka, then a guest of the Chekhov household at Bogimovo; her planned departure with Chekhov's sister Maria is the occasion for the letter's opening request that Mizinova delay her visit.

• To N. M. Lintvareva, 5 July 1891. Bogimovo. §3 Baroness Ikskul

  Not the real historical Baroness Varvara Ikskul (cf. / the headnote to): this is a household nickname the Bogimovo circle used that summer for Chekhov's sister Maria Pavlovna ("Masha") herself. Confirmed by the companion letter written the same day, addressed to Masha directly, which closes "bring Baroness Ikskul with you" -- i.e. asks her to bring herself. The two letters are a coordinated joke: this one is nominally addressed to Natalya Mikhailovna Lintvaryova (see section 6, where she is named outright), enlisting her to escort "the Baroness" (Masha) home, while 982 begs Masha directly to hurry back.