person
M. N. Ostrovskaya
Ostrovskaya
also: Островская, M. H. Островская
Maria Nikolayevna Ostrovskaya, children's writer; sister of the playwright Alexander Ostrovsky (d. 1886) and of Pyotr Nikolayevich Ostrovsky, and, per Chekhov's letter, also sister of a brother "now flourishing" as a minister -- likely Mikhail Nikolayevich Ostrovsky, though this identification is provisional and unconfirmed. In September 1889 she sought, via Chekhov, to have Suvorin publish her children's stories.
Reading notes
- To A. S. Suvorin, 28 October 1889. Moskva/. §5 so long as the Ostrovsky name resounds across all Europe
"Ostrovsky" here at letter's opening refers to the playwright Alexander Ostrovsky coming to press Suvorin on behalf of his sister's book; the "Ostrovsky name" whose European fame is at stake belongs to M. N. Ostrovskaya, the sister and children's-book author whose manuscript is under discussion -- already established in this corpus via. Not to be confused with the actor-playwright Pyotr Ostrovsky, a different sibling.
- To A. S. Suvorin, 20 February 1890. Moscow. §7 судьбе книги своей сестры
"His sister's book" is the children's-writing project of Maria Nikolayevna Ostrovskaya, sister of both the late playwright Alexander Ostrovsky and of (the visitor in this section, himself also a brother of Maria's, distinct from the more famous playwright who had died in 1886). The visitor is negotiating illustration and format disputes with Suvorin and his associate Neupokoyev on her behalf -- a business errand consistent with his role as an intermediary for Suvorin-adjacent publishing matters in earlier letters.
- To A. S. Suvorin, 1 April 1890. Moscow. §8 You promised to publish his sister's stories
Refers to the ongoing publication project for the stories of Maria Nikolayevna Ostrovskaya, sister of the playwright Alexander Ostrovsky and of, the family member who had earlier visited Chekhov to negotiate the book's illustration and format with Suvorin (see, \S7, where the same project first appears in this corpus, there described as still in dispute over format). This letter finds Chekhov following up, weeks later, with visible impatience on the family's behalf ("the whole Ostrovsky family is languishing") -- the promised book has evidently still not gone to press.