person
Baruch Spinoza
Spinoza
Dutch rationalist philosopher (1632-1677), cited as a byword for profound abstract thought hidden behind an ordinary appearance.
Reading notes
- The Naive Wood-Sprite §5 Spinoza
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), the Dutch rationalist philosopher, invoked here as shorthand for weighty, abstract thought hidden behind a mundane signature.
- To A. S. Suvorin, 18 May 1891. Aleksin. §11 the Jewish philosopher they have been translating
Almost certainly Baruch Spinoza: Gurevich's Severny Vestnik published a Russian edition of Spinoza's correspondence under Flekser/Volynsky's editorial direction in this period, and Volynsky was known in these years for his sustained engagement with Spinoza's philosophy -- consistent with Chekhov's jab that the pair will import the "spirit" of the philosopher they have been translating without his wisdom or talent. The identification rests on external period sources describing the Gurevich-Volynsky Severny Vestnik's publishing program rather than on any internal proof within this letter, so it is offered here as the strongly likely reading rather than a certainty.
- A Story Hard to Give a Title To §2 Spinoza
Dutch rationalist philosopher (1632-1677), cited as a byword for profound abstract thought -- here mockingly applied to a tipsy provincial secretary.
- A Terrible Night §11 Spinoza
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677), the Dutch rationalist philosopher; his 'spirit' is comically summoned at the seance to pronounce doom on the narrator, a joke on invoking a famous rationalist for mystical parlor tricks.