person
Zhean
also: Жан, Jean
Nicknamed "Zhean" (a comic Frenchified spelling of "Jean"), an unidentified Moscow theatrical acquaintance of Chekhov's whom he asks after in passing, joking about whether he has been run over backstage or died of fright over a cast substitution in "Dachny muzh". Not otherwise identified within this letter; flagged as a new entity pending cross-reference elsewhere in the corpus.
Reading notes
- To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 14 September 1889. Moscow. §10 Hasn't he died of fright on learning that in his "Dachny muzh" Madame Dymskaya-Stulskaya the 2nd will play instead of Madame Pyzhikova?
A theatrical in-joke about a cast substitution, treated with mock-tragic exaggeration (dying of fright over a casting change) consistent with the description two sentences later of Zhean's "tragic laugh." The identities and relative merits of Mesdames Dymskaya-Stulskaya and Pyzhikova are not otherwise glossed by Chekhov and remain unresolved beyond this passing joke.