place
Olkhovatka
also: Ольховатка
A settlement in Voronezh province mentioned as a recurring topic of conversation between Chekhov and his fellow-Voronezhian acquaintance Suvorin.
Reading notes
- To M. Ye. Chekhov, 18 January 1887. Moscow. §8 we get to
talking about Olkhovatka, Boguchar, and so on.
Olkhovatka and Boguchar, two localities in Voronezh province, Suvorin's home region -- offered here as shorthand for the kind of provincial small talk the two men fall into when they meet, underscoring Suvorin's self-made rise from a district schoolteacher there to a publishing magnate.