The Summer Husband (Shcheglov)

Reading notes

• To I. L. Leontyev, 22 February 1888. Moscow. §9 The Summer Husband," "Mignon," "The Rattlesnake

  The first of three Shcheglov plays Chekhov lists as further evidence of his versatility, alongside "Mignon" and "The Rattlesnake."

• To I. L. Leontyev, 18 April 1888. Moscow. §3 "The Dacha Husband"

  Shcheglov's play, here acknowledged as received --.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 9 June 1888. Sumy. §4 "The Dacha Husband"

  Shcheglov's play set among Petersburg dacha society, offered by Chekhov as the one weak counterexample -- the sole work Petersburg itself gave him.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 14 September 1888. Moscow. §10 "The Summer Husband" -- the play

  Shcheglov's play ("Дачный муж"), kept in quotes as a title matching the convention used for "The Bear" and Shcheglov's other works elsewhere in the correspondence (e.g./380).

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 30 September 1888. Moscow. §5 Дачный муж

  Ivan Shcheglov's one-act play, opening this same day at Korsh's theater in Moscow; Chekhov's affectionate mockery of Shcheglov's opening-night nerves plays on the title ("dachny muzh" = a husband whose family has gone to the dacha for the summer, left to fend for himself in town).

• To A. S. Suvorin, 2 October 1888. Moscow. §18 strained, coarse, and smells of prostitution

  "Пахнет проституцией" ("smells of prostitution") is a stock period idiom of moral distaste applied to a play's tone and construction -- Chekhov is complaining that Shcheglov's moralizing plot mechanics feel cheap and meretricious, not making any claim about a real person or real prostitution; translated literally to preserve the force of his review.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 4 October 1888. Moscow. §7 "Дачный муж"

  "The Summer Husband," Shcheglov's play, distinct from "Brass Foreheads" (section 5) and from "Mountains of the Caucasus" (also section 7). Its Moscow run had just failed, discussed here alongside Chekhov's frank craft advice to Shcheglov.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 2 November 1888. Moscow. §7 Don't rush with "The Summer Husband."

  Shcheglov's play "The Summer Husband" (Дачный муж), the same play whose flop at Korsh's theater Chekhov reviewed harshly to Suvorin a month earlier; here Chekhov instead advises Shcheglov directly not to cut Act III merely to appease outside pressure. A Shcheglov work, not Chekhov's own.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 7 November 1888. Moscow. §6 Give your "The Summer Husband" over to the Venetian doges

  Shcheglov's play ("Дачный муж"), the same play discussed at length in (\S7-8), where Chekhov advised Shcheglov not to cut Act III under pressure; "the Venetian doges" is a mock-grandiose figure of speech for whatever theater or manager might eventually take it on, not a literal reference.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 20 December 1888. Moscow. §3 Sing a requiem for "The Summer Husband."

  "Дачному мужу" ("The Summer Husband") is the same Shcheglov play already discussed in, where Chekhov advised against cutting its third act under pressure; here its Moscow revival is declared dead for practical reasons -- Glama-Meshcherskaya's departure from Korsh's company and Korsh's preference for new material over an old play -- rather than any artistic verdict on the play itself.