Leshy (The Wood Demon)

Reading notes

• To A. S. Suvorin, 18 October 1888. Moscow. §16 So there's your whole playbill.

  "Playbill" ("афишка") here refers to the cast list for the play as a whole, distinguishing the PROJECT from any single character in it -- the writing-division discussion that follows apportions specific characters and acts between Chekhov and Suvorin.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 24 October 1888. Moscow. §5 "The Wood Demon" would suit a novel, I know that perfectly well myself. But I haven't the strength for a novel.

  The play-in-progress "The Wood Demon" ("Леший"), the same collaborative project with Suvorin documented at length in's playbill letter of six days earlier. Here Chekhov weighs the underlying material against three different literary forms in quick succession: novel (rejected, for now, as beyond his current strength), short story (\S5, what he judges feasible), and the comedy/play itself (\S6). This three-way weighing of forms is a distinct data point in the play's compositional history -- see the crossref to for the connection.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 24 October 1888. Moscow. §6 If I were writing the comedy "The Wood Demon," I would put in the foreground not the actors and not the stage, but literariness.

  Continues \S5's reflection, now addressing the play form specifically: Chekhov's aspiration that the comedy "The Wood Demon" prioritize literary merit ("литературность") over stagecraft, a compositional concern distinct from, but continuous with, the character-by-character playbill work documented in.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 15 November 1888. Moscow. §5 Why do you refuse to write "The Wood Demon" together with me?

  The collaborative play project already extensively established in this corpus (see's and's headnotes); this letter documents a further, more pointed renewal of Chekhov's invitation, with Suvorin apparently having continued to decline in the letters between.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 8 January 1889. Moscow. §8 I think my "The Wood Demon" will turn out no comparison finer made than "Ivanov."

  "The Wood Demon" ("Леший") is Chekhov's own play, first documented in this corpus at its early collaborative-drafting stage in (with Suvorin) and; it was later substantially reworked into "Uncle Vanya" (1897). This is a rare instance of Chekhov directly comparing its prospective quality, in advance, to the already-produced "Ivanov".

• To A. S. Suvorin, 6 February 1889. Moscow. §3 when I take up "The Wood Demon" and the vaudevilles

  "The Wood Demon", the Suvorin/Chekhov collaborative draft already established in this corpus (e.g.), is named here only as a deferred future project Chekhov feels no present appetite for -- no new plot or cast detail is added in this letter.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 20 February 1889. Moscow. §4 For next season I'll write "The Wood Demon,"

  The play Chekhov and Suvorin were collaboratively drafting (first attested), later substantially reworked into "Uncle Vanya" (1897); here still a forward-looking plan rather than a completed script.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 5 March 1889. Moscow. §11 "The Wood Demon"

  "Leshy" ("The Wood Demon"), the play Chekhov is drafting in collaboration with Suvorin at this period; later substantially reworked into "Uncle Vanya." Here he reports the first three acts sketched out and the fourth barely begun, with Act III singled out as especially "scandalous."

• To A. S. Suvorin, May 1889. Sumy. §9 My "Wood Demon" is coming along nicely

  "Leshy" ("The Wood Demon"), the play Chekhov and Suvorin were drafting together at this period, later substantially reworked into "Uncle Vanya"; a brief progress note. Its proximity to the §10 dream of "Mlle Emilie" -- a name shared by a character in this play's own dramatis personae -- is part of what makes that later reference genuinely ambiguous; see the §10 note below.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 4 May 1889. Sumy. §5 the first act of "The Wood Demon"

  "Лешего", the play Chekhov would later substantially rework into "Uncle Vanya"; here only the first act is reported finished, with the whole expected ready by early June 1889.

• To I. M. Kondratyev, 18 May 1889. Sumy. §5 The Wood Demon, a comedy in 4 acts

  Already established as, the four-act comedy Chekhov and Suvorin drafted together (first appearing at), first performed in 1889 and later substantially reworked into "Uncle Vanya"; here Chekhov asks that it also be entered into Kondratyev's catalogue ahead of its autumn premiere on the imperial stage.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 29 August 1889. Sumy. §5 I began "The Wood Demon" (in May and June), but then abandoned it.

  \textit{Leshy} ("The Wood Demon"), the play Chekhov began drafting in May-June 1889 and set aside; he would eventually rework its material into \textit{Uncle Vanya} several years later.

• To A. P. Lensky, 27 September 1889. Moscow. §7 I've started the play and have already written half of the first act.

  PROBABLE, not certain, identification: the unnamed play is almost certainly "The Wood Demon" (\textit{Леший}). Chekhov had abandoned an earlier attempt at the same play in May-June 1889 (per, \S5: "I began 'The Wood Demon'... but then abandoned it") and by 30 September 1889 (three days after this letter) describes writing "a great comedy-novel" already 2.5 acts along, which he explicitly names as "The Wood Demon." This letter's report of half an act written, with a projected cast of seven male and four female roles, sits squarely inside that same drafting window and is not itself named -- the identification depends on the surrounding batch of letters.

• To F. A. Kumanin, 10 October 1889. Moscow. §3 The Wood Demon

  "Леший," Chekhov's four-act comedy, drafted with Suvorin and first performed in December 1889 at Abramova's theater, not the Maly; later substantially reworked into "Uncle Vanya" (1897).

• To A. S. Suvorin, 17 October 1889. Moscow. §5 Не радуйтесь, что Вы попали в мою пьесу.

  "My play" is "The Wood Demon" ("Леший"), which Chekhov was writing/staging through 1889 (see for its submission and rejection by the imperial theater directorate around this same time). The unnamed central character described later in this section -- tedious, self-loving, wooden, twenty-five years reading about art without understanding it, intolerant of laughter or music, yet extraordinarily happy -- is the figure gossips claimed was a caricature of Suvorin; Chekhov flatly denies it.

• To I. L. Leontyev, 21 October 1889. Moscow. §3 my "Wood Demon" collapsed and burst.

  \emph{Леший}, Chekhov's play; it had just failed on stage, an event reported at greater length in the immediately preceding letters to Suvorin -- Chekhov later reworked its material into \emph{Uncle Vanya}.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 28 October 1889. Moskva/. §8 I won't give you "The Wood Demon" to read, for fear you'll talk about it with Grigorovich.

  "The Wood Demon" ("Леший"/Leshy), Chekhov's play-in-progress and eventual source for "Uncle Vanya," rendered here by its established Hermitsh translation (cross-checked against and the translator's note there). Chekhov's guardedness about the manuscript reaching Grigorovich continues the secrecy/anxiety about the play already visible in the surrounding October 1889 Suvorin letters.

• To A. P. Lensky, 2 November 1889. Moscow. §3 my rotten great play

  "поганую пьесищу" -- "poganuyu pyesishchu," an augmentative-pejorative coinage on \textit{pyesa} ("play") meaning something like "wretched big play-thing," applied by Chekhov to his own "The Wood Demon" after its poor reception; rendered here at full self-mocking force rather than softened.

• To A. P. Lensky, 2 November 1889. Moscow. §4 one of the private theatrical dens.

  "частных театральных капищ" -- "chastnykh teatralnykh kapishch," literally "private theatrical temples/shrines" but using \textit{kapishche}, an archaic and pejorative word for a pagan idol-temple or den of idolatry; Chekhov uses it contemptuously for the commercial (non-imperial) Moscow theaters, in contrast to the state-subsidized Maly and Alexandrinsky stages. Carried through to \S6's "vertepy" (dens/haunts) in the same register.

• To A. P. Lensky, 2 November 1889. Moscow. §6 Let it wander, like the shade of an unrepentant sinner, from den to den, from darkness into gloom...

  "Пусть слоняется, аки тень нераскаянного грешника, из вертепа в вертеп, из потемок во мглу..." -- a mordant mock-liturgical simile ("аки," an archaic Church Slavonic "like/as," rather than the plain modern "как") comparing the play's afterlife touring commercial theaters (\textit{vertep}, "den" or disreputable haunt) to a damned soul's restless wandering; sustained wordplay on the same "den" register introduced in \S4's "kapishch."

• To A. M. Yevreinova, 7 November 1889. Moscow. §5 I have the play

  Almost certainly "Leshy" ("The Wood Demon"), which Chekhov was drafting/revising in autumn 1889 and which had not yet been staged at time of writing; unnamed in the letter itself. Kept as per the established identification in this corpus.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 12 November 1889. Moscow. §4 Thank you for reading the play

  The play is not named in this letter. It is very likely "Leshy" ("The Wood Demon"), which Chekhov was drafting/revising with Suvorin's input through the autumn of 1889 and which premiered that same year -- see and the hedged crossref for this section. Chekhov's own complaint that its fourth act "is no good at all" and needs a new one matches the play's known, troubled composition history; flagged as likely rather than certain because the letter itself never supplies a title.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 20 November 1889. Moscow. §8 My "Wood Demon" opens on 10 December at Abramova's theater.

  "The Wood Demon" ("Леший"/Leshy), Chekhov's play and eventual source material for "Uncle Vanya," here approaching its premiere at the private theatrical company run by the Moscow actress Mariya Abramova (already established in this corpus).

• To A. I. Sumbatov, 14 December 1889. Moscow. §3 the play we spoke about

  Not named in the letter itself. The timing -- mid-December 1889, a play just cleared by the censor, being circulated for the Maly Theatre's consideration -- points, probably rather than certainly, to "Леший" ("The Wood Demon"), which premiered at Abramova's theater in Moscow later that same month. Treat this identification as the translator's probable inference, not a fact stated in the text.

• To A. S. Suvorin, 20 December 1889. Moscow. §3 "The Wood Demon" to Abramova

  "'Лешего' Абрамовой" -- Chekhov reports having sold his play "Leshy" ("The Wood Demon,", already established in this corpus, first appearance) to Mariya Morisovna Abramova (already established, first appearance), the Moscow actress-manager running her own private theatrical company; "The Wood Demon" was first performed in Abramova's theater in December 1889, around the date of this letter, and Chekhov would later substantially rework the play into "Uncle Vanya." Cross-referenced in this letter's crossrefs.json to the earlier letters establishing both entities.

• To I. M. Kondratyev, 28 December 1889. Moscow. §5 "The Wood Demon"

  "Leshy" ("The Wood Demon"), given to M. M. Abramova's Moscow theater through 15 February 1890; per the afterword at section 48, it had just been staged there for the first time, on 27 December 1889 -- the day before this letter.

• To I. M. Kondratyev, 28 December 1889. Moscow. §48 "The Wood Demon" was first staged at M. M. Abramova's theater in Moscow on 27 December 1889

  The afterword's account directly explains the letter's own opening business: this letter of 28 December reports the Abramova contract for "The Wood Demon" the day after that play's premiere at her theater -- the two parts of this document illuminate each other despite being separately authored (Chekhov's hand versus the edition's editors, roughly ninety years apart).

• To F. A. Kumanin, 8 January 1890. Petersburg. §4 the whole censored "Wood Demon"

  \emph{The Wood Demon} ("Леший"), Chekhov's play, which had premiered in Moscow the previous month (December 1889).

• To F. A. Kumanin, 8 January 1890. Petersburg. §5 don't print "The Wood Demon"!!

  Chekhov withdraws the play from publication in \emph{Artist} outright, giving as his reason the poor Moscow reception described in the same section -- direct confirmation, from Chekhov's own hand, that the December 1889 premiere was a flop. This closes the anticipation-to-aftermath arc for the play's premiere that runs through this batch (see the crossref entries to).

• To F. A. Kumanin, 8 January 1890. Petersburg. §5 the Moscow public didn't like it, the actors seemed embarrassed, the newspapermen abused it

  Chekhov's own three-part account of the play's failure: cool public reception, visibly uncomfortable actors, and hostile press -- his bluntest first-person acknowledgment in the corpus that \emph{The Wood Demon}'s Moscow premiere (Abramova's theater, December 1889) flopped.

• To M. P. Chekhova, 14 January 1890. Petersburg. §10 \"The Wood Demon\"

  \emph{The Wood Demon} ("Леший"), Chekhov's play, which had premiered in Moscow the previous month to a poor reception; Chekhov is awaiting word from his brother Mikhail on its fate with \emph{Artist}, a question he was independently pressing with the journal's editor in letters written the same week.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 10 February 1890. Moscow. §5 "Wood Demon"

  "Leshy" ("The Wood Demon") had premiered in Moscow the previous month to a poor reception (see and, where Chekhov presses the journal "Artist" to withdraw the play after its stage failure). This letter marks a turn in that arc: rather than abandoning the play, Chekhov commits it to print, promising to revise it once more and send it to Pleshcheyev's "Severny Vestnik" around 20 February. "The Wood Demon" was later substantially reworked into "Uncle Vanya."

• To M. I. Chaykovsky, 16 March 1890. Moscow. §4 yesterday I even sent a story to \textit{Novoye vremya}; soon I'll send \textit{The Wood Demon} to \textit{Severny vestnik} -- the latter very reluctantly, since I don't like seeing my plays in print.

  \emph{The Wood Demon} (\emph{Леший}), the play Chekhov substantially reworked years later into \emph{Uncle Vanya}. His reluctance here is specifically about print publication of a play -- he elsewhere states a general preference for seeing his plays performed rather than read on the page -- not a comment on the play's quality or on \emph{Severny vestnik} itself, a journal he otherwise had cordial relations with via Pleshcheyev.

• To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 27 March 1890. Moscow. §4 Please be so good as to bring "The Wood Demon" with you

  Chekhov had placed "The Wood Demon" (\emph{Леший}) with \emph{Severny Vestnik} only weeks earlier -- first proposing it at (4 March), reporting the plan still pending at (16 March, "soon I'll send \emph{The Wood Demon}... the latter very reluctantly, since I don't like seeing my plays in print"), and the arrangement already yielding payment by (17 March). With the journal now dead barely a fortnight later, the manuscript has nowhere to be published and Chekhov asks for it back -- practical business closing out an arrangement that never had time to come to anything, rather than a change of heart about the play itself.

• To A. I. Urusov, 17 February 1891. Moscow. §3 "The Wood Demon."

  "Леший", Chekhov's play written in collaboration with Suvorin, first performed in December 1889 and published the following year; here Chekhov sends Urusov two printed copies of it, without further comment on the occasion.