work
"В деревне" ("In the Village")
In the Village
also: В деревне, In the Village, In the Country
The new title Chekhov gives, in this 20 November 1891 letter to Albov, to the replacement story he had promised to write for "Severny Vestnik"'s January issue after shelving the censorable novella "Рассказ моего пациента". He judges the new, plainer title 'better -- more general, though also duller' than whatever working title he had been using. No corresponding source text is yet present in this corpus, and the letter itself gives no further identifying detail.
Reading notes
- To M. N. Albov, 20 November 1891. Moscow. §5 In the Village
The story Chekhov is sending Albov here, under a new title: "В деревне" ("In the Village"). In (22 October 1891) he had shelved the censorable novella "Рассказ моего пациента" and promised to write something new for Albov's January issue instead, reporting the writing 'moving along sluggishly'; this is that replacement piece, now finished (or nearly so) and retitled -- plainer and more general than whatever working title he mentions having used before, though he admits the new one is duller. The letter gives no further identifying detail beyond the title, and no corresponding source text is yet present in this corpus.
- To A. S. Suvorin, 27 November 1891. Moscow. §4 I've written a topical story -- about the starving -- and sent it to the \emph{Severny Vestnik}. I asked 250 rubles a signature. My terms were accepted.
This unnamed 'topical story...about the starving' is almost certainly the same piece Chekhov reports finishing and sending to \emph{Severny Vestnik} editor M. N. Albov exactly one week earlier, in (20 November 1891), there newly retitled "В деревне" ("In the Village") -- a story written in response to the 1891 famine. The fee matches exactly: 250 rubles per printer's signature in both letters, and Albov's acceptance of those terms (reported to Suvorin here as 'my terms were accepted') is the direct sequel to the request Chekhov puts to Albov in \S7. By 2 December (\S5, to L. Ya. Gurevich, also at \emph{Severny Vestnik}) the title shifts again, to "In the Country" ("В деревне" retitled once more, or a closely related working title) -- the same famine story continuing to be finalized across this run of letters to the journal's editorial staff.
- To L. Ya. Gurevich, 2 December 1891. Moscow. §5 In the Country
Same underlying story as "В деревне," glossed in the neighboring letter (§5, to Albov) as "In the Village." The Russian source text of this letter (§5) also reads "В деревне" verbatim -- the title itself does not change between the two letters -- but the translator here renders it "In the Country" rather than repeating "In the Village," reflecting a genuine ambiguity in how the single Russian phrase best carries over into English. Per the corpus's cross-letter title-discrepancy protocol, is reused (not duplicated) for this story, with "In the Country" added to its aliases list.