To A. N. Pleshcheyev, 13 November 1888. Moscow.

1 Written from Moscow on 13 November 1888 to the poet and "Severny Vestnik" editor Alexei Nikolaevich Pleshcheyev, this letter is another dense run of miscellany in the autumn 1888 sequence (cf. letters 470, 475, 483, 488, 490, 491, 497, 499, 502, 506, 512, 519, 528), opening with Chekhov announcing he has finally finished copying out and sending off the story he owed the Garshin memorial collection.

2 Chekhov braces for Pleshcheyev’s displeasure – the story, he warns, is ungraceful and unsuited to "almanac-and-family reading," reeking of "the dampness of drainpipes" – but says his conscience is clear: he has kept his promise and paid Vsevolod Garshin the tribute he intended. He adds a striking authorial aside, speaking "as a physician," that he believes he has rendered the story’s mental anguish correctly by the rules of psychiatric science, and a blunter aside that he was once "a great specialist" in the department of prostitution and had noted only that past summer that Sumy lacked the relevant establishments. He then asks after Georges Lintvaryov, and follows with a repeated, anxious request that Pleshcheyev confirm the story’s safe arrival, offering to place it elsewhere – under the header "In Memory of Garshin" – if it does not suit "Severny Vestnik."

3 The letter turns to money and journal business: Chekhov is flatly broke, awaiting an Academy prize payment in five or six weeks, and asks that any fee be wired to him by telegraph the instant it is available. He then vents, half-joking, about a piece of editorial upheaval at "Severny Vestnik" – reproaching Pleshcheyev’s circle for letting a Sabashnikova go to "that monster" Evreinova rather than waiting for him, with a facetious aside that he would gladly have "married" Sabashnikova himself for the sake of the journal’s circulation and would have spent half her dowry on advertising. He then asks whether Korolenko has sent in his novella, adding that he is "sick to death of reading Chekhov" himself – i.e. of seeing so much of his own work fill the issues.

4 Chekhov gives an extended, critical assessment of Dmitri Merezhkovsky’s article (cf. letters 491 and 519, which track Chekhov’s anticipation and receipt of the piece), praising the underlying wish to write serious criticism but faulting its lack of simplicity, the author’s own insufficiently settled convictions, and – at greatest length – an editorial note appended to the piece that Chekhov says he cannot make sense of, on the principle that an editorial board answers for everything it prints and should not shield itself behind disclaimers about "contributors." He proposes, sarcastically, that every one of Protopopov’s articles be given the same disclaimer treatment.

5 The letter closes with a run of theater and publishing items: Chekhov would like to visit Pleshcheyev in Petersburg but has no money; the actress Maria Savina wants to stage his one-act "The Bear," having gotten his address and the relevant issue from Alexei Suvorin (cf. letters 512 and 519, which track "The Bear"’s earlier run at Korsh’s theater); the play is succeeding in Moscow and, Chekhov predicts, will do so in the provinces too. The actors of the Maly Theater are eagerly passing around his story "The Name-Day" (cf. letter 519, which mentions the story’s misprint-ridden publication), which has proven especially popular with the women among them. Chekhov thanks Pleshcheyev for offering to read proof on his stories but insists that authors must proofread their own work to catch errors a proofreader cannot, promising prompt turnaround on any future proofs sent to him. The letter ends with the standing formula of regards to Pleshcheyev’s family and a closing blessing, followed by the signature.