To A. S. Suvorin, 18 November 1888. Moscow.

1 Written from Moscow on 18 November 1888 to Alexei Suvorin, this short letter follows closely on (15 November). It mixes a note on Chekhov’s own stalled work with warm interest in the upcoming premiere of Suvorin’s play "Tatyana Repina," a characteristic riff on his pleasure in staging plays and collecting royalties, and a passing literary whim about wanting to meet the real-life singer Kadmina.

2 The letter opens with dateline and compressed re-dating (1-2), then turns to Chekhov’s own stalled story: he wants to try writing in a "protesting tone" this season but finds the unfamiliar mode dull going, and reports that a fee just received from the "Severny Vestnik" has left him too comfortable to push through it (3). asks after the progress of Suvorin’s play, here called "Tatyana" for short, wishing him well through the nervous ordeal of a premiere and comparing it, half-ruefully, to the reception of Chekhov’s own "Ivanov." is a characteristic digression on Chekhov’s fondness for the mechanics of staging a play and for collecting his royalties from the Society, likened to the suspense of fishing and checking a net or fish-trap. repeats the request to be told the premiere date so Chekhov can try to attend. is a short aside in which Chekhov, out of boredom, declares himself sick of moderation and craving "original, frenzied women," quotes a line of verse about a rebellious spirit seeking the storm, and reports that acquaintances keep telling him he would have liked the singer Kadmina – whom he says he is now studying at second hand, through others’ recollections, and finds to have been a genuinely uncommon personality. The letter closes with regards and signature (8-9).