To A. S. Suvorin, 28 December 1888. Moscow.

1 Written from Moscow on 28 December 1888 to Alexei Suvorin, this letter continues the running exchange over Suvorin’s play "Tatyana Repina" with a close read of Suvorin’s latest script corrections, then moves through news of a "New Year’s tale" Chekhov is finishing for Suvorin’s paper, a jab at a rival journalist, and a run of short items, before closing with a well-known anecdote in which Chekhov shows a court clerk his own and Grigorovich’s handwriting.

2 Chekhov works through Suvorin’s revisions to "Tatyana Repina" line by line: he approves the new insertion for the character Kokoshkina and predicts the actress Nikulina will like it, but judges the corrections to Olenina’s role largely unnecessary, since (he argues) that role depends on the actress’s playing rather than her lines (3); he suggests Suvorin attend the final rehearsals in person and proposes a few more lines of dialogue for Kokoshkina (4); he warns that a scripted insertion mocking Jewish theatregoers (given to the character Kotelnikov) risks being hissed off the stage, on the grounds that Jewish patrons make up much of the theatre’s audience (5); and he allows a little incidental music at the close, if the ensemble is strong (6). He reports progress on a New Year’s tale for Suvorin’s paper, promising delivery by the 30th or 31st at the latest, and mentions a second tale he can send for the Epiphany issue (7); takes a swipe at a Petersburg Gazette item about his own play "Ivanov," attributing it to Pleshcheev’s son (8); and returns to "Tatyana Repina" to insist Suvorin print Kokoshkina’s exit only if Nikulina plays the part, and otherwise print the script as originally sent, warning that endless correction is "a dangerous path" from which one never returns (9). The letter’s body closes with good wishes for Suvorin’s wife Anna Ivanovna’s health (10), a mock-formal valediction ("Dear teacher of the Dorpat students,") and signature (12). A short postscript-like run follows: confirmation the tale is finished and enclosed (13); an aside about whether the actors will cut the play (14); and the closing anecdote, in which Chekhov shows a justice of the peace’s clerk his own handwriting and is told it’s worth "not a kopeck," then shows Grigorovich’s handwriting and is told that one might fetch ten rubles a month (15-19).