To A. S. Suvorin, 8 January 1889. Moscow.

1 A short, urgent letter of 8 January 1889 from Moscow to Alexei Sergeyevich Suvorin, written the day after the long letter of 7 January and the same day as a brief note to the actor F. A. Fyodorov about the copy of "Ivanov". It continues the immediate run-up to the Moscow premiere of Suvorin’s "Tatyana Repina," already tracked through this corpus’s late-1888/early-1889 letters, then pivots midway to Chekhov’s own play "Ivanov" and his revisions to the role of Sasha for Maria Savina.

2 After the double dateline (1-2), Chekhov reports on Nikulina’s letter and the censored monologues still owed, confirms the "Tatyana Repina" premiere for the 16th with the caveat that it may be postponed (3), then relays what he told Nikulina about rehearsals – that Suvorin himself will come after the 10th – and explains he is being summoned to rehearsal only for cuts and concessions, not artistic advice, and will go only if Suvorin fails to arrive in time (4). A long paragraph on Lensky follows: Chekhov visited him that day, found him irritated about stage business in his role (the "picking up of crockery shards" and cryptic complaints about a "pioneer" and a "beer-measure"), records a bit of Lensky’s own sparring dialogue with Yermolova in Act I, and describes talking him down from his irritation by praising the play’s reception at a prior performance (5). Chekhov then makes an urgent, personal plea for Suvorin to come to Moscow regardless of cost, offering to cover any resulting losses himself and warning that his absence will upset "all my plans" (6). The letter then shifts subject entirely to Chekhov’s own affairs: he is waiting on Fyodorov to send back a copy of "Ivanov," describes reworking the role of Sasha extensively for Savina’s benefit and adding a lighter scene so the play will not tire the audience with unrelieved gloom (7), proposes that he and Suvorin each write a second play over the summer, reflects that his own forthcoming "The Wood Demon" should be finer-made than "Ivanov," and gives his general view that plays should never be written in winter or too near a theater (8), before a closing blessing repeated on the condition that Suvorin actually come (9) and the signature (10).