To A. S. Suvorin, 6 February 1889. Moscow.
А. С. СУВОРИНУ, 6 февраля 1889 г. Москва.
Headnote
1 Written from Moscow on 6 February 1889 to Alexei Suvorin, a short, loosely strung letter of the kind Chekhov often sent during the "Ivanov" run – a string of brief items rather than one sustained subject: theater business, a mock-wounded reply to a criticism, a grab-bag of household news, work-in-progress notes, a small errand, a jab at the press, and closing family regards, all wrapped around the play’s ongoing Petersburg performances.
2 Chekhov declines Suvorin’s suggestion (received too late to use) about relocating the play’s lines on slander, and says the only thing left he wants from the theater now is his fee – he feels sated with revision and has no appetite for reworking, insertions, or a new play, pushing "The Wood Demon" and the vaudevilles into an indefinite future (3). He takes Suvorin’s criticism of the printed/epistolary Ivanov versus the stage Ivanov in stride, attributing the difference to a quarter of the role having been cut in performance, and turns it into a wry complaint that the public expects the theater to be a boring "school" (4). A run of domestic miscellany follows: a maid’s engagement, a runaway kitten, a student’s black eye, a schoolboy’s failing Latin marks, and the landlord’s niece Zinochka’s nightly prayers that Chekhov not fall in love (5). He describes his own restless, lazy, spring-tinged mood, reports he is nonetheless at work assembling material for his "third book" and cutting ruthlessly, gripped by a new mania for brevity (6). He mentions sending Alexei Alexeyevich a story for "Stoglav," half needling him to be grateful (7), and asks Suvorin, as an optional errand, to buy him a balalaika/mandolin seen at the Moscow flea market (8). He complains that the cheap press is distorting his "Ivanov," comparing the coverage to something as absurd as calling Ivanov "Boulanger" (9), sends regards to Suvorin’s family and an apologetic explanation to two governesses/companions he left without saying goodbye (10), notes he is writing this as the play’s second act is actually being performed in Petersburg (11), and closes with the bare signature (12).