To A. S. Suvorin, 5 March 1889. Moscow.

1 Written from Moscow on 5 March 1889 to Alexei Suvorin, publisher of "Novoye Vremya" and Chekhov’s closest correspondent and confidant, this letter mixes literary business with the miscellany typical of their exchanges: a manuscript enclosed, a new story underway, small domestic news, and a string of short items – gossip, a theater grievance, and a closing joke about a horse race.

2 Chekhov sends along the finished text of his story "The Princess" ("Knyaginya"), professing weary relief to be rid of it, and reports that another story has taken hold of him (3-4). He thanks Suvorin for promised dictionaries, quoting a Ukrainian proverb, and reminds him about a photograph and some portraits taken by the photographer Shapiro (5). He asks Suvorin to forward a letter, if it really exists, from a parent whose son allegedly shot himself under the influence of Chekhov’s play "Ivanov" – material Chekhov wants to add to his file of reactions to that play, of which he says he is heartily sick (6). A vivid aside on gypsy singing heard on a nighttime excursion (7) is followed by Chekhov dismissing rumors reported by the publisher Nikolai Leikin – that he is coughing blood, losing his mind, or has married into a fortune (8) – and by brief opinions on a newly bought set of Dostoevsky (9) and on a French production of Ostrovsky’s "The Storm," which draws an indignant, half-joking outburst against the translators (10). He closes with a progress report on the play that will become "The Wood Demon" (11), regards to Suvorin’s wife and children (12), his signature (13), and a one-line postscript about a horse named Potemkin losing a race (14).