To Ye. M. Lintvareva, 8 October 1889. Moscow.
Е. М. ЛИНТВАРЕВОЙ, 8 октября 1889 г. Москва.
Headnote
A short, joking note to Elena Mikhailovna Lintvareva – the physician daughter of Alexandra Lintvareva, on whose Ukrainian estate at Luka (near Sumy) the Chekhov family had spent the summers of 1888 and 1889. Chekhov calls her "Doctor" throughout, in keeping with her profession and with the family’s habit of needling nicknames. He signs off not as Chekhov but as "A. Panov" – a running joke pseudonym used within the Lintvarev circle; the letter is a piece of private family banter rather than a formal or literary communication.
The letter has three small threads. First, a book errand: Chekhov reports that Diderot and the Encyclopedists (published by the Moscow bookseller/publisher Kuzma Soldatenkov) is now in stock and can be ordered through a named railway-station clerk/vendor ("вокзальная барышня" – literally "the station young lady," evidently a known local point of sale or order-taking contact, not a proper name). This is addressed to Elena’s brother via her.
Third, a report of his autumn productivity: he compares his September workload to "Baranovsky’s Moses" (an obscure local/family allusion, sense uncertain – possibly a reference to a strongman or laborer known to the circle; translated literally as no clarifying source was consulted). He reports finishing a novella for the November issue of Severny Vestnik (The Northern Herald) – this is "A Boring Story" ("Скучная история"), which did appear in Severny Vestnik in November 1889 – and a play going up in Petersburg on 31 October, which is The Wood Demon ("Леший"), premiered at the Abramova Theatre in Moscow in December 1889 (Chekhov’s Petersburg staging plan did not materialize as described; treat the date/venue in the letter as his expectation at the time of writing, not the eventual production history). He closes wryly that he doesn’t know where to put the money.