To I. L. Leontyev, 21 October 1889. Moscow.
И. Л. ЛЕОНТЬЕВУ (ЩЕГЛОВУ), 21 октября 1889 г. Москва.
Headnote
This is a short, warm letter to Ivan Leontievich Leontiev, who wrote under the pen name Shcheglov (Щеглов, literally "goldfinch" – a name Chekhov plays on throughout, addressing him as "Jeanne" and needling him about his "finch nerves" and "finch paw"). Shcheglov was a fellow writer and one of Chekhov’s closer literary correspondents in this period; the tone here is bantering and affectionate, not formal.
The occasion is twofold. First, Chekhov reports – with rueful, self-mocking humor – that his play The Wood Demon (Леший) has just failed; he frames this as fate’s punishment for having "poached" on Shcheglov’s territory (writing for the stage). The Wood Demon premiered in Moscow in late 1889 and was not well received; Chekhov later reworked its material into Uncle Vanya. Second, and at greater length, Chekhov praises Shcheglov’s recently read story "The Leather Actor" (Кожаный актер), singling out one vivid image (a minor character in a sheepskin coat) while also criticizing Shcheglov’s diction – specifically two words, "облыжный" ("specious/false") and "бутербродный" ("sandwich-like," i.e. slapped together), which Chekhov calls "Zhitelev-ish" (жителевские), a reference to the feuilletonist Порфирий Зеленский / A. Zhitelev-style mannered journalistic slang that Chekhov felt was out of place in a tender story. Chekhov urges Shcheglov to write more theatrical-life stories and collect them in a volume.
He also mentions, with satisfaction verging on schadenfreude ("serves you right"), that a censor blocked Shcheglov’s stage adaptation of his own story "The Gordian Knot" (Гордиев узел) – treating this as a deserved lesson against authors reworking their own prose into plays, which lands as a wry, self-referential joke given Chekhov’s own just-failed play.
The letter closes with domestic notices: N. A. Tikhonov (a mutual acquaintance/publishing figure) has been in Moscow; Shcheglov himself has not yet visited but is eagerly awaited; regards to Shcheglov’s wife; and a closing note that "my people" (Chekhov’s household – his family at the Moscow apartment) send their regards.