To V. A. Tikhonov, 7 November 1889. Moscow.
В. А. ТИХОНОВУ, 7 ноября 1889 г. Москва.
Headnote
Written 7 November 1889 from Moscow to Vladimir Alexeyevich Tikhonov (1857-1914), a playwright and later editor with whom Chekhov corresponded about theatrical matters. The occasion is practical: Tikhonov has a new play and wants to know how to get it staged and published, and has apparently just had some kind of success (a premiere or acceptance) that prompts Chekhov’s mock-congratulations.
Content, section by section: the dateline and a shorthand repetition of the day; the business of the letter – Chekhov reports on the journal Artist (Артист), edited by Fyodor Kumanin, explaining that it only requires clearance from the dramatic censorship (a separate, lighter-touch censorship body for stage works in Imperial Russia) rather than the general press censorship, and that the November issue is already in proof, so Tikhonov’s play – referred to by the joking nonce-title “Ручи-Пучи,” rendered here as “Rooshi-Pooshi” – can appear no earlier than December or January; Chekhov will report further once Kumanin has read it. is a backhanded congratulation: Chekhov says he is not at all glad of Tikhonov’s success and argues, half seriously, that young professional playwrights ought to be hissed at rather than praised, lest they grow vain over hastily written work – he’d rather reward the young with money and reserve laurels for old age. mentions Pyotr Gnedich’s play Perekati-pole (“Tumbleweed” / “Tumbleweed Grass”), which Chekhov has heard is good and means to see, adding that he is well disposed toward Gnedich. closes with a jocular ill-wish – that a horned devil visit Tikhonov’s dreams as he rests on his laurels – continuing the teasing register of. is the plain signature, “Your A. Chekhov.”
Register: this is a short, brisk business-and-banter letter between professional acquaintances, entirely in Chekhov’s ironic, teasing voice; there is no sensitive or offensive content requiring a flag. The play title in is Chekhov’s own invented, nonsensical diminutive-rhyming nickname for Tikhonov’s actual play (its real title is not given in the letter) – it should not be mistaken for a genuine published work; it is preserved as a transliterated coinage rather than translated literally, since it functions as wordplay/mockery rather than as semantic content.