To F. A. Chervinsky, 16 November 1889. Moscow.
Ф. А. ЧЕРВИНСКОМУ, 16 ноября 1889 г. Москва.
Headnote
Date/context: November 16, 1889, Moscow. Written to Fyodor Alexeyevich Chervinsky (Ф. А. Червинский), a minor poet and playwright of Chekhov’s circle in the late 1880s. The letter is a short, informal follow-up to a recent supper conversation between the two men.
Chekhov reminds Chervinsky of a promise made over supper — Chervinsky had read a poem by an unnamed friend of Chekhov’s (a would-be poet eager to break into print, jestingly described as wanting to get onto "Parnassus") and had offered to help place it with the illustrated magazine "Zhivopisnoe obozrenie" ("The Picturesque Review"). Chekhov now nudges him to follow through if it isn’t too much trouble. He closes by asking after the progress of a play Chervinsky is writing, saying he expects a great deal from it, and signs off with a brief well-wishing.