To F. A. Chervinsky, 12 April 1890. Moscow.
Ф. А. ЧЕРВИНСКОМУ, 12 апреля 1890 г. Москва.
Headnote
Written in Moscow on 12 April 1890, days before Chekhov left the city (21 April) to begin his journey across Siberia to Sakhalin. The addressee is Fyodor Alekseyevich Chervinsky, a minor poet and playwright of the period; the letter is short and businesslike, plainly written under the pressure of Chekhov’s imminent departure.
Chekhov tells Chervinsky he is leaving on the 17th or 18th (Wednesday or Thursday of the following week) and can be of service only if there is time before then; otherwise Chervinsky should wait until December, when Chekhov expects to be in Petersburg. He suggests that if Chervinsky wants the actors’ opinion (evidently of a play or manuscript, unspecified in this letter), he should approach Alexander Lensky or Alexander Yuzhin, with whom Chekhov offers to speak on Chervinsky’s behalf before leaving – provided Chervinsky writes back promptly. The letter closes with a brief good wish and signature.
despite its brevity, it has a full dateline, a proper salutation ("Уважаемый Федор Алексеевич" / "Dear Fyodor Alekseyevich"), complete grammatical sentences with no dropped articles or prepositions, and a full valediction and signature ("Ваш А. Чехов" / "Yours, A. Chekhov"). This is the ordinary short-letter pattern (dateline, abbreviated repeat dateline, brief body, closing wish, signature), not the bare-surname, salutation-less compression of a telegram.