Title: Anton Chekhov: A Life in Letters
Edited by Rosamund Bartlett
Translated by Rosamund Bartlett and Anthony Phillips
Russian writer Anton Chekhov is considered one of the great short story writers of all time. His short stories, plays and views on literature have influenced multiple generations of writers around the world. Chekhov lived at a time where many great writers had been living, and he closely associated with them as well. And his life, itself, is also fantastic. Therefore, the letters by him are of so much importance, hence the value of the book, ‘A Life in Letters’.
The most extraordinary thing is that during his short life span (44 years) he has written over 4,500 letters - to his family members and friends, his publisher and fellow writers - not to mention actresses. The first letter in the volume is one he sent to Mikhail Mikhailovich, a cousin on his father’s side. Mikhail or Misha became one of Chekhov’s first correspondents, and the letter starts like this:
A letter to a cousin
“To Mikhail M. (Mikhailovich) Chekhov, 7 December 1876, Taganrog
“Dearest Cousin Mikhail Mikhailovich,
“A few days ago I had the honour and pleasure of receiving your letter. In it you extend to me the hand of a brother, and I clasp it with feelings of pride and dignity as the hand of an elder brother. It was you who took the initiative in offering a sign of brotherly friendship, and it was an impertinence on my part to allow you to do so; in such a matter it should be for the younger to approach the elder, and therefore I ask your forgiveness. But the fact remains that a friendship of this kind formed part of my thoughts and my intentions from the very beginning.”
When Chekhov wrote this letter he was 16 years old. So the letter reveals his humbleness, respect for elders, and also his childish thoughts. The most important facts of the letter are at the post script:
“What a nuisance this was is”
“My regards to Sasha and Kolya. Please tell Sasha that I have read ‘The Cosmos’. I am sorry to tell him that it did not achieve the effect he desired: after I had read it I was still the same person. Tell Kolya his pictures are still at the Kursk railway station in Moscow, and he should go and say hello to them there. What a nuisance this was, keeping his pictures back like that!”
The people called Sasha and Kolya in this letter are Chekhov’s elder brothers, Alexander and Nikolay respectively - Nikolay was a painter. The book ‘The Cosmos’ he refers to is unfinished five-volume magnum opus of German explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), published in Russian translation 1848-63. The war he mentions is the Russo-Turkish war that raged between 1877-8. This postscript suggests his early reading habits, literary taste and his strong dislike for war. The phrase ‘after I had read it I was still the same person’ reveals his assessment of literature which is still a criterion to judge literary value in a book.
A letter to a stage director
All the letters included here offer some aspect of Chekhov’s life. 264th letter in this volume addressed to Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, a writer, playwright, stage director, co-founder of the Moscow Art Theatre, friend of Chekhov. The letter begins as below:
“To Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, 24 November 1899, Yalta
“My dear Vladimir Ivanovich,
“Please don’t be offended by my silence. There has been a general lapse in my correspondence. This is first because I have been doing some literary work, secondly because I am reading proofs for Marx, and thirdly because I have been very busy with the number of ill people who come to Yalta, all whom for some reason seem to turn to me. The proof-reading for Marx is pure penal servitude; I have only finished the second volume, and if I had known before how hard it was going to be I would have demanded 175,000 from him, not 75,000.”
Besides writing, and treating people as a doctor, Chekhov also worked as a proof-reader for some persons. He took it as seriously as writing which is why he says, “The proof-reading for Marx is pure penal servitude”. The letter continues like this:
Loneliness
“Of course, I am desperately bored here. I work during the day, and when evening comes I start to wonder where to go and what on earth to do with myself – and by the time the second act begins in your theatre I am already in bed. I get up while it is still dark, can you imagine; in the dark, with the wind howling and rain lashing against the window.
“You are much mistaken if you think that people ‘write to me from all four corners’. None of my friends and acquaintances write to me at all.”
This proves the fact that writers are lonely people who have gloomy thoughts on life. See how he connects his inner sadness to the outside environment. The letter goes on:
“I am not writing any plays. I’ve got a subject, ‘Three Sisters’, but I’m not going to settle down to it until I have finished the stories which have long been weighing on my conscience. It is now certain that you will have to go ahead next season without a play from me.”
Chekhov regularly wrote plays for Moscow Art Theatre, but he did not churning them out for ‘gallery’. He always produced something when his inner conscience forced him to do. Above note implies that fact.
Though Chekhov had a few love affairs, he eventually married Olga Knipper, an actress at the Stanislavsky’s Moscow Art Theatre, whom Chekhov often addresses as ‘my darling doggie’. Their correspondence began in 1899, and more than 800 letters and telegrams had been exchanged between them. They married on May 25, 1901, but continued to live mostly apart, with Chekhov remaining in Yalta while Olga pursued her theatrical career which is why they exchanged so many letters.
“To Olga Knipper, 9 August 1900, Yalta
“Hello, my Olga, my darling! I received your letter today, the first since you left. I read it, read it again, and now I’m writing to you, my actress. After seeing you off I went to Kist’s Hotel for the night, the next day, because I was bored and had nothing else to do, I went to Balaclava. There I was forced to go into full-time hiding from ladies who recognized me and kept wanting to applaud me. I spent the night there and in the morning boarded the ‘Travel’ bound for Yalta. The voyage was hellishly rough. I’m now sitting in Yalta, bored, angry and moping. Alexeyev came to see me yesterday. We talked about the play, and I gave him my word that I would have it finished no later than September. See what a clever old thing I am.
“I still keep imagining that the door is about to open and you will come through it. But you won’t, you’re either rehearsing or you’re in Merzlyakovsky Lane, far from Yalta and from me.
“Farewell, may the powers of heaven keep you and the angels protect you. Farewell, my dear girl.
“Your “Antonio”
This letter reveals what kind of relationship both had although married. In fact, some critics blame Olga Knipper for the premature death of Chekhov because it seems she totally neglected him. But on the other hand, if she was with him, we cannot read this type of moving letters, great short stories and plays by him.
In the letter Chekhov mentions that a person named Alexeyev came to meet him. Who is Alexeyev? He is a great theatre director, actor and founder of the Moscow Art Theatre Konstantin Stanislavsky. Chekhov met him in 1888, and in the last five years of his life they exchanged about 50 letters out of some included in this volume. The book consists of 370 letters by Chekhov written for 70 people. And the introduction by the editor Rosamund Bartlett is 32 pages long. So this might be the most complete anthology of Chekhov letters.