by Chekhov, Anton; Bartlett, Leverhulme Research Fellow in Russian Cultural History Rosamund ;
Navin … prophet Elijah: in Joshua 10: 12, Joshua (called Jesus, son of Navin in Slavonic) bids the sun to stand still. Russian peasants believed Elijah controlled storms and lightning. In 1 Kings 38 he brings down lightning to defeat the prophets of Baal.
Mariinsky Institute: the Mariinsky Don Institute was a private educational institution for young ladies of the nobility, founded in Novocherkassk in southern Russia in 1853.
pharmocognosis: the study of drugs and the plants from which they derive.
Black Re-Partition: an organization founded by revolutionary populists in 1879.
went to the people: a reference to the summer of 1874, when thousands of young radical populists left the cities to try to spread socialist ideas among the peasantry.
Aksakov: Konstantin Aksakov (1817–60) was a major figure in the Slavophile movement, which rejected European influences on Russian society, and especially idealized the Russian peasant.
rejecting personal property … non-resistance to evil: respectively communist and Tolstoyan ideals.
Arkhangelsk and Tobolsk: remote areas of Russia, in the north and in Siberia respectively, to which opponents of the regime were traditionally exiled.
a large red star on a pole: a Christmas tradition in Russia.
‘Hey you, little boy … son’: a folk carol published in A. Tereshchenko’s Life of the Russian People (St Petersburg, 1848)
coal-mines: the reference to coal-mines further confirms that this story is set in southern Russia. The Don steppe region produced about half of the country’s coal.
THE LETTER [Pis′mo]
First published in New Times, 18 April 1887.
proof of fasting: of the many fasts in the Russian Orthodox calendar, the one most strictly observed is that during the seven weeks of Great Lent, when meat, eggs, and milk products are forbidden.
reading the Acts of the Apostles: readings from the fifth book of the New Testament are included as part of the Russian Orthodox Easter service.
Christ is Risen: this is the traditional Easter greeting in the Russian Orthodox Church, to which the reply is ‘Truly He is risen’.
If you hadn’t got married: only unmarried priests can be appointed as bishops in the Russian Orthodox Church.
Gospel in Latin: on Easter Saturday, before the Easter vigil, it is customary in the Russion Orthodox Church for the Gospel to be read in different languages.
I was born in sin: a paraphrase of Psalm 51: 5: ‘I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me.’
FORTUNE [Shchast′e]
First published in New Times, 6 June 1887.
from the time when they took Tsar Alexander: a reference to Alexander I’s death in Taganrog in 1825.
before they gave us liberty: a reference to the Abolition of Serfdom (1861), the most important of Alexander II’s reforms.
the kurgans: kurgan is the word for the Scythian burial mounds located across the steppe in southern Russia. The Scythians were buried together with priceless gold ornaments, which gave rise to the confused myths of buried treasure that so entrance the old shepherd in the story.
That was a bucket breaking loose in the mines: the southern Russian steppe of the Donets Basin incorporated land extensively used for mining.
Emperor Peter, who was building his navy in Voronezh: Peter the Great originally planned to base his navy in Taganrog.
German and Molokan farms: the steppe was home to German Mennonite communities and members of the religious Molokan sect, which, like other sectarian groups, was officially banned by the tsarist government.
a far-sighted Kalmyk: Kalmyks were a Buddhist, nomadic people who lived on the steppe.
GUSEV [Gusev]
First published in New Times, 25 December 1890, dated ‘Colombo, 12 November’.
Suchan: town in Siberia, about 60 miles east of Vladivostok.
Captain Kopeikin … Dyrka: Kopeikin is a comic character novel Dead Souls, Part 1 (1842). Dyrka is a comic character play The Marriage (1842).
FISH LOVE [Ryb′ya lyubov′]
First published in Fragments [Oskolki], 13 June 1892.
Lermontov’s Demon fell in love with Tamara: in Lermontov’s long poem The Demon (1839), the demon’s kiss causes the death of Tamara, the girl he loves.
Lipetsk: town about 230 miles south of Moscow.
THE BLACK MONK [Chernyi monakh]
First published in The Artist [Artist], January 1894
in the English manner: from the eighteenth century onwards, it became customary for Russian landowners to plant a part of their estates following the English fashion of ‘natural’ landscape-gardening.
‘Onegin, I don’t want to hide it… madly’: from Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin (1879), based on Pushkin’s novel in verse of the same name (1823–31). Pushkin’s heroine is called Tatyana—often shortened to Tanya. The words Chekhov quotes come from an aria in which Prince Gremin proclaims his love for Tatyana, his wife, to the love-struck Onegin who once spurned her. Chekhov was particularly fond of this opera.
the famous Braga serenade: composition by Gaetano Braga (1829–1907) for soprano and piano.
Gaucher’s article first: N. Gaucher, French-born horticulturalist, whose works were published in Russian translation in the late 1880s and 1890s.
audiatur… sat: audiatur altera pars: ‘Let the other side be heard’; sapienti sat: ‘A word to the wise.’
‘In my Father’s house … places’: John 14: 2.
‘mens sana in corpore sano’: ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’.
Assumption: The feast of the Assumption falls on 15 August.
Polycrates: tyrant of Samos who was crucified c.522 BC. The story of the ring is in Herodotus, Histories, iii. 40–3.
‘Rejoice evermore … happy’: 1 Thessalonians 5: 16.
St Elijah’s Day: 20 July.
I am like Herod: a confused reference to Matthew 2: 16, which describes events after the birth of Jesus: ‘When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under.’
Sevastopol… Yalta: Sevastopol is a Crimean port and naval base; Yalta is a resort on the southern Crimean coast.
ROTHSCHILD’S VIOLIN [Skripka Rotschil′da]
First published in Russian Gazette [Russkie vedomosti], 6 February 1894.
St John … Miracle-Worker: St John the Evangelist’s Day is celebrated on 8 May, St Nicholas’s on 9 May.
two holy fools: idiots or people feigning madness who are held to possess the gift of religious prophecy—a phenomenon which arose in the Russian Orthodox Church in the fourth century.
THE STUDENT [Student]
First published in Russian Gazette, 15 April 1894, under the title ‘In the Evening’ [Vecherom].
Ryurik… Peter the Great: Ryurik was a viking prince of Novgorod in the late ninth century, and founder of the ruling Russian dynasty from 862 to 1598; Ivan the Terrible was Ivan IV, Tsar of Muscovy from 1533 to 1584; Peter the Great (Peter I), the first Russian emperor, ruled from 1682 to 1725.
twelve gospel readings: it is the custom in the Russian Orthodox Church for excerpts relating the story of Christ’s passion from the four gospels to be read at the Maundy Thursday service.
‘I am ready to go with you … death’: the student’s telling of the story of Peter’s betrayal of Jesus draws on the gospels of Matthew (26: 75), Luke (22: 33–4, 56–8), and John (18: 18, 26), sometimes quoting them almost exactly.
THE HOUSE WITH THE MEZZANINE [Dom’s mezoninom]
First published in Russian Thought [Russkaya mysl’], April 1896, No. 4.
T. province: probably Tula province.
traditional Russian dress: Chekhov uses the word poddyovka— a sleeveless coat, fastened at the side, worn by peasants and merchants.
pneumatic stoves: literally ‘Amosov stoves’, which were invented by Major-General Amosov in 1835.
zemstvo: elective dis
trict councils, founded in 1864.
a Buryat girl: the Buryat were an indigenous Siberian tribe of Mongol provenance. Chekhov crossed Lake Baikal, the largest lake in Siberia, on his journey to Sakhalin island in 1890.
a pair of iron boots: in numerous Russian fairy tales, such as ‘The Frog Princess’ and ‘Fenist the Bright Falcon’, the hero or heroine must wear out at least one pair of iron boots on their journey to find their beloved.
since the vikings: the vikings founded Russia’s first ruling dynasty at the end of the ninth century (see note on Ryurik, p. 103). They originally came to Russia because it lay on the route to Byzantium, where they wished to trade.
Gogol’s Petrushka: Petrushka, Chichikov’s servant in the novel Dead Souls (1842) by Nikolai Gogol, was fond of reading things he did not understand.
let the country go back to the Tatars: a reference to the ‘dark years’ of Russia’s occupation by the Tatar-Mongols, from 1238 to 1480, when much of its early culture was destroyed.
Vichy: French spa town which became popular at the end of the nineteenth century as a health resort.
a Krylov fable: the first line of one of the best-known fables by Ivan Krylov (c. 1769–1844), an adaptation of La Fontaine’s Le Corbeau et le Renard.
Penza: a provincial town about 500 miles south-east of Moscow.
IN THE CART [Na podvode]
First published in Russian Gazette, 21 December 1897.
the local zemstvo: Russia’s elective district councils founded and maintained jurisdiction over many of the village schools in each area.
Lower Gorodishche: there was a village called Old Gorodishche about 30 miles south-east of Melikhovo, where Chekhov lived.
THE MAN IN A CASE [Chelovek v futlyare]
First published in Russtan Thought, July 1898, No. 7.
Turgenev and Shchedrin: Ivan Turgenev, Russian novelist (1818–83), Saltykov-Shchedrin: satirical writer (1826-89).
Buckle: Henry Thomas Buckle: English social historian (1821–62).
Gadyach: a small town in the Ukraine, about 150 miles east of Kiev.
kolossaltsche Skandal: ‘a colossal scandal’ (German).
GOOSEBERRIES [Kryzhovntk]
First published in Russtan Thought, August 1898, No. 8.
stripped bark for bast: birch bark was traditionally used for making shoes, boxes, and ornaments in Russia.
six feet of earth: a reference to Tolstoy’s short story How Much Land Does a Man Need? (1886).
‘the lie … hosts of truths’: from the poem ‘A Hero’ (1830) by Pushkin.
ABOUT LOVE [O lyubvt]
First published in Russtan Thought, August 1898, No. 8.
‘this is a great mystery’: Ephesians 5: 32.
Messenger of Europe: liberal monthly journal covering history, politics, and literature, founded in St Petersburg in 1866.
THE LADY WITH THE LITTLE DOG [Dama s sobachkoi]
First published in Russian Thought, December 1899, No. 12.
Vernet’s: a well-known café in the public garden at Yalta.
hard sign: letter of the Russian alphabet affecting pronunciation.
Belyov or Zhizdra: small towns, respectively 150 miles south and 200 miles south-west of Moscow.
‘Why on earth … you?’: Gurov has switched from the formal vy (you) to the more intimate ty. Later on in the story he reverts to vy again.
Oreanda: the site of a former imperial palace about 5 miles along the coast south-west of Yalta, with a spectacular view of the bay.
Feodosia: town towards the eastern end of the Crimean coast.
the waterfall: the waterfall of Uchan-Su, about 6 miles north-west of Yalta, and a popular destination for excursions.
Petrovka: a street in central Moscow.
The Geisha: operetta by Sidney Jones, first produced in London in 1896.
Slavyansky Bazaar Hotel: large and popular hotel in central Moscow.
AT CHRISTMAS TIME [Na svyatkakh]
First published in the Petersburg Newspaper, 1 January 1900.
Charcot: Jean Martin Charcot (1825–93), the French physician who pioneered psychotherapy.
THE BISHOP [Arkhierei]
First published in Journal for Everyone [Zhurnal dlya vsekh], April 1902, No. 4.
branches of pussy-willow: these are used on Palm Sunday in the Russian Orthodox Church instead of palm branches.
bridegroom who cometh at midnight: Matthew 25: 1–6.
‘Now is the son of man glorified’: John 13: 31.
the time that Rus adopted Christianity: approximately AD 988, following the conversion of Vladimir, prince of Kiev.
1 Raymond Carver, ‘The Unknown Chekhov’, in No Heroics Please: Uncollected Writings (New York, 1992), 146.