Anton Chekhov

01 chekhov text:chekhov samples 10/26/09 9:11 AM Page iii ANTON CHEKHOV e A Brother’s Memoir E MIKHAIL CHEKHOV Translated by Eugene Alper 01 chekhov text:chekhov samples 10/27/09 12:33 PM Page iv ANTON CHEKHOV English-language translation copyright © 2010 by Eugene Alper. All rights reserved. Frontispiece, p. ii: Chekhov family and friends in front of Sadovaya-Kudrinskaya home, 1890. (Top row, left to right) Ivan, Alexander, Father; (second row) unknown friend, Lika Mizinova, Masha, Mother, Seriozha Kiseliov; (bottom row) Mikhail, Anton. First published in 1933 in the Soviet Union as Vokrug Chekhova: Vstrechi i vpechatlenia. First published in English in 2010 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN: 978-0-230-61883-1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chekhov, Mikhail Pavlovich, 1865–1936. [Vokrug Chekhova. English] Anton Chekhov : a brother’s memoir / Mikhail Chekhov ; translated by Eugene Alper. p. cm. Originally published in the Soviet Union in 1933 as Vokrug Chekhova. Summary: “In a style reminiscent of Anton Chekhov himself—realistic, intimate, and dynamic—Mikhail Chekhov shares unparalleled memories and insights, transporting readers into the world of the Chekhov family. He visits the places where his brother lived and worked and introduces the people he knew and loved, Leo Tolstoy and Piotr Tchaikovsky among them. As a unique eyewitness to the beloved writer’s formative years and his artistic maturity, Mikhail Chekhov shows here first-hand the events that inspired the plots for The Seagull, The Black Monk, and The Steppe, among other enduring works. Captivating, surprising, and a joy to read, this memoir reveals the remarkable life of one the most masterful storytellers of our time”—Provided by publisher. ISBN 978-0-230-61883-1 (hardback) 1. Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich, 1860–1904. 2. Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich, 1860–1904— Family. 3. Authors, Russian—19th century—Biography. I. Alper, Eugene. II. Title. PG3458.C4613 2010 891.72’3—dc22 [B] 2009036132 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Letra Libre, Inc. First edition: January 2010 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America. 01 chekhov text:chekhov samples 10/27/09 1:16 PM Page v CONTENTS Translator’s Note and Acknowledgments vii Preface ix Chronology xiii I. Our Ancestry 1 II. Our Childhood in Taganrog 17 III. The Early Years in Moscow 37 IV. The Moscow Literary Magazines 61 V. The Young Doctor 85 VI. The First Plays 117 VII. Recognition 143 VIII. Anton’s Travels 163 IX. Melikhovo 175 X. The Final Years 199 Notes 219 Index 229 01 chekhov text:chekhov samples 10/26/09 9:11 AM Page ix PREFACE nton Chekhov: A Brother’s Memoir was originally published Ain the Soviet Union in 1933 as Vokrug Chekhova: Vstrechi i vpechatlenia [Around Chekhov: Encounters and Impressions]. Mikhail Chekhov was sixty-eight at the time of publication and was living in his famous brother’s house in Yalta, with his seventy-year old sister. Born in 1865, Mikhail was the youngest child in the Chekhov family. His parents, Pavel and Evgenia, already had five children: Alexander, Nikolay, Anton, Ivan, and Maria. The family lived in Taganrog, a thriving town of 25,000 residents on the Sea of Azov in southern Russia. In 1875 Alexander and Nikolay went to Moscow to attend school; their father later joined them as he fled Taganrog to avoid debtor’s prison. A few months later their mother arrived with the two youngest children, Maria and Mikhail, who was ten years old. Finally, the middle brothers Ivan and Anton arrived in Moscow in 1877 and 1879 respectively. After finishing school, Mikhail enrolled in Moscow University. He graduated from law school but did not pursue a legal career. Initially, he made a living working for the government and eventually supervised a provincial treasury department. 01 chekhov text:chekhov samples 10/26/09 9:11 AM Page x x e ANTON CHEKHOV E In 1901, he resigned from the government and moved to Saint Petersburg to work for Aleksey Suvorin, Anton’s close friend and occasional publisher. After his time in publishing, he became a teacher. Throughout his life, however, Mikhail wrote short stories, novels, poetry, plays, and translations. Much like his older brother Anton, Mikhail began writing at a young age. He published children’s stories while still a university student, and his first book-length translation from Eng- lish to Russian appeared when he was only twenty-six. Later, living in Yaroslavl—a city with a rich theatrical life—Mikhail wrote theater reviews for the local press and a prestigious Saint Petersburg magazine, Theater and Art. In Saint Petersburg, he published Essays and Stories and the novel Bluestocking in 1904, and another novel, Orphans, in 1905. The second edition of Es- says and Short Stories, published in 1907, brought Mikhail an Honorable Mention from the Literary Section of the Academy of Sciences. In 1910, he authored another collection of stories entitled Reed-Pipe. From 1907 to 1917, he published and edited Golden Childhood, a biweekly magazine for children. Mikhail also wrote several hundred stories, novellas, essays, and poems for the magazine under different names. After the Bolshevik rev- olution in 1917 and throughout the 1920s, Mikhail contributed to various children’s magazines and published several books of children’s stories under the pen names “K. Treplev” and “S. Ver- shinin,” names of characters from Anton’s plays. He continued his translation work during that period and published ten translations of English and French books. In 1926, he wrote the play Duel, based on Anton’s novel, as well as an original movie script. Mikhail’s role as Anton’s biographer began in 1905 when, on the first anniversary of his brother’s death, he was asked to 01 chekhov text:chekhov samples 10/26/09 9:11 AM Page xi e PREFACE E xi share his recollections in an essay for a Moscow publication, The Monthly Magazine for Everyone. In 1906, the essay was reprinted in a book called To the Memory of A. P. Chekhov. Mikhail published a second essay of recollections the same year, and a third in 1907. In 1912, his sister Maria published a collection of Anton’s letters and Mikhail wrote a biographical preface for it. Mikhail wrote his first biographical book, Anton Chekhov and His Plots, in 1923. He went on to publish Anton Chekhov, the Theater, Actors and “Tatiana Repina” (1924), Anton Chekhov on Vacation (1929), and a commentary to a volume of Anton’s previously unpublished letters (1930). Finally, in 1929, Mikhail fin- ished writing the book you are now holding. This book represents a compilation of the most important stories from Mikhail’s previously published recollections, as well as valuable new material. First published in 1933, the book was reprinted in the Soviet Union at least five more times.1 From the beginning, Mikhail’s recollections have been re- lied on heavily by Anton Chekhov biographers. They have been referenced in the works of Constance Garnett (1920), David Magarshak (1952), Ernest Simmons (1962), Ronald Hingley (1976), Donald Rayfield (1997), and Philip Callow (1998), to name a few. This is the first translation of Mikhail’s book into English. In 1936, Mikhail wrote to his son, Often and for a long time, especially in the mornings, when everyone in the house is still asleep, I feel so inspired that I begin planning to write one book or another. You’re right: fate ruled it so that I, and only I, could and should 01 chekhov text:chekhov samples 10/26/09 9:11 AM Page xii xii e ANTON CHEKHOV E have written books and commentaries about Anton. How many times I began work on most pressing topics about him! For example, about his mysterious relationship with Suvorin (for no one really knows its main drivers!)... But my muse is no longer what it used to be! I have fulfilled what I was meant to fulfill and it’s time for me to get into the box.... Enough! Now you write, my dear, you publish, you tilt at windmills. And as for me, I will take to my grave masses of unpublished, unused materials about Chekhov!2 In November of that year, Mikhail died from coronary disease at age seventy-one. —Eugene Alper.

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