ANTON TCHEKHOV A RESUME OF HIS WORKS AND OF HIS CAREER By B. BARKER BEESON, M.D.

CHICAGO, ILL. ANTON PAVELOVITCH laborers, artisans and sailors. An / TCHEKHOV was born at ignorant and brutal Greek acted as Taganrog, a port on the Sea the schoolmaster. He used the whip **"■ of Azov, Southern Russia, freely. In the lower grades Anton January 17, i860. He was one of six was a dull, lazy scholar and the butt children. His parents were of peasant of many practical jokes. With the stock, the paternal grandfather hav- advent of manhood and his entrance ing been a serf who by the most rigid into the College of Taganrog a radical economy had saved enough to pur- change took place in him. He became chase the freedom of his family and a clever student and kept his fellows himself in 1841 or almost twenty roaring with laughter at his jokes years before the general liberation and witty retorts. Tchekhov aided in of the serfs by Alexander 11. This editing a school paper called the cost him about 3500 roubles then Little Star and also worked on a equal to about $1750.00. Tchekhov’s humorous journal. About that same father while employed in a Taganrog time he wrote a farce “The Little commercial house had saved up a Chickens Do Not Sing In Vain” modest sum with which he opened a and also a piece called “The Orphan.” store devoted to the sale of colonial After the departure of his family for products. Adverse conditions resulted Moscow he was forced to take up in the failure of this enterprise in tutoring which continued until 1879 1876. After selling everything to sat- when having passed the entrance isfy his creditors the father and the examinations he matriculated in the rest of the family moved to Moscow Faculty of Medicine of the University leaving Anton alone in his native of Moscow. Tchekhov wrote after- city. His infancy must have been a wards that no special reason urged sombre affair since he was only al- his choice of medicine as a profession lowed out in order to attend the but that he never regretted his action. nearby Greek Catholic Church. In While a medical student it was in- later years he referred to that time of cumbent on him to aid in the family his life as follows, “When I recall my support so we find Tchekhov busily infancy it seems to have been hideous. engaged in writing upon anything I have no religion now. When my two which would be pleasing to the public brothers and I sang in the church, and at the same time pass the eagle- the crowd gazed upon us with admira- eyed censor. Henri Duclos who has tion and envied our parents but we felt dedicated his excellent thesis1 to an ourselves to be veritable prisoners.” exhaustive study of the life and Tchekhov attended a public school works of Tchekhov, states that his in the outskirts of Taganrog. The first Moscow contribution appeared pupils were chiefly the children of in a humorous journal The Little Book. It was called “A Letter To tributed much towards his early My Friend The Savant.” For two death. Duclos quotes from a letter years more he kept on writing most written to Tchekhov by his editor

diligently before he received recogni- in which he offers to present Tchekhov tion. His contributions were signed with theater tickets or suggests that A. Tchekhonte, the name given to it would be better if the writer went him by the professor of religious to the editor’s tailor and ordered a instruction at Taganrog. During this pair of trousers to be charged to his time Tchekhov inhabited a dingy account. basement room in the Drachova quar- In 1884 Tchekhov received his ter of Moscow. N. Lakin is said to medical degree from the Moscow have been the first editor to recognize University. He spent that summer his real worth. He asked Tchekhov with a brother who taught school to contribute to a comic journal of at Voskressensk. Later several months rather good standing. During those were passed at the Zemstvo or Dis- times his life was a tragedy, the trict Hospital of Zvenigorod, not far combined incomes of his father and away. \\ hile there Tchekhov besides himself barely sufficing for the family his duties as a rural practitioner also support. Tchekhov, both mentally cared for the indigent and acted as a and physically, never recovered from sanitary expert. About that same those days of misery and they con- time the Gazette of Petersburg asked for his collaboration. In 1886 D. V. Steppe,” one of Tchekhov’s longer Grigorivitch, one of Russia’s literary novels, was published by a celebrated celebrities, wrote to Tchekhov as review, the Severny Vestnik. Two of

his other works, “The Dawn” and “Obscure Beings” appeared about follows, “You have a real talent, a that same time. Even in the midst talent which places you well above of these successes Tchekhov was still the group of writers of the new poor and thus compelled to work generation.” Soon afterward Alexis like a slave in order to aid his family. Souvorine, the owner and director He became exhausted from overwork of the Novoie Vremia, one of the best and insufficient nourishment and one known Russian publications, also day he had a pulmonary hemorrhage. asked for Tchekhov’s collaboration. No one knew better than he the A little later he was given a hearty significance of such a sign but he welcome at Petersburg by the literary labored on and did not alarm his celebrities. In 1889 Tchekhov re- family. ceived the Pouchkine Prize from the In 1890 Tchekhov left for the Russian Academy of Sciences. This Island of Saghalien, then a celebrated was considered a signal honor. prison, off the Asiatic coast. He “Ivanov,” a drama of his was pre- arrived after a three months’ trip sented at both Petersburg and Mos- across Siberia which had no trans- cow and was a striking success. “The continental railroad at that time. He returned by the ocean route. He wrote prine, spent much time with him. about Saghalien in a book entitled In January 1900 Tchekhov was “The Island of Saghalien,” which elected an honorary member of the produced a profound impression upon Academy of Sciences but he resigned both the government and the general along with Korolenko two years later public. This work also earned for as a protest against Gorki’s rejection. Tchekhov the Archbishop Makary In the summer of 1900 the troupe Prize. Soon after his return he left of the Artistic Theatre of Moscow Moscow and went to live in a rural came to Yalta and presented two of community in the Province of Meli- Tchekhov’s plays, “Uncle Vania” khovo. There he secured a home and “The Sea Gull.” Late that same and remained with his family until year he completed “The Three Sis- 1898. While there Tchekhov was ters” which was produced by the quite active in the private practice Moscovite Artistic Theatre early in of medicine as well as in the Zemstvo 1901. A few weeks later Tchekhov of Serpukhov. He was also very busy was married to Olga Leodarnovna from the literary point of view having Knipper, an actress of the Artistic produced a number of works during Theatre whom he had known for that period. Among them may be about one year. Their brief honey- mentioned: “Room Six,” “The His- moon was spent in the Caucasus. tory of an Unknown,” “The Kingdom Tchekhov’s condition soon compelled of Women,” “The House With a them to return to Yalta. Not wishing Mezzanine,” “the Black Monk” and to hinder his wife’s career he sent “My Life.” He also collected material her back to Moscow. By this time for “A Murder” as well as for “The his weakened state prevented Tchek- Peasants.” hov from doing much writing but he In 1898 Tchekhov returned to finished the “Cherry Orchard” which France which he had visited for some have considered his most touch- the first time in 1891 and spent some ing work. He passed most of the winter time along the Cote d’Azur. He soon of 1903-1904 at Moscow awaiting the went back to Russia and settled down initial performance of the “Cherry at Yalta, the fasionable Crimean Orchard” which occurred on January resort. There he built a home. It 17,1904, the forty-fourth anniversary was at Yalta that most of the short of his birth. It was a big success but time left for him to live, was spent. the reaction affected him unfavorably By this time his tuberculosis was well and early in the summer he was sent advanced and he had entirely aban- to Badenweiler, in the Black Forest of doned the practice of medicine. Marx, Germany. He became steadily worse the well known Petersburg publisher, but cheered up his family and friends had purchased all of Tchekhov’s works to the last. July 2, 1904, saw the end so he was no longer worried about of Tchekhov’s remarkable career. finances. Because of his illness he He died alone in a foreign land. His was most indulgent with the poor remains were transported to Moscow consumptives who came to Yalta in in a car usually employed for hauling search of a cure. The foremost writers oysters. So we see that ridicule which among his countrymen, among them he always dreaded during life was not Tolstoi, Gorki, Bounine and Kou- spared him in death. Not a few of Tchekhov’s writings which boasted of a half dozen inmates. should interest us because of their Among them was a harmless Jew who frequent allusions to things medical. was allowed to solicit alms in the No one but an actual practitioner town. On his return he was invariably of medicine could describe them so despoiled of his gains by Nikita, the vividly. Tchekhov’s keen vision plus brutal attendant of Room Six. an unusual capacity for searching but Dr. Andre Elimytch Raguinc, the kindly criticism combine to make his chief physician of the hospital and works intensely human, tinged fre- the leading figure of the story, was a quently with that pessimism so com- large coarse man, apparently of peas- mon to Russian writers. A victim ant stock. Tchekhov compares him of the white plague himself he knew to the keeper of an inn along the main how to adequately describe human highway. He dressed poorly and was suffering. The suffering incident upon brusque and rude, probably to hide his early life also left a permanent what was really a timid nature. imprint upon him which no doubt Raguine originally regarded his hospi- had a good bit to do with the naturally tal with extreme disgust and in his pessimistic tone of his writings. early days of enthusiasm, was desirous One can, I believe, begin this hasty of inaugurating much-needed reforms. and by no means complete resume He even thought of closing it forever of those of Tchekhov’s works which and sending the patients away but touch upon medicine,2 by considering after reflecting that they would proba- first of all what is probably the best bly be sent to another pest-hole, he known among them “Room Six.” gave up the fruitless struggle with It gives a detailed description of a disease, filth, vermin and dishonesty zemstvo or district hospital in rural and went about his daily routine with Russia, about forty years ago. The little attention to the art or science rooms were filthy and cluttered up of medicine. Since the patients were with cast-off garments. There was a numerous one had but little time for marked odor of decomposing urine. each individual so the physicians The bathtubs were filled with potatoes contented themselves with a brief and other vegetables. The attendants interrogatory of each one who was were ignorant, brutal and dishonest. then given a vague sort of remedy The supplies were being stolen con- such as a soothing ointment, or castor stantly. The attendants and their oil. Since he had no private clientele families lived pell-mell among the Raguine devoted his spare time to inmates. Scalpels and even thermo- reading and in revery, rarely seeing meters were hard to find. Erysipelas visitors. His only medical journal was always present. Vermin, lice es- was the Vratcb (The Physician) which pecially, abounded. Mosquitoes and he read backwards. other winged insects found an easy Raguine realized that a marked ingress and added to the general evolution had occurred in medicine discomfort. In short, the whole place during the past twenty-five years. conveyed an idea of inadequacy and As a student he had regarded medicine of misery which is hard to equal. An as little better than alchemy or meta- annex to the main building served as physics but now its progress evoked an insane ward. This was Room Six, in him a most profound admiration and enthusiasm, in the course of his His manners were both polite and reveries. Thanks to antisepsis one affable. In his new and well cut gar- could now perform operations which ments he looked more like a senator would have seemed impossible even than an assistant surgeon. Serge Ser- to the great Pirogoff. Ordinary dis- guieitch wore white neckties, had a trict physicians were even able to large clientele and considered him- resect the knee-joint. In one hundred self as infinitely superior to Andre laparotomies there would be but one Efimytch who had no private prac- death. The operation for stone in tice. He was very religious and at the bladder was an everyday affair. his own expense placed a sacred image Syphilis was subject to a radical cure. in the visitor’s room at the hospital. “Bah,” said Raguine, opening his On Sundays, at his instigation, one eyes after such a revery, “What is of the patients read the litany aloud the good of all this. Neither antisepsis and afterwards Serge Serguieitch him- nor Pasteur nor Koch can change the self, passed through the wards with nature of things. The morbidity and an incense-pot and sprinkled its con- the mortality are the same. Dances tents upon the patients. and shows are arranged for the insane Raguine’s other assistant was but they are not always released. Eugene Fiodorovitch Khobotov. He Finally, all is in vain and absurd. was a very young man, not thirty Between my hospital and the best years old, dark, tall and with promi- Viennese clinic there is in reality no nent cheek bones and tiny eyes which difference.” He is finally adjudged spoke for Tartar or Finnish blood. insane and committed to Room Six He arrived in town without a sou, where he soon expires in what was carrying a small valise and accom- probably an apoplectic seizure. Tchek- panied by an ugly young woman, who hov depicts in a most unusual way the passed for his cook. She nursed an visions which pass before Raguine as he infant. Eugene Fiodorovitch wore a is about to cross the Great Divide. cap with a visor and high boots. In winter he wore the sheepskin coat At first he had a sharp chill along with nausea. An odor, comparable to the of a moujik. He possessed but a offensive smell of sour cabbage and spoiled single book, “The New Prescriptions eggs, permeated his entire body even to of the Clinic of Vienna” for the year his finger tips. It mounted from his 1881. He always carried it with him stomach to his head and even filled his even when calling upon the sick. eyes and ears. Then Raguine saw feeble In a short sketch entitled “A flashes of light. A troop of antelope of Typhoid Fever” we find an excellent extraordinary grace and beauty, about description of that disorder as it which he had read the night before, affected a certain Lieutenant Klimov. passed before him. A woman tendered During its entire course he was pos- him a registered letter. Michael Averian- sessed of a strange disgust for the ytch said something to him. Then all odor of roasted meats as well as for became dark and Andre Efimytch forgot everything forever. tobacco. Once when almost at death’s door he was permeated by the odor Raguine’s chief assistant was Serge of incense. Klimov finally recovers Serguieitch, a short stout man, with a only to learn that his sister has fat, shiny and smoothly-shaven face. succumbed to typhoid fever. “The Duel” presents two widely practice and becomes prominent lo- different medical types. First is the cally. Later he in turn throws cold army surgeon, Samoilennko. Despite water upon Miss Tourkine when she an apparently rude exterior he is a speaks of matrimony herself. general favorite. He lends money, With advancing years Startsev has treats the sick gratis, reconciles lovers grown stouter, is short of breath and who have quarreled, arranges mar- has the congested face of a bon vivant. riages, organizes picnics, and in short He is rich and glad that he did not tries always to be of service. His wed. He is irritable and rough and chief weakness is to have the soldiers when aroused strikes the floor with and the nurses address him as Your his cane. His cupidity compels him Excellency. Dr. Oustimovitch, tall to retain his zemstvo post even though and thin, is quite another sort. Before he docs not need the salary. the duel between Laievski and von Dr. Astrov in “Uncle Vania” re- Koren he is careful to tell them that lates some of his experiences. He is each contestant must pay him fifteen overworked, on the go from morning roubles and if but one survives, he until night. Sleep comes with difficulty must pay thirty roubles. Laievski because he may be called out at any is pictured as deeply affected by the moment. Life he regards as a nuisance, dull eyes and thin neck of Oustimo- stupid and dirty. He tells of visiting a vitch who looks much like a con- village where there is an epidemic of sumptive and judging from his actions typhus. The sick were scattered all is more of a usurer than a physician. over, even alongside of the cattle The peculiar odor of his breath is and the pigs. He ate nothing all day. compared to that of raw meat in a On returning home Astrov was asked butcher shop. to care for a railroad switchman who “Three Years” brings us to Nina had been badly injured. On placing Laptiev who has been operated upon him on the table for operation after for a cancer which has recurred. Her chloroform had been given he found physician, Dr. Borissytch is not one that the anesthesia had proved fatal. to inspire confidence. He is very The zemstvo physician, Dr. Grigory suspicious and believes that no one Ivanovitch Ovtchinnikov, a thin and trusts him. He is also of the opinion nervous person, is known among his that the public exploits him con- confreres because of some insignificant tinually and that his colleagues treat medical statistics which he compiled him shabbily. A most untidy office, as well as for his attachment for so- the doctor with his red face, disor- called practical questions. He has an dered hair, long redingote, piles of altercation with the drunken hospital old papers in the corners and an old orderly whom he strikes but the doctor sick dog under the table complete is exonerated. This occurs in one of Tchekhov’s picture of him. Tchckhov’s short sketches entitled The tale entitled “lonytch” deals “A Disagreement.” chiefly with Dr. Dmitri lonytch Another sketch called “La Linottc” Startsev, a rural practitioner, attached portrays the truly tragic existence of to the local zemstvo, whose attempted Dr. Dymov who has married a silly courtship is rejected by Ekatherina faithless woman. He acts as assistant Tourkine. He builds up a large private in one hospital and is prosector in another one. Dymov has no clientele of its truth. The monk appears before worthy of mention. He becomes sick. him frequently. Kovrine is meanwhile One of his colleagues who attends making brilliant progress. He takes him speaks to the wife as follows. unto himself a wife who seeing that “Do you know how he contracted he is ill compels him to seek medical this. Tuesday he aspirated with a advice. Bromides a milk diet, rest tiny tube the diphtheritic membrane and hot baths plus abstinence from from a small boy who had a malignant alcohol and tobacco do much for the form of that disease. Now Dymov patient but he is unhappy because has diphtheria in the nose and his the monk has not appeared for some heart is acting badly. Ah in all things time. Kovrine realizes his faults and are going poorly.” He dies and only regrets his condition saying, “I was a then does his wife realize what has megalomaniac but at least I was occurred and what a splendid charac- original and interesting.” He obtains ter Dymov had been. a professorial chair but just before In a short sketch entitled “My his opening lecture he is stricken with Wife” Tchekhov refers to an epidemic hemoptysis which is repeated thrice of typhus. Dr. Sobole, the zemstvo within a month. Kovrine goes to physician, has been without sleep Yalta in search of health. The monk for the past two nights. The first one appears soon after his arrival and was spent in attendance upon a case again Kovrine believes himself to be a of childbirth and the second night genius. Just then blood wells up into was passed at the home of a peasant his mouth and he falls dead from a where the bed bugs were both numer- severe hemorrhage as he recalls the ous and active. Sobole is pictured as a scenes of his youth. weak and unhappy man who becomes In “Brave People” we arc intro- quite intoxicated after three glasses duced to the Doctoress Viera Semio- of vodka, eats like an animal and nova who is cold, apathetic and addresses everyone as Excellency in dislikes the practice of medicine. She Italian. calmly sees her brother pass away. Tchekhov is generally credited with Tchekhov compares her, at that mo- wishing to portray a case of megalo- ment to a sick animal which is mania in the “Black Monk.” The sunning itself. leading character is a young pro- In “The Shock” a law student, fessor agrege, Kovrine by name. He Vassiliev, after visiting with some is exhausted by his efforts in reaching friends several Moscovite houses of his position but will not admit fatigue prostitution, is taken to a psychia- and works on, snatching some rest now trist, Dr. Mikhail Serguieitch, by and then. One morning he has an them. The doctor seriously notes hallucination during which a monk down a complete personal and family dressed in black but with a very pale history. Vassiliev is suddenly over- countenance appears before Kovrine come with self-pity and also com- and predicts for him a most brilliant miseration for the miserable creatures future saying that God has appointed he has seen in the brothels. He begins him to conduct mankind to the crying and falls to the lloor repeating, Kingdom of Eternal Truth. Upon “They are alive, alive. If I broke this hearing this Kovrine is convinced lamp you would be very angry, while down there it is not a question of result of overwork and wishes to lamps but one of human beings.” secure a divorce and finish his days in The doctor with an air of thoroughly peace, even agreeing to appear as the understanding the situation, ap- culprit. To this arrangement she will proaches Vassiliev and after giving not agree, fearing a loss of social him some drops then tests the sensi- prestige, so her husband goes on bility of his skin with a compass-like stoically to the end. affair. After this the patient feels One of Tchekhov’s plays, “The relieved despite his anger against the Three Sisters,” introduces Dr. Tchc- physician and pity for himself. Upon boutykinc who is an army surgeon. departing he is given two prescrip- He concedes his own colossal ignor- tions, one for bromide and the other ance, saying that thirty-live years ago for morphine. he knew something but now he knows A third year medical student and nothing and has taken to drink. his mistress, are shown in “Aniouta.” Indeed ludicrous is the sanitary They are poor and on the verge of commission in “Appropriate Meas- starvation. He is preparing for an ures.” It is composed of live members: examination in anatomy and repeats the local physician, the inspector of continually, “The right lung is com- police, two delegates from the city posed of three lobes. Its boundaries hall and one of the merchants. They are: The upper lobe, anteriorly, are on a tour of inspection. It is found reaches the level of the third or fifth that a certain merchant uses the same rib, laterally, the fourth rib and knife to cut bread and soap. This posteriorly, the spine of the scapula.” upsets one of the commission for his He finally, outlines in pencil marks, wife buys bread in that shop. The these boundaries on the body of offending merchant claims that for Aniouta. such customers there is a special “The Enemies” presents an unus- knife. The police official attempt- ual situation. Dr. Kirilov has just ing to appear wise asks if strych- lost his little boy from diphtheria and nine, meaning trichina, is found in is almost frantic with grief. A stranger meat. wishes him to make a call some dis- The short sketch entitled “Much tance away. Kirilov naturally refuses Paper” shows the interminable routine but the man insists saying that his of old-time Russian bureaucracy. The wife is quite ill. Finally the doctor local doctor encounters an epidemic accompanies him and after a long of scarlatina and reports it to the local journey finds that the wife has eloped zemstvo official who in turn writes with her lover, the husband’s depar- to the rural school official asking him ture having been a part of their to take up the matter with the scheme. From sympathy Kirilov turns physician since he himself is too busy. to hatred of the one who has caused The rural educational commissioner him such a wildgoose chase. He is infuriated at this and thinking the indignantly spurns the proffered fee, doctor is at fault wishes to prefer he demands to be taken home at once. charges against him but is rebuked by “The Companion” tells of a phy- the local chief of police who proposes sician and his frivolous, untruthful to try instead the school master since spouse. He acquires tuberculosis, as a he is the real culprit. “The Punishment” tells of a drunk- cians and alleging that they will not en wood carver who is caught in a arrest the circulation. snow storm while taking his wife to a The Moscow hospital intern, Koro- nearby hospital. They lose their way. liov, in “A Case Of Medical Practice,” She is frozen to death and he has a is sent by his chief to see a patient in narrow escape but is rescued. Upon the country. She proves to be an waking up in the hospital he. finds heiress who leads a dull life and who is that his hands and feet no longer obey continually ailing. Koroliov cheers her him since they have been amputated. up and apparently does quite a bit In spite of this he promises to carve a with his psychotherapy. croquet-set for the doctor. “The Journal of an Assistant Book- A peasant boy with an infected arm keeper” shows human nature when is the chief character in “The Flight.” one is looking for the death of his Having been left at the zemstvo superior so as to advance a step. hospital over night he becomes greatly May ii , 1863. Glotkine, our book- frightened. First he is put next to an keeper, sixty years old, has been old man who coughs all the time.' taking a mixture of milk and cognac After seeing a corpse removed from for his cough and as a result he now the ward he Hees wildly and at last has delirium tremens. The doctors arrives home safely. affirm, with their customary assurance “On Service” tells of an autopsy that he will die tomorrow. on the body of a suicide. “To kill onesself in the zemstvo headquarters, I shall finally be book-keeper. The what a lack of tact,” exclaims the place has already been promised to me. doctor. “If one wishes to send a bullet August 3, 1865. GItdkine still has trouble into his head why does he not do so in his chest. He has again begun to drink at home or in the barn.” At dinner milk and cognac. If he dies I shall get his after the performance of the autopsy place. I have hopes, but only slight, because delirium tremens, it appears, is physician again breaks the forth. not always fatal. “He has left a wife and child,” he An old woman told me yesterday that exclaimed. “The neurasthenics and my trouble is not enteritis but internal all those with disordered nervous sys- hemorrhoids. It may be so. tems, I would forbid to marry. I June 30, 1867. We read in the papers would deprive them of the right to that cholera has appeared in Arabia. It create others like them. To do so is a may come to Russia and then there will crime. ” be many vacant positions. Perhaps old In “The Professor of the Fine Glotkine will die and I shall be book- Letters” the teacher Hippolyte Hip- keeper. The old man is vivacious. To live polytch dies from a facial erysipelas. for such a long time is, in my opinion, During his last two days he keeps reprehensible. What shall I take for my enteritis? repeating such schoolroom sentences Shall I take absinthe seeds? as these. “The Volga empties into the January 2, 1870. A dog barked ail night Caspian Sea. The horses eat grain and in the court of GIdtkine’s house. My hay.” cook says that is a sure sign and we talked In “Polinnka” we find a clerk about it until two o’clock this morning. trying to sell elastic garters saying When I am book-keeper I shall buy a that they are recommended by physi- racoon coat and a lounging robe. I may even marry. Certainly not a young girl, agus by his brutal use of a bougie, that is not for one of my age. I shall not another tapped a floating kidney mis- marry a widow. taking it for an abscess and a third I am going to consult Doctor Botkine removed a healthy nail from the about my enteritis. It is said that he is right foot instead of an ingrown one on a good physician. the other foot. The secretary of the June 4, 1878. It is said that the pest is raging at Vetliannka. Many people are medical society has as his mistress the dead as a result. Glotkine is now drinking wife of the president of that body. vodka and pepper. If the pest gets here I The president slyly practices homeo- shall surely be book-keeper. pathy and is a spy for the Germans. June 4, 1883. Glotkine is dead. I was Chelestov dreams of a complete vic- with him and I asked his pardon for hav- tory being not only acquitted but also ing so impatiently awaited his death. He elected president. In that office he generously pardoned me, also with tears promises to clean up the Augean in his eyes and advised me to drink an in- stables and expel those members who fusion of acorns for my intestinal trouble. opposed him. He will inaugurate much- June 7, 1883. Glotkine was buried needed reforms in the medical corps. yesterday. Alas! His death did not profit As Chelestov dreams on complacently me. Oh! Woe to me, unfortunate one. It is not I who am now book-keeper, but he is suddenly awakened by the clock Tchalikov. I did not obtain the place, but striking seven and he realizes that it is it was given to a young man who was time for him to attend the meeting at under the protection of his aunt who is which he is to be tried. He attempts the wife of a general. AH my hopes have to assume an air of disgust mingled vanished. with scorn but is unable to mold his June 10, 1886. Tchalikov’s wife has left features into the desired expression. him. The unfortunate man is in despair. His visage seems lengthened and silly Perhaps he will commit suicide from like that of a lapdog. He even re- chagrin. If he does so, I shall be book- sembles a goose. At last he gives up keeper. That has been talked of already. in disgust and decides to forego Perhaps all hope is not lost: One may live; the meeting. the time for a racoon coat may not be far off. As to matrimony I have no objection. Four letters written by Tchekhov Why not marry if a good occasion pre- can be read with interest. The first sents itself. It is best to ask advice about one was written March 28, 1886, to it. It is a grave decision. his friend Grigorovitch. The porter has advised me to take I am a physician and my medical work sublimate for my enteritis. I am going to has so absorbed me that no one is more try it. troubled than I by the proverb which tells of the two hares which one hunts. I Dr. Chelestov is met with in a short give my odd moments to literature, two sketch entitled “Intrigues.” He is on or three hours daily and a portion of the the verge of being tried by his fellows night, such time as one would devote to a for unethical conduct. The doctor is secondary task. pictured at home thinking of a defense. He dreams of a vigorous counter In a letter written to Souvorine, attack on his enemies. He will tell of September 11, 1888, Tchekhov says: their many and ludicrous errors. Thus You advise me not to pursue two hares one-man ruptured his patient’s esoph- at a time and to abandon the practice of medicine. I do not know why it is Kislovodsk. He told me that he had impossible to chase two hares at the same recently had hemoptysis. His purpose in time, even in the strict sense of the coming is to witness the performance of expression. I feel more satisfied when I his “Sea Gull.” recall that I have two professions and October 17. Today, at the Alexandrine not just one. Medicine is my legitimate Theatre the performance of “The Sea spouse and literature is my mistress. Gull” took place. It was unsuccessful. When one bores me I pass the night with Tchekhov was broken hearted. After the other. Even though irregular this is midnight his sister sought for him every- not monotonous and besides neither of where but he could not be found. He them suffers because of my infidelity. suddenly appeared at 2 a.m. Upon being If I had no medical work it would be asked where he had been he replied that hard to give my thought and liberty of he had walked the streets and sat down in spirit to literature. There is no discipline the park. He added, “ I could not remain in me. indifferent to that spectacle. It looks as though I would have no chance in the Again writing to Souvorine on De- drama.” Tchekhov was much displeased cember 23, 1888, Tchekhov says: with the actors who were indeed mediocre. I was hard at work on a story for the His piece was poorly presented. Tchekhov Novoie Vremya, the other night, when a is very proud so he could not easily pass woman came and asked me to see the over this reverse. poet, Palmin. He had fallen while intoxi- February 11, 1897. I called on Tolstoi cated and cut his forehead. I was busy in Petersburg. Referring to “The Sea with that drunkard for two hours and Gull” he declared that it was an insignif- was so tired upon arriving home that I icant affair and without merit. He spoke became very cross and was unable to of Tchekhov as follows, “Tchekhov is the write any more that night. most talented Russian writer. Neverthe- less ‘The Sea Gull’ is very bad.” I told In another letter to Souvorine dated Tolstoi that Tchekhov would die of October 19, 1891, we find Tchekhov in chagrin if he knew his opinion of “The a pessimistic mood. Sea Gull.” He replied, “If I speak to him Ah! My friends, how tired I am. If I about it, I shall do so more moderately am to be a physician I ought to have a and if that displeases him I shall seem hospital as well as patients. I should live astonished.” among the people and not in little March 24, 1897. At Moscow. Two days Dmitrovsk street. I should also have ago as we were about to dine Tchekhov both a social and a political life, or at had a profuse hemorrhage from the least a little of that sort of thing. To live throat. He asked for ice but did not stay within four walls, without nature, without for dinner. Today he returned to his society, without the country, without hotel, La Grande Moscovite after remain- health and without appetite, that is not ing two days in bed, here in my quarters. living. This attack has frightened him very much. He spoke of it thus, “In my case Mention has already been made of the blood comes from the right lung. The Alexis Souvorine. His diary published disease manifested itself similarly in my in Paris three years ago3 gives some brother and in another relative, both of interesting facts about Tchekhov whom died of tuberculosis.” March 26, 1897. I have returned to which I shall quote in extenso. Moscow from Petersburg. Between ten September 3, 1896. At Theodosia. and eleven a.m. Doctor Obolensky came Tchekhov arrived here yesterday from and said that Tchekhov had had another hemorrhage at six this morning and that up to anyone else. They consider as he had been taken from his hotel to the adversaries those who conceive the idea private clinic at Ostroumove. I took of pleasing their loved one. dinner with Tchekhov at the clinic. His Friendship does not know this jealousy. room number is sixteen, ten units above So it is not love which is the finer part of that in Room Six, as Doctor Obolensky marriage, but friendship. remarked. Tchekhov laughs and jokes as If the women would give an equal usual and at the same time spits blood amount of attention to the good looks of into a large glass. When I remarked that men, as the latter do the beauty of I had noticed the breaking up of the ice women then men would be equally as on the Moskowa his expression changed vain as women. This proves their good and he asked, “Has it begun to thaw?” sense and intelligence or perhaps better I regretted very much having spoken as I their lack of aesthetic sentiment. did. It had probably occurred to him that We give our whole heart much more there was a connection between the easily than all of our money. return of spring and his illness. A few days Finally, in order to safeguard fidelity previously he had declared, “When one in marriage, it is necessary that a hand- treats a peasant afflicted with tuberculo- some woman should possess much of the sis he always says that there is nothing to great qualities. do and that he will pass away when the Paris, April 27. spring waters begin to flow.” Tchekhov is here. He is with me con- March 29. Telegram from Tchekhov. tinually. Less blood but am still in an uncertain Tchekhov said that Korolenko had state. I do not know when I shall leave. persuaded him to become a candidate for Tolstoi has arrived. membership in the Association of Writers, July 23, 1897. Tchekhov tells me of his saying that he would be easily elected. intention to translate Maupassant whom There were some of the members who he likes very much. He is sufficiently opposed Tchekhov because in “The Sea versed in French to do so. Gull” he had not portrayed his heroes A few of Tchekhov’s thoughts. according to radical ideas. How stupid Death is cruel, an abominable decapi- are such people who know as much about tation. literature as pigs do about oranges. And If death entirely destroys individuality, these creatures occupy themselves with life does not exist. the right to judge the illustrious writer. Death produces something greater than September 4, 1902. fear. As we live we do not think of it. Along with Orlenev I left for Moscow Myself, at least when I am dead I shall to visit Tchekhov. I spent two days visit- know what it is. It is terrifying to become ing with him in the most friendly way exterminated. You are taken to the and discussing literature. He was sur- cemetery, the others return to drink tea prised to know that Gorki was considered and pronounce hypocritical discourses. It as the chief of the socialists. “No, not of is disgusting to think of all this. the socialists but of the revolution.” Friendship is a finer thing than love. Gorki’s popularity hurt Tchekhov’s pride. I am liked by my friends, they like He said, “Formerly one said; Tchekhov me and so through me they like one and Potapenko and I survived that another. juxtaposition. Now they say Tchekhov Love makes enemies of those who are and Gorki.” He evidently wished to add smitten with the same woman. that he would survive the latter. Tchek- Those in love aspire to possess entirely hov said that in three years more the the woman they love without giving her works of Gorki would no longer be of interest for he would not have subjects read a lyceum composition on the subject; for them. He suffers also from tuberculosis describe the sea. The composition con- but is more robust than Tchekhov. tained only four words: The sea is grand. To my notion that was perfect.” Dmitri Merejkowsky,4 a prominent Russian author of the present day, has Eugene Melchior, Vicomte de Vo- praised Tchekhov’s works in a way gue,5 a member of the French Acad- which well displays his admiration for emy, has also seen fit to praise his famous countryman. Among other Tchekhov as an author, in the Revue things he says: de Deux Mondes. I quote him in part as follows: Tchekhov is the direct heir of the great Russian literature. If he has not received Monsieur Tchekhov has been able to the entire heritage, he has at least, in the adjust a style of literature to the taste role which has fallen to him, separated the of the day: the rapid recital, the little gold from the foreign alloys, and the tableau of customs quickly sketched. He metal which remains whether great or is interesting because of the variety of small in amount, is of such purity that it his observations, often because of their is unequalled in any of his predecessors, justice. He describes all classes of society, perhaps even greater writers than he, all of the particulars of provincial life. unless it be in Pouchkine. [Merejkowsky I believe that I recognize in this composite states the following further on.] The last talent the traces of different educators. artist of the Russian verb is here equal At the origin of his literary filiations we to the first? Tchekhov is more simple find Gogol, the common father, the initia- than Tourgueniev, he is more simple than tor who first taught him the art of Dostoievski, he is more simple than observation and of being able to paint Tolstoi. Tchekhov’s simplicity is such the real life of the people. For Tchekhov that it is sometimes terrifying. In his case as for all of his emulators, Tolstoi has simplicity becomes a void, a nothing. He been the master of anatomy who has speaks of the sacred and of the most shown them how to dissect the human terrible things as though they were heart. If Tchekhov has the advantage ordinary occurrences. He speaks of love over his rivals and predecessors of being and of death as tranquilly as of the best more brief, more exact and more clear way to drink a glass of vodka while he perhaps owes it to Maupassant. eating a salted mushroom. He is always Tchekhov excells in marking the murder- calm or appears to be so. Tchekhov’s ous action of time. His characters are all description of a storm: “On the left the disgraced whether officers, rural physi- sky looked as though someone had struck cians, landed proprietors or what not. a match which burned with a pale phos- Supple and prodigiously fertile he exer- phorescent light and then flickered out. cises upon a larger scale than Gorki. In Then one heard a dull rumbling as though his studies of rural life the influence of some one was walking, far away, on a tile Tourguenef is apparent. They call to roof, probably barefooted.” Tchekhov is mind the Souvenirs of a Huntsman. the great, perhaps even the greatest His rich collection of proofs is unfolded writer of every-day Russian life. Life before the eyes like a cinematographic and death, these are the two immobile reel and I can find no better comparison poles in Tchekhov’s world. Ennui and to characterize his work. The scene is discouragement are the chief and in usually laid in the rural districts, some- reality the only passions of his heroes. times in a small town. Tchekhov’s works Speaking one day of a description of are much less sombre and less violent nature Tchekhov said, “I have recently than those of Gorki but they leave us with a much keener impression of his literary work and to take an active inhumanity. part in fighting that dread disease. De Vogue mentions the following In that same year A. Ourousof in of Tchekhov’s works as among his “La Plume” speaks of him as follows: best: “The Peasants,” “An Easter Like Tolstoi he sketches his characters Night” and “A Duel.” Of the plays he with vigor but without the tendency of prefers “Uncle Vania” saying that Tolstoi to moralize and to preach. In “The Sea Gull” is uninteresting and Tchekhov one notes the physician who “The Three Sisters” is a cry of Ibsen. is interested in tuberculosis as well as in He quotes a Russian critic of Tchek- perversities. From Dostoievski he has hov as follows, “The reader even while inherited a taste for the feeble minded but he disguises himself well a la Flaubert. paying homage to Tchekhov’s talent Finally, he is a writer whom the French shudders at seeing such a long proces- are very fond of reading especially in sion of sick persons, demi-cadavers literary circles and even the general and phantom heroes.” public. Cheinisse,6 a Russian physician who resided in Paris, has also emphasized Cheinisse adds: the medical imprint in Tchekhov’s A physician himself, Tchekhov under- writings. If medicine was absorbing to stood thoroughly the kindness and devo- Tchekhov it also impressed him be- tion which are required in the daily cause of one’s responsibility and he exercise of our profession. Better than all ceased practice after the following of the others, medical studies enable one incident which was vouched for by to grasp the essentials of a phenomenon, his brother. to at once seize upon the most striking parts of an occurrence and to penetrate In a prescription which he had written into the psychology of a character. during a consultation, Tchekhov forgot Andre Beaunier in a preface to the to place the comma which marked off the number of grams. Terrified by this French translation of A Murder by mistake, he ran headlong to the home of Mlle. Claire Ducreux,7 in 1892, also his patient at midnight. Happily the pays tribute to the Russian writer. prescription had not been sent to the Anton Tchekhov is himself without any druggist. That same year Tchekhov was possibility of being confused with anyone greatly shocked by the death in the same else. It is erroneous to see in him only family of two persons as a result of an imitator of our Maupassant. Every typhoid fever. This produced such an human race has its own way of suffering impression upon him that he removed the and I know of no writer who has been physician’s plaque from his door. The more successful than Tchekhov, in ex- doctors described by him surpass those pressing the Russian melancholy which of Balzac: they are more human, more is a mixture of ennui, pride, fatalism and real and it is not the least of the merits lassitude. Tchekhov shows the effect of of the Russian romancer to have pre- medical training in his writings. Zola is sented in its true colors a profession not to be compared to him in his attempts which others who have given it up, as he at deciphering things medical.8 did, have believed themselves obligated Tchekhov surely deserves a high to discredit. rank among the outstanding writers In the great cholera epidemic of not only of Russia but of all countries. 1892 he did not hesitate to abandon In his chosen field he ranks with the literary luminaries of all times. I sion to reproduce the photographs trust that this brief sketch may assist which appear herewith. They are taken in making better known here the from the works of Tchekhov as trans- writings of this famous colleague. lated from the Russian into French I desire to express my appreciation by Monsieur Denis Roche and edited to the Librairie Pion, Paris, for permis- by the Librairie Pion.

Ref ere nces

i. Duclo s , H. B. Antone Tchekhov, Le 5, Paris, Editions Bossard, 1922, pp. Medecin et L’Ecrivain. Contribution a 77-140. I’Histoire de la Medecine. These de 5. Mel chio r , E. Vicomte de Vogue. Anton Paris, 1927. No. 158. Tchekhov. Rev. de Deux Mondes, 5: 2. Oeuvres Completes D’Antone Tchekhov. 201-216, 1902. Trans, from the Russian by Denis 6. Chei nis se , L. L’Empreinte medicale dans Roche. Paris, Librairie Pion. les oeuvres de Anton Tchekhov. Presse 3. Journal Intime de Alexis Souvorine. Trans, Med., 4: 1861-1864, 1923. from the Russian by M. Lichnevsky. 7. Andre Beaunier. Quoted by Dr.(Cheinisse. Payot, Paris, 1927. 8. Mart inea u , H. Le Roman Scientifique 4. Mere jkows ky , D. Le Mufle Roi. Trans, d’Emile Zola, la Medecine et les Rougon- from the Russian by Denis Roche. Ed. Macquart.Th^se de Paris, 1907.