Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends

Name: Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends
Author: Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich

Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich

Authors, Russian -- 19th century -- Correspondence; Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich, 1860-1904 -- Correspondence

... Many thanks for your letter and telegram. Letters are very precious to
me now--in the first place, because I am utterly alone here; and in the
second, because I sent the play three weeks ago and only got your letter
yesterday, and if it were not for my wife, I should know nothing at all and
might imagine any mortal thing. When I was writing Lopahin, I thought of it
as a part for you. If for any reason you don’t care for it, take the part
of Gaev. Lopahin is a merchant, of course, but he is a very decent person
in every sense. He must behave with perfect decorum, like an educated man,
with no petty ways or tricks of any sort, and it seemed to me this part,
the central one of the play, would come out brilliantly in your hands....
In choosing an actor for the part you must remember that Varya, a serious
and religious girl, is in love with Lopahin; she wouldn’t be in love with a
mere money-grubber....

TO V. I. NEMIROVITCH DANTCHENKO.

YALTA,
November 2, 1903.

... About the play.

1. Anya can be played by anyone you like, even by a quite unknown actress,
so long as she is young and looks like a girl, and speaks in a youthful
singing voice. It is not an important part.

(2) Varya is a more serious part.... She is a character in a black dress,
something of a nun, foolish, tearful, etc.

... Gorky is younger than you or I, he has his life before him.... As for
the Nizhni theatre, that’s a mere episode; Gorky will try it, “sniff it and
reject it.” And while we are on this subject, the whole idea of a
“people’s” theatre and “people’s” literature is foolishness and lollipops
for the people. We mustn’t bring Gogol down to the people but raise the
people up to Gogol....

TO A. L. VISHNEVSKY.

YALTA,
November 7, 1903.

... As I am soon coming to Moscow, please keep a ticket for me for “The
Pillars of Society”; I want to see the marvellous Norwegian acting, and I
will even pay for my seat. You know Ibsen is my favourite writer....

TO K. S. STANISLAVSKY.

YALTA,
November 10, 1903.

DEAR KONSTANTIN SERGEYITCH,

Of course the scenery for III. and IV. can be the same, the hall and the
staircase. Please do just as you like about the scenery, I leave it
entirely to you; I am amazed and generally sit with my mouth wide open at
your theatre. There can be no question about it, whatever you do will be
excellent, a hundred times better than anything I could invent....

TO F. D. BATYUSHKOV.

MOSCOW,
January 19, 1904.

... At the first performance of “The Cherry Orchard” on the 17th of
January, they gave me an ovation, so lavish, warm, and really so
unexpected, that I can’t get over it even now....

TO MADAME AVILOV.

MOSCOW,
February 14, 1904.

... All good wishes. Above all, be cheerful; don’t look at life so much as
a problem--it is, most likely, far simpler. And whether it--life, of which
we know nothing--is worth all the agonizing reflections which wear out our
Russian wits, is a question.

TO FATHER SERGEY SHTCHUKIN.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and FriendsChekhov, Anton Pavlovich

General

Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends

Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich

Authors, Russian -- 19th century -- Correspondence; Chekhov, Anton Pavlovich, 1860-1904 -- Correspondence

... Many thanks for your letter and telegram. Letters are very precious to
me now--in the first place, because I am utterly alone here; and in the
second, because I sent the play three weeks ago and only got your letter
yesterday, and if it were not for my wife, I should know nothing at all and
might imagine any mortal thing. When I was writing Lopahin, I thought of it
as a part for you. If for any reason you don’t care for it, take the part
of Gaev. Lopahin is a merchant, of course, but he is a very decent person
in every sense. He must behave with perfect decorum, like an educated man,
with no petty ways or tricks of any sort, and it seemed to me this part,
the central one of the play, would come out brilliantly in your hands....
In choosing an actor for the part you must remember that Varya, a serious
and religious girl, is in love with Lopahin; she wouldn’t be in love with a
mere money-grubber....

TO V. I. NEMIROVITCH DANTCHENKO.

YALTA,
November 2, 1903.

... About the play.

1. Anya can be played by anyone you like, even by a quite unknown actress,
so long as she is young and looks like a girl, and speaks in a youthful
singing voice. It is not an important part.

(2) Varya is a more serious part.... She is a character in a black dress,
something of a nun, foolish, tearful, etc.

... Gorky is younger than you or I, he has his life before him.... As for
the Nizhni theatre, that’s a mere episode; Gorky will try it, “sniff it and
reject it.” And while we are on this subject, the whole idea of a
“people’s” theatre and “people’s” literature is foolishness and lollipops
for the people. We mustn’t bring Gogol down to the people but raise the
people up to Gogol....

TO A. L. VISHNEVSKY.

YALTA,
November 7, 1903.

... As I am soon coming to Moscow, please keep a ticket for me for “The
Pillars of Society”; I want to see the marvellous Norwegian acting, and I
will even pay for my seat. You know Ibsen is my favourite writer....

TO K. S. STANISLAVSKY.

YALTA,
November 10, 1903.

DEAR KONSTANTIN SERGEYITCH,

Of course the scenery for III. and IV. can be the same, the hall and the
staircase. Please do just as you like about the scenery, I leave it
entirely to you; I am amazed and generally sit with my mouth wide open at
your theatre. There can be no question about it, whatever you do will be
excellent, a hundred times better than anything I could invent....

TO F. D. BATYUSHKOV.

MOSCOW,
January 19, 1904.

... At the first performance of “The Cherry Orchard” on the 17th of
January, they gave me an ovation, so lavish, warm, and really so
unexpected, that I can’t get over it even now....

TO MADAME AVILOV.

MOSCOW,
February 14, 1904.

... All good wishes. Above all, be cheerful; don’t look at life so much as
a problem--it is, most likely, far simpler. And whether it--life, of which
we know nothing--is worth all the agonizing reflections which wear out our
Russian wits, is a question.

TO FATHER SERGEY SHTCHUKIN.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends

Letters of Anton Chekhov to His Family and Friends

No reviews yet