Fifty-Two Stories

“Jeanchik [‘Jean,’ French version of ‘Ivan,’ with Russian diminutive ending], tell them to serve us tea.”

5.

Luchinushka:

A popular Russian folk song, set to music by several composers.

6.

Die now, Denis…:

A comment supposedly made to the playwright Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin (1745–92) by Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin (1739–91), general, statesman, and favorite of the empress Catherine the Great, after the premiere of his play

The Dunce

(or

The Minor

) in 1782, the first “classic” of Russian theater.

7.

Thy voice…languid…:

The first line of Pushkin’s poem “Night” (1823).

8.

Pisemsky…

A Thousand Souls

:

Alexei Feofilaktovich Pisemsky (1821–81) was a prominent playwright and novelist, contemporary of Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Tolstoy. His novel

A Thousand Souls

, considered his best, was published in 1858. “Feofilaktych” is a familiar form of his patronymic.

THE NEW DACHA

1.

on the stove:

See note 2 to “Anguish.”

2.

rapping on boards:

Night watchmen carried special boards which they rapped on with hammers as they made their rounds.

3.

The Elevation:

The feast of the Elevation of the Cross, a major Orthodox feast, takes place on September 14.

4.

a mere collegiate secretary:

See note 1 to “Joy” and note 1 to “The Exclamation Point.”

A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anton Chekhov, who came from peasant stock and was born in Taganrog, on the Sea of Azov, in 1860, paid his way through medical school by writing short comic sketches for various popular publications. By the time he became a doctor, his gift had also made him one of the great masters of the short story, and he continued in both careers until literature finally took him over. He is also one of the major playwrights in the history of Russian and Western theater. For many years he suffered from tuberculosis, without admitting it to himself, and it finally took his life in 1904.

A NOTE ABOUT THE TRANSLATORS

Together, Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky have translated works by Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Gogol, Bulgakov, Leskov, Pushkin, and Pasternak. They were twice awarded the PEN/Book-of-the-Month Club Translation Prize (for Dostoevsky’s

The Brothers Karamazov

and Tolstoy’s

Anna Karenina

). They are married and live in France.

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