Антон Чехов - Notebooks of Anton Chekhov

Grieshniki means "sinners," but sounds like grietchnieviki which means "buckwheat cakes."

Yuriev is the Russian name of the town Dorpat.

Molokans are a religious sect in Russia.

Ibsen wrote in Norwegian of course. Responding to a request for his interpretation of this curious paragraph. Mr. Koteliansky writes:

"Chekhov had a very high opinion of Ibsen; the paragraph, I am sure, is by no means aimed at Ibsen. Most probably the paragraph, as well as many others in the Notes, is something which C. either personally or indirectly heard someone say. You will see that Kuprin ["Reminiscences of Chekhov," by Gorky, Kuprin and Bunin, New York: Huebsch.] told C. the anecdote about the actor whose wife asked him to whistle a melody on the stage during a rehearsal. In C.'s Notes you have that anecdote, somewhat shortened and the names changed, without mentioning the source."

"The reader, on the whole, may puzzle his head over many paragraphs in the Notes, but he will hardly find explanations each time. What the reader has to remember is that the Notes are material used by C. in his creative activity and as such it throws a great deal of light on C.'s mentality and process of working."

A cold dish composed of cider and hash.

A name or word invented by Chekhov meaning "One who yawns for a long time with pleasure."

L.L. Tolstoi was Leo Nicolaievitch'a son, Madame Loukhmav a tenth rate woman–writer.

A well–known Radical professor, a Westerner.

A sketch of part of the story "Whitehead."

An episode which Chekhov heard during his journey in the island, Saghalien.

This and the following few passages are from the rough draft of Chekhov's play Three Sisters .

Here the fragments from the rough draft of Three Sisters end.