Chekhov's pseudonyms at different stages of his life

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

A. P. Chekhov used pseudonyms throughout his literary career. Moreover, these were completely different “second names”. And if you refer to the index, which lists Chekhov's pseudonyms, you will find at least 50 of them.

And although the writer liked to use fictitious names, he still entered fiction under his real name - A. P. Chekhov. The pseudonym Antosha Chekhonte takes first place in the entire list. It was used even during the student youth of the writer. This signature was used both in newspapers and magazines, and on the covers of author's collections. Tales of Melpomene and Motley Tales were his first editions, published from 1884 to 1886. And this pseudonym arose in the Taganrog gymnasium. A certain Pokrovsky taught there, who constantly changed the names of his students. Of course, this fate befell the young Anton. Subsequently, he used several spellings of Antosh Chekhonte: Anche, Don Antonio Chekhonte, A-n Ch-te, Chekhonte, Antosh Ch, A. Chekhonte, Ch. Khonte and so on.

At the end of the 19th century, the writer was published in humorousmagazines in which the works of his older brother Alexander were published before him. And so that there was no confusion, he first used the specified initials: An. P. Chekhov. And then there was the signature Brother of my brother. It must be said that many of Chekhov's pseudonyms were short-lived. When he collaborated with the Dragonfly magazine, he put the signature "Doctor without patients".

So he hinted at his medical degree. And when he was engaged in agriculture in Melikhovo, he used the pseudonym "Cincinnatus". In letters to his wife, he signed as Academician Toto or A. Aktrisyn's husband. In the first case, he hinted at being elected to the Russian Academy, and in the second, that his wife never left the stage after marriage.

At a certain time, Chekhov's humorous pseudonyms appeared: Arkhip Indeikin, Somebody Known, Vasily Spiridonovich Svolachev, Akaki Tarantulov, Shileer Shakespeare Goethe and so on. Most likely, everything depended on the type of occupation that Chekhov was engaged in at that time. Pseudonyms disappeared as quickly as they appeared. But there is one among them that has held on for 10 years.

A man without a spleen - it was under this signature that a lot of feuilletons and humoresques, 5 articles and 119 stories were published. This pseudonym arose at Moscow University, where the writer studied at the medical faculty. S. P. Botkin proved that the size of the spleen depends on the state of mind of a person. Fright, joy, surprise, fear - all this leads to a decrease inof this body. And if a person does not have a spleen, then he is deprived of all spiritual unrest and his creations are distinguished by a he althy view of the whole world around them. Of course, there were several derivatives of this fictitious name. Ch. B. S, Ch. without s, S. B. Ch - these Chekhov's pseudonyms appeared in many magazines of that time.

A. P. Chekhov, in his letter to Bilibin, wrote that he gives his real name to medicine, with which he is not going to part to the grave. And he considers literature a game where different nicknames should be used, and with which he will part sooner or later. But today, not everyone knows that he was a physician. Today everyone knows the famous and wonderful writer A. P. Chekhov.