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A Boring Story: Anton Chekhov

1) Nikolay Stepanovitch is an emeritus professor and privy councillor in Russia who has received many decorations for his accomplishments and connections to distinguished men of learning over the past 25-30 years. 2) His name is well known in Russia and abroad as an honored and distinguished scholar. To criticize or misuse his name would be considered in poor taste. 3) He describes himself as having great industry, endurance, talent, and being well-educated, modest, and honest. He has avoided controversy or seeking popularity to protect his respected name.

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Velmurugan Subramaniam
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983 views2 pages

A Boring Story: Anton Chekhov

1) Nikolay Stepanovitch is an emeritus professor and privy councillor in Russia who has received many decorations for his accomplishments and connections to distinguished men of learning over the past 25-30 years. 2) His name is well known in Russia and abroad as an honored and distinguished scholar. To criticize or misuse his name would be considered in poor taste. 3) He describes himself as having great industry, endurance, talent, and being well-educated, modest, and honest. He has avoided controversy or seeking popularity to protect his respected name.

Uploaded by

Velmurugan Subramaniam
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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A Boring Story

by Anton Chekhov
From the notebook of an old man
I
There is in Russia an emeritus Professor Nikolay Stepanovitch, a chevalier
and privy councillor; he has so many Russian and foreign decorations that
when he has occasion to put them on the students nickname him The
Ikonstand. His acquaintances are of the most aristocratic; for the last twentyfive or thirty years, at any rate, there has not been one single distinguished
man of learning in Russia with whom he has not been intimately acquainted.
There is no one for him to make friends with nowadays; but if we turn to the
past, the long list of his famous friends winds up with such names as Pirogov,
Kavelin, and the poet Nekrasov, all of whom bestowed upon him a warm and
sincere affection. He is a member of all the Russian and of three foreign
universities. And so on, and so on. All that and a great deal more that might
be said makes up what is called my name.
That is my name as known to the public. In Russia it is known to every
educated man, and abroad it is mentioned in the lecture-room with the
addition honoured and distinguished. It is one of those fortunate names to
abuse which or to take which in vain, in public or in print, is considered a sign
of bad taste. And that is as it should be. You see, my name is closely
associated with the conception of a highly distinguished man of great gifts and
unquestionable usefulness. I have the industry and power of endurance of a
camel, and that is important, and I have talent, which is even more important.
Moreover, while I am on this subject, I am a well-educated, modest, and

honest fellow. I have never poked my nose into literature or politics; I have
never sought popularity in polemics with the ignorant; I have never made
speeches either at public dinners or at the funerals of my friends. In fact,
there is no slur on my learned name, and there is no complaint one can make
against it. It is fortunate.

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