To A. S. Souvorin, December 19, 1888:
The first act of your Repina is put together so strangely that I am altogether at a loss. In rehearsal this act seemed to me dreary and unskillfully done, but now I understand that one cannot make plays otherwise, and I comprehend the success of this act. After Tatyana I consider my own play as so much sweetmeats, although I have not as yet made clear to myself whether your play is good or not. In its architectonics there is something that I do not quite grasp.
To. A. S. Souvorin, January 6, 1889:
I like the "vaudeville." It begins in a very original way. Very hackneyed are: the cousin, the glove, the card falling out of the pocket, the eavesdropping.…In one-act things you must write nonsense,—there lies their strength. Manage it so that the she has become bored, and desires new experiences. She threatens seriously to cuckold her second husband.…The talk about the cuckolding is good. The eavesdropping is unnecessary; let the husband arrive just after the wife has finished writing her letter, and has gone out for a minute to her friends to ask forgiveness, then to return home for her baggage. The dialogue is suitable and pat.
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