Lydia Alexeyevna Avilova (, née Стра́хова (Strakhova); 15 June 1864 – 27 September 1943) was a Russian writer and memoirist, best known for her book ''A.P. Chekhov in My Life'', published posthumously in 1947.Avilova's biography
at Russian Writers (dictionary), pp. 19-20 // Русские писатели 1800–1917: Биогр. слов. – М., 1989.-Т.1.-С.19-20.

Biography

Lydia Alekseyevna Strakhova was born in the Klekotki estate,

Tula Governorate Tula Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR. The governate existed from 1796 to 1929; its seat was in the city of Tula. It was divided into 12 districts. The main towns w ...

, Russian Empire, into the family of a local gentry. After graduating from a gymnasium in 1882, she worked for a while as a school mistress, then in 1887 got married and moved from Moscow to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

and started writing. A frequent guest at the house of the editor and publisher Sergey Khudekov (her sister Nadezhda's husband), she was introduced to many well-known authors of the time. In 1889 she met

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

and became his regular correspondent, receiving regular advice on the literary technique and style, as well as occasional help with making her stories published. In 1890, assisted by Alexander Sheller-Mikhaylov, Avilova debuted as a published author with a short story called "Two Beauties" (Две красоты). Since then her work started to appear regularly in the periodicals like ''Sever'' (North), ''Detskoye Chteniye'' (Children's Reading), ''

Niva Niva or NIVA can refer to: Places * Niva (river) in the Murmansk Oblast, Russia * Nivå, a town in Denmark * Nivå station, railway station in Denmark * Niva (Prostějov District), a village in the Czech Republic * Niva, Iran, a village in Kurdista ...

'', ''

Russkiye Vedomosti ''Russkiye Vedomosti'' () was a Russian liberal daily newspaper, published in Moscow from 1863 till 1918. Founded in Moscow in 1863 by Nikolai Pavlov, it was edited by Nikolai Skvortsov (1866-1882) and by Vasily Sobolevsky, in 1882–1912. Aft ...

'', '' Syn Otechestva'', ''Novoye Slovo''. In 1896 Avilova's first story collection ''Lucky Man and Other Stories'' (Счастливец и другие рассказы) came out, to be followed two years later by her debut novel ''Inheritors'' (Наследники). Her second novel ''Deceit'' (Обман) was published by ''

Vestnik Evropy ''Vestnik Evropy'' () (''Herald of Europe'' or ''Messenger of Europe'') was the major liberal magazine of late-nineteenth-century Russia. It was published from 1866 to 1918. The magazine (named for an earlier publication edited by Nikolay Kara ...

'' in July 1901.L.A. Avilova. Stories. Commentaries
// Писатели чеховской поры: Избранные произведения писателей 80--90-х годов: В 2-х т.-- М., Худож. лит., 1982. Т. 2. In 1906 Avilova returned with her family to Moscow and in the course of the next ten years published several books, including ''The Power and Other Stories'' (Власть и другие рассказы, 1906) and ''First Grief and Other Stories'' (Первое горе и другие рассказы, (1913), most of them dealing with childhood and child psychology, and much indebted to Chekhov's legacy. In 1914 Avilova became a member of the Russian Literary Society and in 1918 joined the Union of Writers. In 1922 she visited her ailing daughter in

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and became close to the local circle of Russian emigres, but decided to return to the Soviet Union in 1924. "Where there is no Russia, there is no myself," she wrote. In 1929 she was elected an honorary member of The Soviet Chekhov society. Lydia Avilova died in Moscow on 27 September 1943. She was buried at the

Vagankovo Cemetery Vagankovo Cemetery () is located in the Presnensky District of Moscow, Russia. It was established in 1771, in an effort to curb 1770–1772 Russian plague, an outbreak of bubonic plague in Central Russia. The cemetery was one of those created ou ...

, but the location of her grave has been lost since. The interest in Avilova's literary legacy enjoyed a revival in the 1980s when several of her books were re-issued in the USSR.

Avilova as memoirist

Avilova's final work, a book of memoirs called ''A.P. Chekhov in My Life'' (А.П. Чехов в моей жизни, originally "The Love Affair of My Life", Роман моей жизни), was completed in 1939 and published posthumously, in 1947, caused much controversy. It was based upon the premise that the two "had had a secret love affair which lasted a decade and nobody was aware of." Avilova claimed that Chekhov's " About Love" (1898) was a thinly veiled comment on their secret relationships and that the two discussed this fact in their correspondence, one of his letters (which was among the ones she had destroyed) having been even signed "Alyuokhin", which was the name of this story's protagonist.

Maria Chekhova Maria Pavlovna Chekhova () was a Russian teacher, artist, founder of the Chekhov Memorial House museum in Yalta, and a recipient of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour. Anton Chekhov was her brother. Biography Maria Pavlovna Chekhova was b ...

reacted with skepticism to this revelation. "These memoirs are lively and exciting, and many of the things she states in them are undoubtedly true... Lydia Alexeyevna seems to be totally sincere when describing her own feelings to Anton Pavlovich... When it comes to his own feeling towards her, things start to look a bit too 'subjective'," she wrote in her book ''From Distant Past''.

Ivan Bunin Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin ( or ; rus, Ива́н Алексе́евич Бу́нин, p=ɪˈvan ɐlʲɪkˈsʲejɪvʲɪdʑ ˈbunʲɪn, a=Ivan Alyeksyeyevich Bunin.ru.vorb.oga; – 8 November 1953)И. А. Бунин. Собр. соч. в 9-ти т. Т. 9. М., 1967, стр. 230. In one of her retrospective reviews, making a collective portrait of Chekhov,

Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using pre-reform Russian orthography. ; ), usually referr ...

and Gorky, Avilova wrote: "... As for Chekhov, I would not call him either a great man or a great writer ... He was a likeable, talented author, an intelligent man and an intriguing character. Gorky: a brilliant writer and highly original man. Tolstoy: a great writer, a great thinker and a great man. Think of a talent breaking through the personality, struggling to lift it up to its own level, and that is Chekhov. Think of a talent and personality which are equally strong and bright; they express themselves in different ways, but, intertwining, merge into one. That is Gorky. But when both the literary gift and the personality are not just great and powerful, but also perfect, soaring well above mankind and near to God's level, then that is Tolstoy."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Avilova, Lydia 1864 births 1943 deaths People from Skopinsky District People from Yepifansky Uyezd Nobility from the Russian Empire Women writers from the Russian Empire Novelists from the Russian Empire Short story writers from the Russian Empire Children's writers from the Russian Empire Soviet women writers Soviet short story writers Russian women memoirists