Part One

Carver begins "Errand" by relating an incident that occurred in 1897, when Chekhov dined with his wealthy friend Alexei Suvorin in Moscow. At the dinner, Chekhov begins hemorrhaging and is taken to a clinic where the famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy visits him. Carver includes this detail to underscore the difference between Tolstoy's approach to writing and Chekhov's and to highlight Chekhov's celebrity and importance as an artist. Carver integrates writing by characters about other characters in his story, which can sometimes be confusing because of the formal manner in which Russians address one another. For example, Maria Chekhov refers to her brother Anton Chekhov as Anton Pavlovich, and Chekhov refers to Leo Tolstoy as Lev Nikolayevich. This section provides background for the rest of the story, which takes place seven years later. Readers learn that Chekhov has tuberculosis but also that he does not take the...