A strange story: Anton Chekhov and Ivan Turgenev

The article considers the infamous oyster car that brought Chekhov’s body back from Germany to Russia in July, 1904, in the light of Harold Bloom’s theory of the anxiety of influence. The evidence provides that the refrigerator car for fresh oysters was rather a hidden blessing (a sign of Chekhov’s singularity and recognition) and not a form of punishment as was previously assumed.