The First-class Passenger by Anton Chekhov. Short summary

5 seconds

A passenger complains to a fellow traveler that he is a famous engineer, but he is not known to anyone, unlike untalented singers and jesters. The fellow traveler replies that he is a famous professor, but the public doesn’t know him either.

1 minute

First-class passenger Krikunov argues with a fellow traveler about fame. The man says that he is an engineer who has built many facilities, discovered several new acid compounds, but no one knows him.

At the same time, he had a mistress, a mediocre singer, who was known to many people and was written about in the newspapers.

He resents the fact that many talented scientists, writers, artists are not known to people, but can tell the fellow traveler a hundred singers and jesters, widely known to the public.

At this, the fellow traveler asks Krikunov if he knows the name Pushkov. He answers that he has not heard of such a person.

The traveling companion tells him that Pushkov is one of them. He is a professor at a Russian university, a member of the Academy of Sciences, and has been published many times.

The men look at each other and start laughing.