This is one of Chekhov’s many tales that are meant mainly as light entertainment–a tale with a little twist at the end.
“An unnamed man of learning” waits impatiently for his emanuensis, Ivan Matyevich, who turns out to be not just unpunctual but also cloddish and unlettered and generally unfit for the role of secretary to a man of learning. But – twist! – the man of learning, it turns out, actually gets some kind of satisfaction from trying to harangue his assistant and raise him up in the world, which obviously will never happen.
Written in 1886, when Chekhov was just pouring the short stories out, “Ivan Matyevich” is slight but a reasonably entertaining tale
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This story brings to mind “Expensive Lessons,” about a boorish man who hires a tutor to teach him French and then falls in love with her. Like that one, “Ivan Matyevich” is fairly tidy and well constructed, but similarly slight.
A Chekhov Circus 